Creativity

You’ve got it all set – you’ll write (or make art) on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, at 3:00, for an hour each time. Sounds good, doable and perhaps even a little exciting.

This lasts for a week, maybe two. Something comes up – always – and you’re thrown off your routine faster than a squirrel leaping off a branch. And you’ll be left feeling like a failure, like something is wrong with you. You may even abandon your creative ambitions altogether.

Why does your splendidly devised routine fail you? Mostly because we don’t take into account all of our other obligations. We don’t give ourselves wiggle room. We tend to over-book ourselves, and our beloved optimism works against us. We also crave variety, and we don’t like to feel boxed in or pinned down.

It took me years to accept the fact that setting up a routine is usually a set up for failure. Sure, it may work for a week, or two, or even a few months, and then, the ship hits the foam and we veer off course.

It’s not your fault! It’s life. I have learned that it’s always something. Every single week has its wrench to hack your carefully devised rhythm. And, sigh, you have to get back on the wagon, often losing valuable time beating yourself up that you fell off.

If setting and resetting your creative routine works for you, hooray! Keep doing that. I suggest another approach: become an ardent opportunist. 

This type of creative may not have planned her creative time but seems to get a lot done.

It helps to know when your best creative times are – early morning before everyone is awake. Late afternoon before the evening cycle begins. But the ardent opportunist knows that she doesn’t NEED those windows of time. She can create anywhere, anytime, even if it’s just capturing ideas and insights while away from the studio. 
The ardent opportunist seizes any chance she can to create. She has her notebook with her at all times to capture her ideas, to whip out a 10-minute free-write, to finish a sketch.

When an appointment cancels or a window of time opens up, she doesn’t pop over to social media or email. She digs into her project. She knows that these small drips of time add up. 

The ardent opportunist savors little victories. She knows that even the shortest sessions count, and she gives herself credit for showing up when she can. 

The ardent opportunist doesn’t make excuses. She looks for ways to make it work for her. 
She sets deadlines and works hard to meet them. When random events throw her off course, she gets back on with renewed commitment.

I try to be an ardent opportunist as much as I can. It’s often in those windows of time that I would never have suspected would be fruitful that have worked best for me.

Are you an ardent opportunist or a planning failure? Try to adopt the ardent opportunist approach this week and see what happens. Share your approach below!

You find a structure that seems great to help you stay on track with your art or writing- something like the 100 Days Project.

You choose your focus and start out with a BANG! The first days are heady, where you feel joyously connected and committed to your creative love.

You see progress. You feel pride. Flush with joy and power, you show up every freaking day for your project. You are a creative badass.

And then…vacation. Guests. A tornado/flood/election/accident/illness/baby/new horse/barn/puppy/kitten/squirrel/fill in the blank derails you.

And all the woo hooo you started with turns into boo hoo. The self-recrimination kicks in. You wonder why you ever thought you could stick to your creative passions. It seems SO impractical, anyway. Just go back to the ‘same old, same old’ and forget your creative dreams.

Has this ever happened to you? I know this well, not just because of all the time I spend with my clients and students, but because I go through this cycle as well.

I got derailed from the 100 Day Project when I went on vacation. I didn’t want to do anything! I even left my FitBit behind, and my phone didn’t have service the entire week. When I came back to the studio, I found it hard to get back to my 100 portraits. I only had 12 left, but finishing seemed like an insurmountable mountain.

I finally completed the 100 Day Project last week – a week behind everyone else. I eked my way forward and finished 100 portraits. With my coach’s help, I completed my commitment and feel so much better than if I had surrendered to the post-vacation inertia.

Having her support helped, but what really gets me to finish my books, launch new courses and complete most of the projects I commit to is not someone else cracking the whip.

It’s my own inner drive. Self-respect. Integrity. Intrinsic motivation. Call it what you will. For me, it’s a matter of being able to live with and like myself. Like you, I have plenty of inner demons that try to take me down on a daily basis. If I were to add ‘creative loser’ to the mix, I would be sunk.

Keeping our creative promises is one of the best power moves we can do to generate self-respect and self-love. When I stay on track with my projects, following all the way to the freaking nitty-gritty, often excruciating finish line, I gain so much power. Not only do I keep my word, I have more fun and learn a ton about myself.

When I lined up all 100 portraits and took photos and video footage, pride welled up inside me. I chose my favorites – all 22 of them. That might sound like a small number, but it doesn’t matter. I made 22 portraits that fill me with pride and joy. I overcame a limiting belief about my artistic ability. I gained permission to do it my way, and made great strides toward developing my artistic style.

If I had given up before the finish line, that ‘fail’ would have been all I could focus on. I wouldn’t have given myself credit for what I did do. And now, I feel like a badass finisher, not because it was easy, but because it was hard to get over the finish line.

There are many reasons to stick with a project to the glorious finish line. What motivates you to stay on track? Share your tips and tricks below.

Need help finishing your projects? Pick up a copy of my e-book, Cross the Finish Line and be the badass finisher you know you can be.

You might not be depositing checks earned by the sweat of your pen (yet). But that doesn’t mean you can’t start becoming financially savvy with your writing or art.

One of the top tips for becoming financially empowered is to pay yourself first. But how can you do that without incoming cash? Set your intention, and take action. Here are eight ways to make money a part of your writing, even before you get paid from others.

Begin by setting your intention to match money with your creativity. Do this by opening a bank account for your creative life. Get a savings account and label it ‘creativity’ or another inspiring name that will remind you of your intention.

Fund your account by paying yourself when you submit a query, finish a body of work, or achieve some other creative victory. Don’t wait for others to acknowledge your progress. It doesn’t have to be a lot; even ten dollars for each success signals to yourself that you value your efforts.

Spend from your creative stash only for your creative work. Use your creative funds to pay for contest entry fees, subscriptions, and supplies. Or, earmark your account for a big reward such as a workshop, retreat or conference.

Track of your art-related expenditures. Make creativity a priority and investigate how you can shift your financial priorities to support your art or writing. Keep a log of your creative money and see where you are spending more money than time on your art.

Calculate the return of ‘psychic payment’ on the creating you do. These include the side effects, or benefits, that you get from doing something. Psychic payments from writing could be: feeling of satisfaction with yourself, surge of power from expressing yourself, excitement over completing and submitting something. How do these non-monetary rewards ‘pay’ you?

Affirm your abundance. Write a whopping check and in the memo line, put Book Advance. Carry it around or post it in your studio. I write affirmations about the number of clients I want to work with and the number of workshop participants I want to enroll. I include a dollar amount with plus signs, like this: $50,000+++. I’ve been doing this for years. Guess what? Woo-woo as it sounds, it absolutely works every time.

State clear money goals. Write down when you’d like to start making money for your art and writing, what you’d like to get paid, and what you’re willing to work for. Set a standard for yourself and stick to it. For instance, your intention might look like this – After January, 2018, I publish only for payment in money (not just ‘visibility.)

Get dreamy. What will you do with the money you earn from your creativity? You might take a trip, pay off your computer or fund a conference. Write down your big vision of how you will spend your hard-earned cash. I suggest funneling the money back into your writing.

Try any or all of these over the next three months and see what happens. Notice what happens when you take these actions instead of waiting, wishing and hoping the world will pay you for your efforts.

By bringing awareness and financial focus to your art, you prepare yourself for the day when others pay you for your creative work. Keep track of emotions, ideas, and external events that stem from your efforts.

Let me know how it goes. If you already practice some of these things, let me know what results you’ve experienced. Share your money wins in the Comment section below.

My Inner Artist Spoke Up and I Listened