The Power of Being a Creator

Here’s what trips people up about being a creator: they think it’s about truth. They want to know — was I really the creator? Did I really create this situation? Am I responsible?

Wrong question.

Being a creator is not a claim about metaphysics. It’s a strategic position. You take it because it works, not because it’s provably accurate. The question isn’t “am I really the creator?” The question is “what happens when I act as if I am?”

The Practical Position

Think about two people who both got laid off from the same company. Same day. Same situation.

Person A says: “They screwed me. The economy is bad, management is incompetent, and I was targeted because my boss didn’t like me.” Person A is probably right about at least some of that. And Person A is going to spend six months angry, bitter, and stuck.

Person B says: “I saw the warning signs and didn’t update my resume. I didn’t build the relationships I needed. I got comfortable.” Person B might be oversimplifying. But Person B is going to start taking action immediately. Not because they’re a better person. Because they put themselves in a position where action makes sense.

That’s the power. When you’re a victim, action doesn’t make sense. Why would you act? The problem is out there, beyond your control. When you’re a creator, action is obvious. The problem is at least partly in here, where you can reach it.

Even When You Didn’t Choose It

This is where it gets uncomfortable. Some things happen that you genuinely did not create. Illness. Accidents. Other people’s cruelty. Children don’t choose abusive households. People don’t choose natural disasters.

The creator position doesn’t require you to claim you chose these things. It requires you to own your response to them.

You didn’t choose what happened. You always choose what you do about it. You choose whether you let it define you. You choose whether you stay in the story of what was done to you, or whether you pick up whatever’s left and build something.

This is not inspirational poster thinking. This is mechanics. The person who says “that happened, and I’m choosing how to move forward” has more available energy than the person who says “that happened, and it ruined me.” Not because one is morally superior. Because one has access to their own resources and the other doesn’t.

The Energy Equation

There’s a direct relationship between how much creator position you take and how much energy you have.

Think about it. Every situation where you’re a victim drains energy. You’re angry. You’re resentful. You’re scared. You’re waiting for someone else to fix it. All of that burns fuel. And you get nothing back — the anger doesn’t solve the problem. The resentment doesn’t change the other person. The fear doesn’t protect you.

Every situation where you’re a creator generates energy. You’re moving. You’re deciding. You’re creating. Even when the situation is hard, you feel alive inside it because you’re doing something about it.

Run through your five situations from yesterday. The ones where you scored high as a creator — those probably feel energizing, even if they’re challenging. The ones where you scored low — those feel draining, even if they’re theoretically easier.

That’s not a coincidence.

The Cost of Being a Victim

The victim position feels safe but it’s expensive. Every area of life you’re a victim about becomes a tax. It costs you energy, attention, emotional bandwidth, and time. You think about it. You complain about it. You work around it. But you never address it, because you can’t — it’s not your problem.

Some people have three or four major areas where they’re a victim. They wonder why they’re exhausted all the time. They wonder why they can’t seem to get traction on anything. Their energy is going to maintain the victim stories. That’s where it goes. Every day.

Taking the creator position doesn’t cost energy. It reclaims it. The moment you say “this is mine to deal with,” something in you shifts. Not always immediately. Sometimes it takes days. But the shift happens, and when it does, you suddenly have resources you forgot you had.

Today’s Practice

Go back to your assessment from yesterday. Pick one situation where you rated yourself 4 or lower. One where the victim position feels really solid and justified.

For the next 24 hours, hold the creator position on that one situation. Not aggressively. Not performatively. Just quietly, internally. Every time the story about how it’s not your fault comes up, set it aside and ask: “If I were a creator here, what would I do differently?”

You don’t have to do anything about the answers yet. You’re just noticing what becomes visible from the creator position that was invisible from the victim position.

Write down what you notice at the end of the day. What options appeared that weren’t there before? What feelings came up? What resistance showed up?

If the creator position collapsed and you went back to victim at some point — note when and why. Don’t beat yourself up about it. The collapse point tells you where the edge of your current capacity is. That’s useful information.