The pressure to "be a success" is possibly greater these days than in any time previously in human society.

And its not just success in one particular field or area of our lives. Theres an expectation for us to achieve in all things - to be a wonderful parent, a supportive friend, a good son or daughter, a groundbreaking artist AND a community minded member of our society to name just a few.

This expectation and pressure appears to come from a wide range of sources our peers, parents, media and society at large.

But ultimately, there is only one person who can define what "success" is for any of us. That person is ourselves.

A Vision for your Creative Life

Lets focus for now just on your creative life.

Think about the different ways in which you want to be creative, the different projects and areas, the different mediums you want to be creating with.

Begin with the creative discipline that youre most close to you, the one you keep returning to, whether it be writing, fashion design, painting, scrapbooking, photography, film-making or anything else.

Imagine you could have all the success you wanted in that major area of your creativity tomorrow. What would that mean to you, what would it look like, what would it feel like, what would it sound like?

Take some time to colour in the details as vividly as possible. Write out exactly what youll be doing, how often, where youll be, what will be happening around you, who youll be mixing with. Make it as descriptive and full a vision as possible.

Rather than writing this out just with words, you could create this vision in the form of a picture or collage. Cut out images from magazines that you connect with as part of your vision of creative success and arrange them together on a large sheet of paper with a picture of yourself at the centre.

Bear in mind too that this vision may be describing an ongoing state, rather than a fixed point.

For example rather than writing - "I have written a best selling novel", for you a vision of success for your writing may be something like - "I continue to experiment with my writing and publish 3 articles a month in wide range of different publications" or "I write the most beautiful and honest prose Im capable of at any one time".

Who REALLY owns the vision?

Once you have this strong vision of your creative life as a success, ask this crucial question -

Is this really YOUR vision?

Is this what YOU truly want? Do you really connect with it? Does it belong to you, is it what will make you happy?

Or has this vision of creative success come from someone or somewhere else?

Will achieving this will make YOU happy and proud, or just other people around you?

This is such an important question, and if you find, as many of us do, that youve been pursuing a certain vision or goal to please or satisfy someone else, its time to stop and redefine.

And before your inner critic chimes in with comments like "Youre SO selfish, just pursuing what YOU want", remember that the happier and more meaningful our lives are, the more were able to contribute to the happiness of others, the more were naturally and easily able to spread that creativity and joy amongst those close to us.

So whats your personal vision for YOUR creative success? And, in the coming days, months and years, how can you stay connected to it and ensure it remains your vision and not someone elses?

Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin.