The "Ah-ha!" Moment

The "Ah-ha!" moment.

The "Light bulb going off" moment.

The "It just clicked" moment.

These break-through moments of clarity are what many of us hope to see happen in our work.  We want the epiphany to come so we can finally have our success.  Jealousy may even set in when we see others come into their moment with relative ease.

But please don't be fooled.

The "Ah-ha" moments are actually few and far-between in life (the rarity is what makes it such a marvelous spectical).  If you keep waiting for the "light bulb to go off" before you to get to work, your art will never be realized.  The "Ah-ha!" is only possible because of all the preceeding grunt work; that's what gives birth to its brilliance.

The visionary artist isn't someone who lives in a continual state of brilliant epiphany, they are the ones who are trudging through the darkness because they can't escape the gnawing, haunting feeling that 'something' lies ahead.

Your real work doesn't begin after the "Light switch went off", it began long before it; when the room was dark and it was impossible to see.