Don't singers sing because they HAVE TO. Don't baseball players play baseball because they HAVE TO? Don't writers write because they HAVE TO. Don't painters paint because they HAVE TO?

If you wait until all the planets are aligned and everything is in line before you start creating what you really want to create, you may never get there.

Our culture celebrates the “big players” in the fields of art, literature, and sports. Consequently, it’s very easy to feel like there’s no reason to even try to write, or paint, or sing if there’s little chance of being celebrated about it.

It’s okay to want to be celebrated about your special thing—and if that’s what gets you going, that’s great.

But once you’ve gotten going—the reason you’ll continue to paint, or write, or sing is because YOU HAVE TO. It’s what’s in you, waiting to come out.

If it’s truly inside of you, it’ll find a way out. Many accomplished people did the things for which they are well known in their spare time. Einstein was a patent clerk while he did the work that changed mankind’s understanding of space and time. Tom Scholz (of the rock band Boston) was a design engineer at Polaroid while he created Boston’s first album. Wallace Stevens was an insurance executive while he wrote prose and plays. And, Scott Adams was a middle manager at Pacific Bell while he created the Dilbert comic strip empire during the wee hours of the morning.