Your Tomatoes Don’t Fool Me

October 19, 2011 by 5 Comments

I watched a beautiful yet horrifying video recently about how conventional tomatoes are picked green then forced to ripen in a gas chamber before going to market. Hence their perfectly even red coloration. I know, right?

Following an odd little breadcrumb thought trail, I started thinking about how those of us called to the spotlight (having a life purpose of “Creative Expression in the Spotlight” or an Apollo Star gift marking indicating “Fame & Fortune in the Arts”), are no strangers to the land of the false tomatoes.

In hand analysis terminology, a “tomato fear” is used to describe the fear of having rotten tomatoes thrown at you while you are performing your art.

(Your art = that Thing you do, e.g. write, speak, act, dance, sing, paint, etc., for your audience.)

The thing is, your tomato fears don’t fool me.

Are they fooling you?

Here’s what I know.

Fear is fear, nothing else.

Our silly and oh-so-sweet-and-well-meaning, reptilian-brain-driven inner critic voices would like us to believe, “No, really, I’m serious this time, you could really die from this, you better pay attention,” but we know better.

Fear is just that thing that stands in the way of our big dreams.

But we — and yes, I do mean we — simply cannot allow ourselves to be swayed by that voice of fear.

Steven Pressfield said, “Figure out what scares you the most and do that first.” 

See, I know you are terrified to pursue your dream.

I know you think you are just bored and haven’t found what you are passionate about yet.

But I also I know you picture yourself being laughed off the stage or out of the audition.

Or that people will secretly say behind your back about your writing, “She’s not really that good.”

I know this, because your tomato fears don’t fool me.

I know you are petrified.

I am too.

Let’s do it anyway.

Your Turn

I always love hearing from you in the comments on my blog.

 

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> October 31st. Monday. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Really, don’t miss it. If you want to write but you aren’t finding the time for it or being consistent or accountable to your dream, this will give you just the kick in the pants you’re looking for. Sign up here.

~> November 10th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. Sold out. Details about future groups — yes, you might want to get on the mailing list.

 


~> Next Tuesday. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey.

~> Ongoing. Writing for the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU. There’s so much more to come!

~> FRIDAYS & now daily too. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

 

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: , ,

Getting into the Creative Zone

October 12, 2011 by 6 Comments

I’ve heard from many creatives that it takes too long to get in and out of the “creative zone” so they can’t find the time to do their creative work, because they have to have big long chunks of time to get into the groove, actually do the work, and get back out of it.

I used to believe this too.

When I first set up my Sacred Writing Time on Fridays, I was trying to do some work on my coaching business and then do some writing, but I found it extremely difficult to do.

I figured it was because it was “too hard to shift gears” from one type of work to another.

What’s true about this is that they ARE different kinds of work.

So I decided that Fridays would be ONLY for writing. And that helped for a while.

Creating Everyday Turns It Around

But then I started my Writer’s Accountability Circle, and I made a commitment to writing every weekday.

I reorganized my schedule to include writing time at the beginning of each day, and while I’ve sometimes struggled to do it first, I’ve pretty much managed to write every single day I intended to.

I’ve also found that jumping right back into my writing is nowhere near as hard as it used to be.

Turns out that creating more frequently, even for lesser amounts of time, makes it easier to keep your work fresh in your mind (something I’ve talked about in my free tips series for writers), and therefore easier to dive back into.

Resistance Is Oh-So-Obvious

Plus I’m finding that when I really do put my writing first, my resistance is much more obvious. (More on resistance here.)

And therefore much easier to bust.

Case in point: Yesterday morning when I came home to write after dropping off my son at school, I found my fear coming up big time.

See, I’m at a key transition point in my writing where I’m moving into new territory, and my fearful self thinks I won’t be able to come up with anything new.

Luckily, due to the daily Writer’s Circle question I answer, “What negative self-statements did you notice?” I’m more clear about what I’m telling myself than I used to be.

So I was able to say to myself, “Okay, this is fear coming up. I’m going to do the best I can to face it and do this anyway. What will help me?”

And I had the insight almost instantaneously to use mind-mapping to help me get unstuck.

So I did.

And it did! I came up with a great new spin on one of my concepts that I’m very happy with.

To Sum Up

  • We have lots of excuses for not doing our creative work.
  • Resistance is more obvious and solvable when you face it every day.
  • Writing (or creating, depending on your “thing”) daily helps keep your work fresh in your mind.
  • Time to get out of “all or nothing” thinking.
  • Fear is only fear. Nothing more, nothing less. It takes courage to face it, but it’s worth it.

Your Turn

What do you think about all this? I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below, about:

  • How resistance shows up for you.
  • What you’re doing to move through it anyway.
  • What stories you’ve recently busted yourself on.

Also, if you’d like to read more along these lines, you might be interested in my Free Tips Series for Writers, “How to Stop Making Excuses and Start Writing,” here. I’ve written 5 lessons so far and will be adding to them soon.

And if you’d like to vote on the topics you’d most like to hear about, you can do so, here:

[polldaddy poll=”5577143″]

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> November 1st. Tuesday. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Really, don’t miss it. If you want to write but you aren’t finding the time for it or being consistent or accountable to your dream, this will give you just the kick in the pants you’re looking for. Sign up here.

~> November 10th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. Sold out. Details.

 


~> Next Tuesday. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey. We’ve had to postpone our last two sessions (resistance??) so we’ll be regrouping next week. :)

~> Ongoing. Writing in 10 day stretches for the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU. So far so good.

~> FRIDAYS & mornings too. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

Filed Under: Creativity, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Busting Through Conceptual Glass Ceilings

October 5, 2011 by 1 Comment

How do you “up” your creative game?

How do you breakthrough the limitations of your thinking and conceive of something that’s entirely original?

Or is it really true that “there’s nothing new under the sun?”

As a die hard science fiction fan, I can readily attest that nothing delights me more than new ideas and seeing things in new ways, or even seeing my own similar musings explored by like-minded wonderers. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, here comes Another Earth or Melancholia to bend my mind in new ways (haven’t seen them yet, but looking forward to them).

So how do we reach for those ideas and concepts we’ve never thought of before? How can we bust through those conceptual glass ceilings that keep us spinning the same ideas around in endless circles instead of coming up with something new?

I’ll tell you my deep dark secret: I’ve never been sure that I can. I’d like to be able to, but I’ve never trusted my creativity enough to come up with something brand new.

But I like to think I can.

Snap Out of It

My friend Giulietta says most of us are sleep walking through our lives.

There are days when I remember to dig my head up out of the hole of my computer, look at the sky, and remember.

Remember to breathe, to be awake, to see. Oh yeah, I’m awake, I’m alive, it’s not about how much email I “have to” answer today…

Try Something New

As I’ve explored the screenwriting industry, I’ve been thrilled to look at things with new eyes.

The big news over the last few years in the coaching industry is all about learning formulas and blueprints for success. Yawn.

What I love about my current screenwriting class is that the focus is on teaching us to take our familiar ideas and look at them from different perspectives to generate new concepts. It’s entirely refreshing.

If you’re tired of thinking about the same old things in the same old way, try learning something new and see how it translates back into your world.

Set Yourself Up for Inspiration

As I’ve been working with my creative clients around setting up sacred time for their creative endeavors, one of the things that’s become crystal clear is that it is not necessarily in those precise minutes of working that inspiration happens, but that showing up regularly to the work allows the inspiration to come through then or other random moments, like in the shower or on a walk.

Most of us think we have to wait for that moment of random inspiration to occur, but by consciously creating time to put yourself through your paces, you open yourself up to possibilities.

Mind Map Your Way Out of It

I’ve had a lot of fun experimenting with mind mapping and free writing lately as tools to get my creative engines whirring.

I take a “seed idea,” or a problem I’m stuck on resolving, put it at the center of my paper and start spider diagramming until I solve it (thanks to Kris for reminding me recently about this great tool).

Somehow the act of writing down EVERYTHING I’m thinking, without judgment or censorship, is what allows me to come up with new solutions. There’s so much filtering that happens internally, that otherwise those new breakthroughs might never see the light of day.

Which Reminds Me

Isn’t it interesting that so much of the sleepwalking we do in life is tied to censorship?

We’ve been so programmed to “go along” that we forget to think for ourselves.

Wouldn’t it be a brave new world if we could all bust through that conceptual ceiling?

Your Turn

What do you think about all this? I’d love to hear from you.

 

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> October 7th. FRIDAY. The absolute VERY LAST day to get into the current session of my Writer’s Circle. Really, don’t miss it. If you want to write but you aren’t finding the time for it or being consistent or accountable to your dream, this will give you just the kick in the pants you’re looking for. Sign up here.

~> November 10th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. Ready to find your life purpose through an astonishingly accurate system of hand analysis and claim your big vision in the world? There’s only one spot left in this affordable small group session. I don’t know when I’ll be offering another one of these sessions, so jump in now if you’re on the fence. Personalized payment plans are available. Sign up here.

 


~> Next two Tuesdays. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey. Wish us luck for finishing up!

~> Ongoing. Writing in 10 day stretches for the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU. Amazing!

~> FRIDAYS & now mornings too. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Writers, This Is For You

September 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Whether you’re a novelist, screenwriter, poet, singer-songwriter, playwright, or sci fi maven, you know that getting your butt in the seat and getting your writing done isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

But you also know that if you don’t make your writing happen, you will have left your life’s great work undone.

I’ve been writing professionally for the last 9 years as a coach, and I’m now developing my creative writing abilities as well. I know what it takes to get my writing done, and I’ve created a number of supports, including my new Writer’s Circle, to help you claim your dream of being a writer or get back on the horse as a writer to contend with.

In honor of the official grand opening of my Writer’s Circle, which opens to the public on Tuesday, October 4th after our initial beta test run, I’m publishing a free writing tips series called “How to Stop Making Excuses and Start Writing.”

If you’re ready to get on with your writing, sign up now to receive my Free Tips Series at https://calledtowrite.com/free-writing-tips

Filed Under: Creativity, Productivity, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Healing Your Past Creative Wounds

September 29, 2011 by 1 Comment

One of the things that can stop us from moving ahead with our creative work is our creative wounds.

These are the painful experiences we’ve been through associated with our creative work that lead us to make decisions that it’s not safe to be creative or take creative risks, and that ultimately we’ll be hurt if we express ourselves creatively.

These wounds show up in our lives looking like creative blocks, and we can even forget about them until we do a little deeper digging.

I’m in the process right now of working with myself and my clients to clean up these old creative wounds, so that we can move forward more consciously.

So How Does One Heal a Creative Wound?

Here’s a simplified version of the process I’m using with my clients, which is based on Isabel’s powerful business transformation work.

  1. First, identify the story of the creative wound. What happened, factually? What happened, emotionally?
  2. Then identify the conclusion that you’ve drawn as a result of that experience. What have you decided to believe about being creative as a result of the experience?
  3. How can you reframe that limiting belief into a new way of looking your creativity that is both believable and supportive?
  4. Now do some release work on the story — write a forgiveness letter and shred or flush it, do a shamanic fire ritual (a “green fire”), use ho’oponopono, or create another ritual to let go of the old story.

Simple as this work may sound, it can have quite an impact.  My clients are already reporting seeing new levels of inspiration and creative discovery as a result of our work. It’s thrilling!

Your Turn

  • What creative wound are you ready to let go of?
  • How has it shown up in your life so far?
  • Are you ready to let it go?

I’d love to hear from you.

 

Jenna

 

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Filling Your Creative Well

September 21, 2011 by 1 Comment

As a burned-out urban designer back in the 90s, I learned the hard way about the toll endless hours of work, constant deadlines, painful creative wounds, and unaddressed self-doubts can have on your level of creative inspiration.

Since then I’ve aimed to keep myself a tad more in balance.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve learned from Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, to aim to fill my “creative well” to overflowing, but I’ve never fully embraced the concept of artist dates.

Cultivating A High Quality Diet

Todd Henry, the author of The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice suggests that having a carefully cultivated diet of high quality “stimuli” (the information we feed our brains) can give us a head start when it comes to solving our creative dilemmas in advance.

He suggests taking these three factors into consideration when selecting your stimuli diet:

  1. Challenge yourself: “Commune with great minds and experience mind-stretching concepts and ideas that challenge [your] existing view of the world.” I love TED talks for this purpose.
  2. Choose wisely: Select sources that both push your own personal growth and that are topically appropriate to the creative project you are currently working on.
  3. Diversify: Bring in a mix of varied media and topics to help you think creatively and in new ways. Andrea Lee, in Jennifer Lee’s Right Brain Business Plan Video Summit (more here), gave some brilliant examples of her varied diet of reading that includes game design, acting, and history.

Putting It Into Practice

I’ve naturally been tackling factor #2: I’ve been reading sci fi scripts from favorite shows for inspiration for my screenwriting project.

For #1 & #3, I recently attended a local screening of Connected the Film by filmmaker Tiffany Shlain (interview here), which was hugely inspiring for me, primarily because it had me expanding my thinking into new deeper meanings I want to bring to my work.

And Voilà, An Artist Date!

Somewhat hilariously, I realized I had unintentionally taken myself on an artist date after all.

As an aspiring screenwriter and film maker, I was visually entertained and my right brain was seeing all the amazing patterns and connections, and my intellectual left brain was thrilled by the ideas and concepts being bandied about.

Your Turn

  • How do you love to fill your creative well? 
  • What keeps you inspired?
  • What kinds of stimuli are making it past your gatekeeper, and are they high quality?

I’d love to hear from you.

 

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> October 4th – CORRECTED DATE — The next session of my Writer’s Circle accountability system starts. Have a novel you want to write? A book burning inside you that HAS to come out? Poems, songs, stories, and scripts that need to make their way to the page and into the world? Join the next round of my Writer’s Circle and see your words flow onto the page. Stay tuned for details about how you can participate.

~> November 10th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. Details. Only 3 spots remaining.

 


~> Next Tuesday. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey. We’re closing in on completion!

~> THIS Weekend. Starting the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU. Yeah, I’m excited and terrified all at once. :)

~> FRIDAYS & now morning times too. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

Filed Under: Creativity

The Dreaded ‘D’-Word

September 14, 2011 by 5 Comments

Lately I’ve been talking a lot with my very right-brained, creative, multi-passionate, multi-talented clients and cohorts about the “D”-word.

Yeah, that’s right.

Discipline.

It’s enough to make an artist cower in terror behind legions of excuses and doubts or pipe up with even a little disdain.

(I’m an artist, I like to go with the flow / wait for the right mood to strike / follow the energy / be divinely inspired.)

(Not that there’s really anything wrong with that. As an intuitive, an empath, and a Four, I can relate to ALL of that, and I don’t even think it’s “wrong” per se.)

But the thing is, when it comes to getting our creative work out into the world, we often go to sleep on ourselves instead of doing the work to make it happen.

We go to sleep on those deeper-yet-oh-so-slippery truths that tell us what we need to do our best work.

We forget.

We get busy with other things.

We wait for something that never comes.

Is Discipline Really the Enemy?

It never ceases to astonish me how little actual discipline is practiced when it comes to doing the hard work of creating our stuff.

And by hard, I don’t mean Hard. I mean HARD.

The kind of hard that keeps you massively resisting showing up to your writing or your canvas or your practice development, even when you don’t even realize it (we’ll save the other D-word conversation for another day).

You think you’re too busy, you need to make more money first, or your kids need too much of your attention.

Ha!

The truth is, you need to make a commitment to get your Butt In Your Seat and show up to the creative Big Dream you know you are here to fulfill.

There is simply No Other Way it is going to happen.

One thing we do know is that the artists who take regular action to see their work through to completion are the ones who quietly make it happen.

Here’s the funny thing about all of this.

You don’t need to force yourself to make big, giant, rigid commitments of time and energy to make your work happen.

It’s much simpler than that.

Make discipline your friend and ally.

Just commit to taking regular, consistent, and small steps and you’ll move forward in a sustainable way to seeing your dream become a reality.

Inspiration From Seth Godin:

“While you and I have been busy running down dead ends and wasting our effort, scientists have been busy trying to figure out what actually works. And they know how:

  •     Small steps work.
  •     Consistent effort works.
  •     Group support works.

That’s it. Three things. Set a goal, and in small, consistent steps, work to reach it. Get support from your peers when you start flagging. Repeat.

You will change.” 

Your Turn

For me this looks like screenwriting every weekday for a minimum of 15 minutes and reporting in about it to my Writer’s Circle group.

What does it look like for you?

I’d love to hear from you.

 

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> October 6th. The next session of my Writer’s Circle accountability system starts. Stay tuned for details about how you can participate.

~> November 10th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. Details. Only 3 spots remaining.

 


~> This Thursday. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey. We’re closing in on completion!

~> FRIDAYS & now morning times too. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

 

 

Filed Under: Creativity, Getting Stuff Done, Productivity Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Sustaining Your Energy & Creativity

September 7, 2011 by 6 Comments

As a highly driven and highly creative person, I work hard.

I push myself, and I put in long hours, even when I know better.

As a highly sensitive person, I have learned to set limits — I don’t work weekends and try to keep evenings to a minimum, though that has been a bit slippery lately.

Although I aim for balance, I still get more tired than I want to, especially considering all the ambitions I have (quality time with my family, traveling, finishing my script, writing a book, doing my personal spiritual work, reading more, having alone time, connecting with my husband, gardening, sewing, keeping up with the house, papers & chores, spending time with friends, cooking, learning to paint, etc.).

I’ve done some great work with organizer Miriam Ortiz y Pino on creating time blocks in my schedule and my coach Isabel Parlett has helped me focus on putting first things first and creating powerful sacred writing time in my schedule.

It’s been so helpful and amazing!

But still. I know I want to feel better about all the wonderful things I’m doing and enjoy them more.

Keeping the Creative Well Full

As I’ve gotten my brand spankin’ new Writer’s Circle going just this week, I’ve been reminded of the importance of keeping the creative channels flowing and open.

I’ve learned from Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, to aim to fill my “creative well” to overflowing, but I’ve never fully embraced the concept of artist dates, which is a primary tool for doing so along with great self-care. Though I love the idea in theory, I still find myself in a high level of resistance to seeing them through (a project for another day, perhaps).

How to Be Excellent — & Productive — At Anything

What I’ve been delighted with lately is a series of new insights I’m gleaning from Todd Henry’s new book, The Accidental Creative.

He makes a series of brilliant points that my obligation-pitfall / Life School of Service brain really needs to hear.

He quotes Tony Schwartz from his book How to Be Excellent at Anything:

“The real issue is not the number of hours we sit behind a desk but the energy we bring to the work we do and the value we generate as a result. A growing body of research suggests that we’re most productive when we move between periods of high focus and intermittent rest. Instead, we live in a gray zone, constantly juggling activities but rarely fully engaging in any of them — or fully disengaging from any of them. The consequence is that we settle for a pale version of the possible.”

It’s Really All About Effectiveness, Not Efficiency

Todd Henry goes on to say:

“What Schwartz articulates so well is that even if we effectively manage our time and resources, but neglect our energy level, our effectiveness will decrease over time. Today’s success begets tomorrow’s success, so for the creative worker, when you lack the energy to generate ideas today, it takes a toll on tomorrow’s creative effectiveness. The longer the energy drain continues, the more you dig yourself into a hole.”

Ah Ha!

For my beleaguered creative brain, this is like a giant light bulb and a big “Duh” going off in my head all at the same time.

For me, not only does it remind me to call into question the truly insane work ethics of most creative and design related professions (70 hour work-weeks anyone?), it also has me asking about the sustainability of our standard work habits in a whole new way (never taking breaks, cramming as much into the day as possible, staying at your desk for hours on end, etc.)

Antidotes

For my Writer’s Circle, we’re working with a method of “writing sprints” or writing sessions, where we work for no more than 45 minute sessions before taking a break to do something enjoyable and/or renewing, like stretching, sitting in the sunshine, having a treat of some kind, or goofing off (consciously and deliberately) on the internet. So far so good.

The idea is to be able to do sustainable creative work in the long term.

Doesn’t that sound delicious?

Your Turn

I’d love to hear from you about this subject:

  • What thoughts does this inspire for you?
  • How do you build sustainability into your life?
  • Have you ever felt creatively burnt out? How did you recover?

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> September 6th. Beta-testing my Writer’s Circle accountability system with a select group. Stay tuned for how you can participate next month, starting October 6th.

~> November 10th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. Details. Only 3 spots remaining.

 


~> This weekend. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey.

~> FRIDAYS & now morning times too. Sacred writing days. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

 

 

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Find The Answer and Get Unstuck

August 2, 2011 by 6 Comments

What do you do when you have a project you need to make progress on but you don’t know how to “solve” part of it, and you are stuck.

From stuck it’s a quick trip to procrastination land.

For Instance:

  • Let’s say you’re writing a story and you don’t know where to take the characters because you don’t know what the final outcome is. So you put it off until you can figure it out or feel divinely inspired with the solution.
  • Or let’s say you have a proposal to write for a client and you’ve been procrastinating on taking action on it because you don’t know how to package or price it yet.
  • Or maybe, you have a new program you want to offer but you don’t know what to include in it or how it will all fit together. So you feel like you can’t get started.

The Good News & Not So Good News

All that wondering is good fodder, actually. It means your brain is turning over the problem and looking for a solution.

That’s the good news.

The less good news is that without some kind of concerted effort on your part, actually getting to that answer will likely remain evasive.

Here’s What You Can Do Instead

Sit down, take out the Thing (whatever it is) and get to work on it.

  • Write out as much of it as you know.
  • Or, start with a rough draft or a previous similar project that you can base it on.
  • Or, get out a blank sheet of paper and doodle down everything you can think of.

Start giving it form and going through the steps of designing it even if you don’t know what the final outcome will be.

Commit to the Exploration

And very often, the answer to that missing piece or missing pieces will emerge, simply as a result of committing to the exploration and getting as far as you can.

No Dice? Get Help

If the answer does not come, ask this question, “Who or what can help me answer this question?”

And then ask for that help.

Your Turn

I’d love to hear from you about this subject:

  • How do you get yourself unstuck?
  • Let’s save stories about you never get stuck for another day. :)

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> August. Doing Creative Destiny Assessments with visionary creatives ready to claim their creative destiny. Interested? Email me here to request a session.

~> August 4th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. SOLD OUT. Details. If you’re interested in the next group (September 29th), email my team here and we’ll add you to the waiting list.

~> September. Beta-testing my new writer’s accountability system with a select group. Stay tuned for more info.

 


~> Alternate MONDAYS. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey.

~> FRIDAYS. Sacred writing days. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> Vacationing with my family in August (at least part of it!).

 

 

Filed Under: Creativity, Productivity Tagged With: , ,

Creative Inspiration vs. Creative Resistance

July 27, 2011 by 5 Comments

Is it necessary to be “creatively inspired” before pursuing creative projects, or is waiting for creative inspiration a pitfall that trips us up?

Another way of saying this is: Do you have to be in the ‘right mood’ or ‘right energy’ in order to be creative?

Steven Pressfield would call this “resistance,” and say instead that what we need to do is show up and “do the work” no matter what pain, doubt, terror, or mood we might encounter in the process.

There’s more on this subject in my article, “Resistance is Futile.”

My experience is that often when I think I “can’t” create, and I do it anyway, the act of engaging with my art puts me in a whole new energy state, usually one that is more uplifted and inspired.

Other times, when I’m really stuck in my thinking or in a bad mood (yes, me too), I can jolt myself out of it by wondering about creative solutions, which puts me in a more resourceful creative state.

It seems like if I ask the right question, like, “I wonder how I could make my character more convincing as a tough, surly broad?” :) or “I wonder how I could make contact with the sci fi filmmakers?” all kinds of new answers start flowing to me.

Your Turn

I’d love to hear from you about any or all of these:

  • Do you wait for inspiration to strike when it comes to your creative projects?
  • Do you know how to draw on your inspiration at will (and if so, how do you do it)?
  • Or do you get your butt in seat and start writing (or whatever your artistic equivalent is)?

 

Coming Attractions

~> July & August. Doing Creative Destiny Assessments with visionary creatives ready to claim their creative destiny. Interested? Email me here to request a session.

~> August 4th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. SOLD OUT. Details. If you’re interested in the next group (probably in September), email my team here and we’ll add you to the list.

~> September. Beta-testing my new writer’s accountability system with a select group and offering Life Purpose Coaching Groups. Stay tuned for more info.

 


~> MONDAYS. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey.

~> FRIDAYS. Sacred writing days. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> Vacationing with my family in August (at least part of it!).

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: , ,
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