Why You Should Write Creative Work Vows

 

Dear Creative,

Today is Valentine’s Day. Most of us will see our social media feeds full of posts about love and family and romance and all that good stuff. I encourage you to post anything about love.  Valentine’s Day is a good day to talk about love.

Love is dope.

Love also conjures images of commitment. It makes me think of the promises we make to the people we love. It also conjures images of my commitment to my creative work.

• What commitments are you making to your work in the world?
• How are you keeping your promises to your gifts?
• How are you showing your love for your work?

These are difficult questions for me to ask. Although I can say that I’m trying, I know there’s more I can do.

In January, I tried something different. Instead of creating new year’s resolutions, I wrote vows. I made promises instead of a list of things I wanted to accomplish.

Resolutions don’t seem to work for me. I write down all the things  I hope to accomplish, but then I end up feeling defeated and the piece of paper finds its way to the back of the pile.

This year, I wrote vows instead of goals.

Let me tell you a story.

I remember my wedding day. I stood at the altar and pulled out a piece of paper and shared my hopes and dreams with everyone. I had plans. I had commitments. I wanted to listen, to pay attention to make room for my partner to be who he was. During my wedding ceremony, I recited my vows. My partner also shared his promises to me.

These were my vows. They were not something I would give up on if I didn’t achieve them within a month. They were not a long list of things I would do even though I know I was not yet ready to do them. They were a public dedication to my commitment and a blueprint for how I wanted to love his personality and myself in relation to him.

Creative Work Vows Encourage Us To Keep Our Promises

A vow is defined as a set of promises one makes to another person or thing.

I think of wedding vows. They are the most common. But something that’s also very interesting about vows is that they are usually made in front of others.

Having witnesses matters. During my wedding, I stood up in front of others. I wanted it to be known that I was committing to this thing, and why it mattered to me. This was my vow.

On the other hand, a goal is a defined task.

A vow encourages us to keep our word because it is a promise, a declaration that something will or will not be done.  A goal is defined as the result or achievement toward which effort is directed.

• What if vows were not just for marriage?
• What if we could use them and apply them to our creative work and the impact we want to have in the world?

Is a promise a specific outcome whereas a goal is a result? It seems the person making the promise has more at stake than the person setting a goal.

 

 

How do they work?

1. You are more likely to keep your promise.
2. You are more likely to tell others about your vow.
3. You are less focused on the outcome and more concerned about the promise.

I’ve been thinking about vows for valentine’s day because we associate vows with commitment. We vow to things we are committed to. But there’s something else I realized about a vow and how it differs from a goal.

We usually make vows over the course of a longer time period.

Wedding vows are promises we make and commit to keeping over the course of our marriage. Religious vows are promises we commit to upholding over the course of our time as a religious person. Even elected officials make a commitment that maps out what they will do and what they promise to uphold during that time frame.

So, here’s what I’ve discovered about my vows.

At the beginning of the year, I vowed to make room for my voice and to share it with the world. I do this via the  “dear creative” letters. I vowed to use my voice and to use it to inspire others to do the same.  I made sure I had witnesses. I made a promise to my creative ancestors and announced it on Instagram.

My creative ancestors are the people whose work has influenced mine and impacted how I created. I vowed to them. I vowed to them because there needed to be the public aspect of vowing.

I take my promises seriously. If I say I will do something, I do it. I don’t try to do it, I do it.

The goal is the weekly act of writing, publishing and promoting the blog post.   The promise and vow are to say the things that I need to say and to share what I know in hopes of helping others.

I’ve noticed a few things about the power of creative work vows:

• • I keep my promises because my word is important to me and others.
  • I focus on the big picture. Instead of thinking about publishing a blog post, I focus more on my vow to share my voice.
  • Making this promise in the presence of others keeps me focused and committed in a way a list of goals does not.

Creative vows can be more powerful than New Year’s resolutions.

Goals are a list of things you want to achieve. They are an outcome of your effort.

 This is your word. This is a promise. Promises are never made lightly.

So, what do you want to vow to do this year? How can you make a vow to your work?

Keep going. I want to see your brilliance.

 

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