Coach Yourself Through the Difficulty of Creating

Another revision of your essay. Writing your artist’s bio or the About page of your blog. Putting together the promotional material to let everyone know about your new show or offering.

You’re jumping up and down, eager to do these tasks, right? I know. Not fun. As I mentioned in last week’s article, sometimes creating is difficult. I highlighted the benefits we get from facing difficult work and here I want to share my coaching strategies for getting through the tough labor of creating anything.
Follow these steps to take the sting out of hard creative work.
1)    Why bother? You can gain a lot of traction by connecting with your intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the work you’re doing. For me, I’m willing to do another draft of my novel because I want to make it as good as it can be. I’ve seen how I can exponentially make it better in previous drafts, and the part of me that likes challenges is sparked.
My extrinsic, or external motivation is that I want people to read this novel. It relates to my work as a coach for unconventional, creative women. This book is part of my bigger mission of helping women find their authentic, creative voice.
Self-Coaching: Write down your intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the project at hand. Keep it nearby for moments when you wish you were ensconced in the hammock enjoying the fruits of someone else’s labor.
2) Set a target date for completion. Without a deadline, it’s all too easy to avoid the work. With your deadline in mind, schedule time to work on your project. Choose small, doable dates. For me, I scheduled weekly Friday morning writing dates with myself plus additional meetings with my writing buddy David. I committed to doing those plus any other times I might want to write.
Self-Coaching: Get your calendar out now and schedule in small, achievable dates. Don’t be overly ambitious here and do not schedule anything that you will override or blow off later. Keeping your commitments to yourself will grow your confidence.
3) Make an action plan. Write down a concrete plan, full of specific and doable action steps. When I go to write on Friday, I know that what my next step is. I can sit down and immediately begin working.
A specific plan works wonders to help keep potentially overwhelming emotions at bay. Fear, anxiety, confusion about what’s next – all gone. It makes the work of creating a bit more methodical and it seems to reduce the difficulty of the revision.
Self-Coaching: Don’t go any further without making a list of action items that you can begin working on this week. Develop this as much as you’d like, but be sure to begi acting on the plan rather than lingering in planning mode.
4) Get accountability. I mentioned my writing buddy David. We’re both doing the last revision of our novels. We committed to each other that we’d finish our novels by the end of summer. I’m working closely with my friend in Paris – more on that later. I’ve also been announcing my plans publicly on Facebook and Twitter. This helps me feel the support of my tribe and keeps me accountable.
I have worked with coaches who helped me to stay on track and who held me accountable. Having professional support to complete projects is invaluable. You get 100% focus on your agenda and needs. This kind of support can be the thing that allows you to undertake the difficult work with less struggle.
Self-Coaching: Who will help hold you accountable? Get clear on what kind of support you want and then set up agreements with creative buddies, or a mentor or coach.
Try these steps when you’re facing projects or creative work that seems beyond your abilities. Trust that the process of being engaged with your art will help pull you through. Thinking about it, avoiding it, dreading it do not help you overcome the emotional challenges. Doing the work in your own authentic style is the only way through.