“I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.” – William Blake
I use to be very intrigued by the first part of the above quote…”I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s”. It always struck me as choosing between being a leader or a follower, the one creating a path or the one following a path. We are ALL leaders and followers at different times in our lives (heck, even different times of our days) and in regards to different situations or issues.
Leaders do not lead ALL the time just as followers do not follow ALL of the time; which goes back to previous posts in which I voice my frustration with the over analysis of “what is a good leader”…because the answer is now and will always be, IT DEPENDS!
Leadership, as well as following, is situational. I lead when I know something more than the person next to me, I follow when I don’t; and knowing when to do what is the sign of someone that is comfortable in their own skin as well as intelligent enough to know that they don’t always have the answers.
I think we have lost sight of actually DOING and ACCOMPLISHING, instead we waste our time debating what a good leader is or which social media tool is better, and so on. Let’s slow down a bit and hop off that “over-analyze to look intelligent” train…it’s a train to nowhere.
Looking at this quote now, I feel it means to create your life to your design specifications. Creating is innate in us, it is what we have done forever…but I feel it may also speak to a state of mind, having that contentment of living your life rather than someone else’s. Or I may be way off base, that happens sometimes. Either way, to create is better than over analyzing creation…or leadership, or anything else you have up your sleeve.
The art of completion is more often than not, better than endlessly talking about something that has no definitive end. Cheers!
Chewing on and recapping:
By becoming creative and accomplishing something one is therefore leading by example in a sense one is leading. Not necessarily by the completed task but in the act of creating and accomplishing. Yes?
Hi Cheri, generally speaking yes, in my opinion. Although, by creating, or attempting to create, you are not automatically leading…in a sense. Me creating this blog post is not leading (although that would be left up to debate), rather sparking thought. LOL, or maybe there is not definitive answer.
I have to admit your title caught my eye and got me to read this post. I like how bluntly you put it. Sometimes just moving into action of some sort is all it take to propel your creativity forward. Even a train to nowhere can teach you some times how to be in the process and in the long run, that can be very valuable.
Marianne, thanks for the comment. And I do agree, everything, including that train to nowehere, can be a teaching moment so long as we remember to get off that train to nowhere at some point. I spend a lot of time observing online and offline worlds, and am amzaed at how much chatter goes on without action…I guess that was the origination for my thoughts on this post. Cheers and thanks again!!
By the way Marianne, I love the words you have chosen on your blog home page…creative, authentic, productive, cultivator of creativity!!
Bravo Matt – You are one smart cookie!
Well thank ya Peggy!!! Stuff just pops into my head and out it spews!! LOL…Thanks!!
Hey Matt — nice mental spewing there! I think the act of creating something is better than most other things one could do. It’s so great to make something from nothing. Building. Adding to our world.
A lot of other endeavors are nothing more than procrastination. Time-wasters in the guise of intellectual discourse. Not to say there isn’t room to explore our thinking or just to take a simple break. That‘s all very valuable too, but it’s a question of degree. There also comes a time to just sit down and get to business.
Worse still, are those who always seem so hell-bent on tearing things down. The key there is not letting it destroy those of us who choose a different path.
So true Paul and I appreciate your thoughts. There’s a fine line in everything we do. Analyzing and over-analyzing, endless chatter about what you are going to do or just getting down to business, etc. From that vantage point, life is filled with two types of people, the doers, and the people that talk about doing.
The dynamic is interesting but for me, the psychology behind it all is even more interesting. Cheers buddy, and thanks again for your ideas!!
My thoughts exactly. MAKE ! …. http://evenhappierthanthat.blogspot.com/2011/02/make.html
Make, Create…all the same and all good!! Cheers Jon!