This line keeps coming back to me — “You’ve got to be your own agent.”
I’ve spent a lifetime as a creative. Actually, every one of us has — spent a lifetime as a creative. Living, being human, is an inherently creative endeavour. By virtue of being human, we are all, in fact, creatives. Creativity is in our DNA. Creativity is not necessarily what we believe or have been taught it to be: writing poetry, painting, dancing, singing, playing guitar. Yes, of course, those are all creative endeavours, but so is building a home, taking care of someone you love, starting a family, giving to someone in need, planting a garden in the backyard, establishing a career. Everything takes creativity. Perhaps, better said, we create the lives we live.
Yes, some of us exercise our divine creative right more than others. In this way, creativity is unlimited. It works across all landscapes and engages with every domain. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone says, “I’m not creative,” or “I don’t have a creative bone in my body.” That’s simply untrue. Perhaps your creative bone is just a bit skewed, or you’ve fallen victim to a lifetime of conditioning telling you that your inherent creativity doesn’t matter, it’s not worth pursuing, it won’t make you any money, it is worthless.
If you can be guaranteed of anything in this life, it’s that this world will attempt to steal your creativity — stomp it out of you, squash it at every twist, bend, and turn of your long, cold, wet, winding journey. If you’re not convinced about this, all you’ve got to do is watch the spaghetti towers experiment. It is also possible that you’ve defined creativity in a limited way — placing limitations on the infinite possibilities for your life. Sometimes we must redefine the words in our lives — change their definitions. It’s also possible you’ve simply lost touch with your beautiful imagination, that genius thing we all once had, every single one of us, as children. But the wonderful thing is — something lost only waits to be found again.
“Imagination is not the same as creativity. Creativity takes the process of imagination to another level. Creativity is a step beyond imagination because it requires that you actually do something rather than lie around thinking about it.”
— Ken Robinson
Over the past decade or so, I’ve worked with a lot of young people — creatives. Whether they are ambitious young poets and future writers of the world, professional or aspiring athletes (yes, sport is most definitely a creative pursuit), or even hunters and fly fishermen. My message is almost always the same: if you want your creativity to get out into the big wide world, you’ve got to be your own agent.
What does it mean to be your own agent?
1. You’ve got to believe in you more than anyone else in the world.
If not you, then who will give you permission to pursue what, deep down, you know you were born to? That’s a poem. It’s also a truth. You must first give yourself permission to believe you are capable of doing and accomplishing exactly what your heart desires. No matter who you are, how old you are, or what you have or have not accomplished yet, it’s never too late to begin believing in yourself.
After all, there are people out there right now doing exactly what you want to do — already living the life of your dreams — and if not exactly, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say someone has already laid a similar creative path. You might not know the way to your life’s greatest dream yet. The beauty is that someone out there has already taken all of the steps. Look out for them. Learn from them. Listen to them. And then act in the way that only you can. As I once said to my best friend: There are people out there living extraordinary lives — why can’t we be one of them? These people are not special. Perhaps what they have is exceptional belief in themselves and their ability to take actionable steps each and every day toward their life’s great dream. They are, well and truly, on the path.
That does not mean they don’t experience obstacles in the way of externalities, self-doubt, imposter syndrome — that little, often much-too-paid-attention-to voice telling them they can’t. I call them the dangerous uglies. We all experience and feel them. It’s an exercise in self-awareness: recognising the dangerous uglies and then sticking them where they belong — way in the back seat, somewhere near the trunk, down by the spare tyre. Otherwise the dangerous uglies can become the driver of our life’s automobile. You’ve got to take back the wheel, put the pedal to the metal, tap back into joy, excitement, passion, and love — and put fear in its place.
2. Never assume anyone else is going to do the work for you.
Even if you have an agent, you’ve still got to set the meeting, pick up the phone, and set your intentions. Let the people around you know what you want — and be clear. We can never assume that the people who represent us, or who hold the keys to the gates of our dreams, know what we want. Most people are busy, wrapped up in their own lives, worrying about, chasing after, or calling in their life’s own great big dream.
One of my favourite lines: If not you, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?
“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
As both Ralph Waldo and Sir Ken Robinson put it — and I paraphrase — your dreams won’t just land in your hands. You’ve got to get deliberate and act. You’ve got to get clear on what you most desire and then put in the work. It’s a simple equation. Know what you want + act. And yes, it helps to pray, meditate, or call on whichever god you believe in, even if that means sending your intentions out into the universe. And the universe, in my experience, always delivers — to those whose intentions are sincere and pure.
Start by leveraging your current connections. Tap into your most trusted networks. Learn to lean on those who have supported you the most in times of adversity. You’ll find that most people are willing to help — but again, it helps to ask.
I will always try to help the people I work with and for, but how can I know what you want or need if you don’t first bring it to my attention? Ultimately, we all hold the keys to our greatest dreams. This is called agency — and sometimes that just means dropping your bloody ego and asking for help.
3. Yes, you might have to drop your ego and ask for help.
I once had an actual agent. He didn’t do anything for me. He was purely transactional — and that’s okay. I assumed that because he got a slice of my very minimal paycheck, that alone would be an impetus for his action. I was a young, naïve professional athlete. I didn’t understand this transaction. It was also super cool to tell everyone that I had an agent, even if was all smoke and mirrors. It definitely fed my athlete’s ego, which was only ever a castle in the sand.
I learned fast that I had to drop my ego at the door, stop telling people I had an agent, and become an agent of change for myself. Most real agents are transactional in nature. Find an agent who works transformationally — someone who wants to give for the sake of giving. These people are out there, and they are gifts.
“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”
— Eckhart Tolle
Over the years, I’ve learned to be more clear about what I want, and I’m still learning how to best ask for help. Everyone needs help — and that’s okay. As a writer, this might mean you have to set up your own website, start a blog, ask people to read, review, and refer your work, pay for an editor, or even self-publish your own bloody books. Sound familiar?
As always, I’ll leave you with a poem.
Gorse Bush
Imagine if all that was holding you back
was just that: a thought,
or the definition of a word you made up
when you were eleven years old.
A small seed someone —
a parent, coach, teacher, or mean bully —
planted between your ears, that, left unchecked,
grew into a hillside of prickly yellow weeds,
and for years has been stealing
the sunlight from your native species.