Because it’s Monday and I am working in the home office, I thought it might be fun to share a peek into where I work. Working on my newsletter, enrolling students into my online writing class, Free-Write Fling and prepping my upcoming Paris art trip. I love variety! What are you working in this fine Monday?
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productivity
Mid-Year Review with Mind Mapping
It’s June, halfway through the year. I love summer for the chance to play a bit more. But before I go into the play zone, let’s do a mid-year check-in. This doesn’t have to take long. Enjoy a glass of lemonade or tea and check in on your year so far.
Doing this kind of reflection process helps to:
- see if you are on track with your priorities
- surprise yourself with all the wonderful, unexpected things that have happened
- celebrate how much you’ve already accomplished
- prepare for the next part of the year
I love my mind maps, and here’s another way to use them as a project management tool.
In January, I did a quarterly mind map of my major projects. The focus for this map is my art and art business. I laid out the known projects for each quarter. I don’t use goals as much as a focus on projects and intention. You can see in the middle of my map is my focus for my art this year – Make and Sell Things.
Additional notes:
There’s not a lot on Q4, leaving room to grow and also to have room in case some of the earlier projects aren’t complete by the last quarter.
The 100 Day Project and subsequent show weren’t on the map at the beginning of the year. This is turning out to be one of the best things of the year, and I am glad I made room for it.
I later added a goal of $10,000 or more gross income from art sales. I thought I was halfway there, but doing this review forced me to look up the numbers. So far I’ve earned over $8,000 in art sales this year. It’s exciting to feel that I’m going to surpass my art income goal this year! This is a huge confidence booster and a good reason to do the review in itself!
When I revisited this, I added some things and relished that I seem to be on track with my art goals. Time for some coconut milk ice cream to celebrate!
A few coaching questions for you to reflect on your year to date:
- What was the focus of your year?
- What has helped you stay committed to your focus?
- What unexpected surprises happened?
- What’s your focus for the rest of the year?
Have you done your mid-year review? What did you learn from it?
Let us know in a comment below, and if this was helpful for you, please share with your friends!
Forget goals; invest in practices for creative satisfaction
How do you get everything done? Writing, art making, coaching, teaching – just a few of the roles I juggle. I’m sure you’ve got as many or more roles you play. We’re all trying to squeeze more into every day. How do I get things done?
It’s a constant adjustment process of my work flow. In fact, it’s the problem we seek to solve at Original Impulse: how do we get our best creative work done despite everything that conspires against us?
I’m always looking for the right combination to fend off distraction, OPA and decision swirl. I want to focus on things that matter to me, that challenge me, and that serve to inspire others’ creative dynamism.
So, rather than set big goals for 2015, I’m trying a new schedule. My hope is that new structure makes it easier to do what I love. Here’s what I’m experimenting with: [Read more…] about Forget goals; invest in practices for creative satisfaction
Stop Being a Victim of OPA
You’re tooling along, writing your book or making your art. The next thing you know, you’re a victim of OPA – Other People’s Agenda.
OPA shows up in the following ways:
- emails
- social media links
- requests
- phone calls
- brainstorming that has nothing to do with your focus
- opportunities
- friends and family’s ideas of who, how and what you should be
Often, OPA is disguised as opportunities. Offers for you, invitations to speak or write for others. Sounds great, right?
But these opportunities can pull us away from our own agenda. Away from the things we write, the programs we develop, the art we make. Remember, not every opportunity is your opportunity.
OPA can seem harmless enough. But as our attention gets more dissipated, our time becomes more valuable. Our ability to focus is one of the main factors that contributes to our success. I work on this all the time with my clients – how to stay focused on their agenda over the long haul.
How to fend off OPA
I’m not advising you to shut yourself in a cave and ignore the world. OPA can be incredibly enriching. Unexpected possibilities, new insights, new friends and colleagues all come from OPA.
Living at the mercy of OPA dissipates our already-scattered focus. It prevents us from doing our best work.
This is a complex issue. We don’t want to create rigid rules that shut us away from the world. We do want to maintain our focus and stay in relationship with the world.
My focus became much easier to hold when I drafted some policies around requests. These policies clarified my focus and reduced the amount of time I spent responding to OPA.
I recommend developing some boundaries so OPA doesn’t override your agenda. Some include:
- Clear agenda for the year, quarter, month, day
- Timed social media and online wandering sessions
- Focused, offline creating sessions
- Written policies to easily respond to requests
Take stock of the kinds of OPA that regularly show up in your life. For each kind of OPA, write a strategy for managing it.
What helps you avoid being a victim of OPA? Please share your thoughts below. This is a topic I think we all need help with, so your input is appreciated.
Just Keep Showing Up
Every morning, I leave the comfort of bed, make a visit to the bathroom and then take a seat on a cushion. I set a timer for 15 minutes, offer a brief prayer, and try to sit still until the timer goes off.
I’ve been doing this since November 6th, 2012. On the advice of my mentor Jonathan Fields and my friend Kristoffer Carter, I took up meditation. I can’t point to any specific results of this practice. I can’t say I’m a better, more calm person. But I can say that I keep showing up for myself, and that feels good.
Meditation instructor Susan Piver helped guide my practice. She insists that sitting meditation isn’t about quieting the mind. It’s about being with ourselves, being with our mind as it is. With compassion and attention.
This no-judgement practice has allowed me to keep showing up. The only goal: sit down and show up. Even a year into it, I haven’t applied any specific goals other than that. I don’t demand quiet. I don’t deride myself for thinking about episodes of Breaking Bad. I just show up.
The best thing about this meditation practice is that it’s become a habit. A habit is something you do almost without choosing. You just do. The relief and pleasure I feel from this routine that starts my day is great. I don’t have to decide. I don’t have to worry about missing it or forgetting it. It’s as much a part of the day as visiting the bathroom – I just do it.
What does this have to do with the creative life? This is the kind of practice I want my students and clients to cultivate. I urge them to keep showing up, without judgement, without an agenda that chokes the vitality of the work.
I’m not concerned about a good meditation session or a bad one. It’s almost as if every session is the same. The only thing that counts is that I show up.
The same is true for writing or art making. Keep showing up. Let what happens in the session have its own vitality, its own say.
I kept showing up for my novel, draft after draft. It took 12 years, but finally all my efforts culminated in something worth publishing.
How do you keep showing up for your writing or art making? How often can you leave the judge behind to simply and humbly bear witness to your creative impulses? Share your experience in a comment below of the practices that guide your creative life.
Practice with us
Starting today, I’m leading a group of writers around the world in a daily practice. We write every day for 15 minutes, using a verbal and visual prompt. This online writing class, The Devoted Writer, is one of my favorite things to lead.
It’s not too late to join this writing class. Your new writing friends are waiting to welcome you to this practice of showing up for your words.
Creative People: Are You Clinging to an Asset That's Really a Liability?
By Cynthia Morris
Recently, I was with a group of creative adventurers, and we were sharing our dreams with each other. One person’s story showed me the truth of something I’d suspected for a long time: what we consider an asset is actually a liability. Here’s what I mean.
As he described one project idea after another, I clearly saw his energy drain away from him. A film, a book, a new business, blog ideas…all these great ideas buzzed around his head. We listened and I know I wasn’t the only one who was initially excited, then drained by all the possibility.
He confessed that he wasn’t making satisfying progress with any of his ideas. Yet he still clung to the notion that having all these ideas was a good thing.
It struck me like a gong and I had to speak. “Your wealth of ideas is actually a liability,” I said. “Thinking that an abundance of inspiration is a good thing is actually holding you back.”
An abundance of ideas is only an asset if you consistently make and ship them.
No one wants to hear this. We love or precious and brilliant notions. You’ve probably said, “If only I could be paid for all my great ideas!”
But here’s the truth: ideas by themselves are worthless. The thing that makes a creative idea valuable is the sweat and tears and work that goes into making it real. Our creative ideas are nothing without the commitment and labor we bring to them.
Here’s where the true gold lies: our creative projects work us. Your great ideas are not going to make you happy perched in the attic of your imagination.
No. Your idea is going to make you happy because it’s going to demand the best that you’ve got to give and more. Because once your great idea is an actual reality, you’re going to be a different person. A better person.
This is why I spend my precious life coaching people to create their great work: we’re given these great ideas not so we can get our jollies from looking at them and talking about them. We’re given these flights of imagination so we can get on board, one idea after another, and pilot our way to best selves through the work they demand from us.
If you’re guilty of hoarding your ideas as a precious asset, drop it. Instead, commit to one asset at a time and build true creative wealth.
How about you? Have you turned the corner from thinking of your ideas as an asset only if you execute on them? I’d love to hear what you think about this. Please comment below.
Yes! I Respect!
We’ve made countless dates and I stand you up every time. Sometimes I bother with a lame excuse – I had to do the laundry, or I got engrossed in online surfing – and sometimes I don’t even give a reason. I rarely apologize and yet I insist that our relationship is important. And then I do it again. I blow you off.
With good reason, you’re not so happy with me. Sometimes you even tell me off. I’m afraid that you will abandon me altogether and find people who show you respect.
Is this how your relationship with your creativity looks? Might your Muse feel disrespected and abandoned?
I sincerely hope not. I hope you’re heeding the call to create and showing up consistently to practice, play and finish your creative projects. If so, you can stop reading and head back to your writing or art making.
It’s time to live like you respect your creative impulses. Say YES to your creativity and build trust and self-respect. And be a lot happier. If you’re feeling guilty about the lack of respect you’ve shown your Muse, read on.
Six ways to say yes and repair your relationship with your Muse
Yes to creating first. You have a lot of other obligations. Try creating first and see how it fuels your relationships with yourself and others, your work, your other pursuits. If your other relationships are based on respect, your loved ones will be happy that you’re creating.
Yes to prioritizing. Recognize where creating stands on your list of priorities and honor that. Your priority list may look like this: family, health, writing. Honor the place writing has in your life by making time to write and then filling that time in with nothing other than writing – not researching, not talking about writing.
Yes to focus. Create muscular goals. Muscular goals challenge you to your edge. They give heft to the impulse and commitment to create and help you to move past obstacles.
Yes to progress. Respect all and any minor or major accomplishments. This is vital to building trust and momentum for your art making. We often gloss over our achievements and focus on what isn’t happening. Respect your progress and let it fuel more creating.
Yes to completing. Respect your ideas by following them through to their natural end. This will mean different things for different people and different projects.
Yes to confidence. Enjoy the confidence you build in yourself by respecting your creative impulses.
If you’re not feeling the love between you and your Muse, try saying yes more. You’ll both be happier!
How else do you show respect for your creative life? Share your respect in a comment below.
Video Book Review: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
I’ve been reading a ton of great books lately, and this summer I’ll share what I’ve gleaned from the creativity books I love to consume.
This week’s video review: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey.
One line review summary: Read this book for entertainment, not for how-to advice.
I’m giving away a copy of this adorable and entertaining book. Simply tell us about a daily ritual that you do that helps you be more creatively satisfied.
Leave a comment here at the Original Impulse blog by Friday, June 21st at noon MT to be entered into a drawing to win.
How to write books and articles more quickly
All of my clients bump up against the frustration of how long it takes to write. Because we can access and send things at lightning speed, we think we should be able to write and create that quickly. But writing remains a slow process. Especially a book: this requires deep thinking and space to hash out and develop our ideas.
I think what you’re looking for is more efficiency so you can make the most of your writing time. You can set yourself up to write more efficiently. The main work is knowing your own style and systems and sticking to them without wavering.
Here are seven suggestions for feeling like you are mapping and writing with more efficiency and momentum: [Read more…] about How to write books and articles more quickly
My Secret Sauce for Creative Success
I’m as nutty as the next creative person – lots of ideas, interest in a variety of mediums, a preference for play over work.
So why have I been able to consistently start, finish and launch e-books, books, classes and programs? How do I make time for the creative adventures that are fun for me and continue to work?
The short answer: I became a coach and that forced me to the finish line in two ways:
1. I learned productivity and time management skills, and tweaked them to work with my creative ‘insanity’. I kept training myself to do things I didn’t want to do so I could have time to work on projects that matter to me.
2. I dug into my value of integrity; if I was going to help other people be creatively successful, I better walk the talk.
But the long answer? I discovered and held to my three F secret sauce: focus, follow through and finish.
Focus
Every year, I decide what my focus for the year is. This year, it’s making and showing my art, and developing my personal practices in order to have a life outside my business.
Every month, I make a map of the projects I am working on that month. I set deadlines and drive myself toward them.
Every week and every day I force myself to focus on what matters to me and the people I serve. This isn’t easy, but I am committed to refining my work and my life. I’m always learning and that’s why I invest in coaching and programs like The Good Life Project.
Follow through
Like most creative superheroes, I receive a daily stream of new! exciting! different! paths I could follow.
It’s so frickin’ hard to ignore the thrill of these new things. Every day I leap like a trout at small flies that hover on the surface of my idea stream.
But I’ve learned that I’m only allowed to add new things if I am still able to follow through on my current projects.
The main way I am able to follow through is to be accountable to someone else. I use my mastermind partnerships to stay on track.
Finish
Because I’m not able to start new things until I finish current projects, I am motivated to complete things. I also know that great ideas have a shelf life and if I don’t get it out into the world, the idea will wither or someone else will do it. Which would stink.
It’s not easy to drive projects across the finish line. But the more I do it, the more trust I build that I can finish important creative work.
That’s it. This is how I stay on the right side of the nutty line and don’t veer into ‘flaky’ territory. This is what I help my clients do: focus on what matters to them, guide them to follow through on things that will get them where they want to go, and keep them on track to finish their best work.
That’s my secret sauce. Don’t get me wrong; I still struggle with all the same issues we all face in the adventure of living our best creative selves. But I find that this mantra or policy really helps me stay on track so I feel more successful as a creative person.
What’s your method for staying on track to ensure your creative success? Tell us in a comment below, and if there’s someone in your life who might benefit from this simple formula, for goodness sake, share this with them!
The Hidden Gift at the Finish Line of Your Creative Projects
Are you one of those people who can’t seem to finish your creative projects? Books, blog posts, art pieces…no matter what you try, the finish line remains an elusive land you can’t seem to access.
Why, why? Are you simply lazy, inept and perhaps stupid?
I doubt it.
When we consider the entire arc of the creative process, it’s easier to understand why the last part can be so difficult. Imagine a funnel, wide end open to the sky. At the top, we have the beginning phase of creating. In this wide space, we are flush with the heady, exciting sense of possibility.
Here, anything can happen: Our idea will be successful and lucrative. We love this spacious phase, where our ideas shine with intoxicating brilliance. Our abundance of ideas provides proof to us of our creative genius and allows us to dwell where we’re most happy – in the creative dream.
As we move down the funnel, the realm of possibility narrows toward the realm of reality. We begin to bring our snappy concept down to earth. We map it, sketch it, outline it and force it to live according to the laws of gravity, cost, and the dictates of its genre. As we work on our projects, we come in direct contact with our capacities: how much time, energy, resources and skills we actually have to make our idea real.
This reality check can be really uncomfortable. It can be painful to discover that we often get ideas that we don’t yet have the skills to execute. Squeezed by the dictates of our genre, we’re tempted to abandon the mission. (New, sexy ideas crowd around us at this phase.)
To make matters worse, we can also get caught in the emotional undercurrents that run below the surface. Everything that quietly prevented us from creating now shouts loud and clear. It gets more and more painful to even think about your once-beloved project.
The further into the creative process you go, the narrower the space feels, and the more you are required to deal with the emotional eddies that swirl under the surface of your creative life.
- Fears lurk to sabotage us:I’m not good enough.
- I don’t have anything to say, or show.
- This has already been done, and better.
- No one will like it.
- I’ll be exposed as a failure.
- If my work is bad, I am bad.
You’re not a fool for feeling these things, and you’re certainly not alone. After thirteen years of coaching myself and others through all these phases, I believe that the work of creating calls us forth in a deeply powerful and challenging way.
The only way to overcome these fears is to keep creating. If you want to know who you are and what makes you tick, take up an art form and stick with it. Staying with a project from start to finish will teach you more about yourself than years of therapy.
Can you accept that this is the nature of art-making? Can you stop bemoaning how hard it is? Can you embrace the emotional challenges of writing? If so, there are rewards.
Every project has something to teach us. What’s to learn? It’s different for everyone. You may learn something about your true limits. You may unearth some old wound that will be healed through this particular project. You may discover that the forces that have been driving you are no longer your own wishes.
Sticking with writing and finishing my novel has been the best teacher, the most challenging coach, and the biggest gift I ever gave to myself. My clients, too, have seen themselves develop alongside their commitment to their art. If we don’t finish our projects, we lose the valuable insight that each project has for us.
Next week, I’ll share three vital pieces that have helped my clients and students stay with their projects. In the meantime, what have you gained from your completed creative projects? Share with us in a comment below.
This post is excerpted from Cross the Finish Line: Five Steps to Leap Over the Hurdles to Completion.
Seven Steps to Get Your Groove Back When You’ve Lost Your Writing Rhythm
You know the feeling – you’re writing regularly, feeling the flow of your unique writing impulse. You’re making headway on your project and you feel gooood.
Then life, as it is wont to do, throws a wrench in your rhythm, halting the sweet ratatatat of your keyboard. Events on a scale large and small, tragic or irritating interrupt:
- vacation
- honeymoon
- illness, either yours or a loved one’s.
Once the chaos has settled, you start to hear the sound of your inspiration calling you back. You like this tune and truly want writing back.
But weeks pass and you don’t return to that project you flowed with so well before life intruded on your progress.
Despite our best intentions, life’s distractions can easily derail us from our writing.
It seems all the time we spent finding our writing rhythm and focus was a one-time investment, and we’re forced to learn the steps all over again.
But even though it may feel like it, you’re not starting from scratch. Try these seven simple steps to resume – and refresh – your writing groove.
Draw upon your past successes.
What structures, times or places helped you focus on writing? Resume your Friday afternoon writing date, return to your special writing café, and other rituals can be renewed.
When we consider what worked in the past, we will often get snagged by stories of how our plans fell apart. The inner critic loves to chime in with variations of “Remember what happened last time – it didn’t work! Why bother now?”
We lose trust in ourselves when we focus on what didn’t work. We build something sustainable when we turn a curious eye toward what will work for us.
If there are negative associations with any of those practices, what can you replace them with?
Manage your expectations.
We often set ourselves up to plunge back in, pens raised and charging forward with brio. We expect to spend hours at the work, producing pages and pages of scintillating prose.
But it’s more likely we’ll start slowly and ease back into our rhythm. Instead of letting your high expectations lead to disappointment, use little victories along the way to fuel more successes.
Fend off saboteurs.
If it wasn’t a major interruption but a foggy dissipation instead, what derailed you from your course? Knowing the main saboteurs can help you identify trouble when it shows up next time.
Write down all your naysaying excuses that beat you away from the keyboard. See? Once they’re exposed, they seem to carry much less weight. Keep the list handy for the next time you’re tempted to believe your saboteurs.
Start with a brief rendez-vous with your project.
This is a simple meeting to reacquaint yourself with your work. We’re talking a 15-minute ‘project assessment’. Take notes. Jot new ideas and insights.
If you are starting anew with shorter articles or blog posts, check what you had done before you took your sabbatical. Review your lists of content ideas to spark new posts.
Refresh your deadline.
Deadlines can motivate us, even self-imposed ones. Recall former deadlines. What worked? What didn’t? One of the most common mistakes we make is to be overly optimistic about how long things take.
What do you know about yourself and your pace? Use that to set a deadline that engages, not strangles you.
Keep your cards close to your chest.
Some writers find it useful to announce their intentions publicly. Others find the pressure of others’ expectations counter-productive.
I prefer a middle path. Speak your intention to your writing tribe: your writing buddies, former classmates and teachers, a coach, or your favorite writing forum.
Dial it just right.
When planning the return, people often envision something like this:
“I’ll write five days a week for two hours each day.”
What’s wrong with this picture?
We don’t operate in two-hour time periods. Saying we’ll strap into the writing chair for two hours is a guaranteed way to assure that you won’t do it at all.
Let this be easier by starting small – one or two 30-minute writing sessions per week are much easier to slip into.
Which approaches will you try to get your groove back?
Try any or all of these strategies to slowly but surely ease back into your groove. Focus on building trust, engagement and momentum for this new phase of your writing life.
Notice that these suggestions ask you to rely on yourself. Build a positive and sustainable relationship with your writing that can withstand the capricious fluctuations of life.
Set yourself up to win by choosing steps that are right for you, right for this time, right for your projects.
What has helped you return to your writing groove after losing your step?
Why You're Not Creating Like You Want
I recently polled my Impulses subscribers, asking what was blocking their creative satisfaction.
What do you think is the biggest thing lacking in people’s lives? Guess.
That’s right. Time.
Lack of time is the #1 obstacle people believe prevents them from creating. Is this your excuse too?
An excuse, not a real obstacle? Yes and no. There’s one way that we make ourselves victims of time. Read on and see if this is you.
What do you think is the biggest thing lacking in people’s lives? Guess.
That’s right. Time.Lack of time is the #1 obstacle people believe prevents them from creating. Is this your excuse too?
An excuse, not a real obstacle? Yes and no. There’s one way that we make ourselves victims of time. Read on and see if this is you.
Curb your time optimism
It’s a wonderful thing to be an optimist. Life is good, things always work out, we’re on the right path…we like these optimistic perspectives.
But when we extend our optimism to the clock, our positive perspective backfires on us.
We believe that we can do it all, that tasks take less time than they do, and that we can catch up later. Consequently, we book our days to bursting. Our schedules are crowded. We rush to keep up with all we’ve committed ourselves and our families to.
There’s no space. No space to rest, to relax, and to allow fresh solutions and insights to float in.
I believe you can reduce your time optimism and increase your satisfaction with your creativity.
Fifteen minutes a day
Start taking back your time with fifteen minutes each day. Before the day starts, in between errands, at the end of the day – wherever – insert some sanity space into your days.
In your space, do what you want. Perhaps you nap, read, write, play, stroll or meditate.
Do not use this 15 minutes to check your email, peruse Facebook or throw in another load of laundry. This is space to dream, be, refuel and inspire yourself. Not a space to tick items off your list.
It’s not easy to slow down and do nearly nothing, even for 15 minutes. But it’s vital. In the cracks between busyness we hear our wisdom.
When we put pen to paper or take a walk, we often hear the answer to the question that’s been puzzling us. We get to know ourselves in ways that are necessary to lead an empowered, authentic life.
Experiment with inserting 15 minutes into your days in August. In this space do whatever you want, but don’t try to get anything done.
If you’re not creating how you want, be honest with yourself: is your time optimism stealing your creative satisfaction?
What would 15 minutes of space a day do for your mood and happiness?
Who’s in? This is an informal challenge, and I’d love to hear if you decide to do it. Leave a comment below and let me know you’re putting space into your life for the sake of your creative sanity.
I’m doing the Free Write Fling in August. I don’t have an agenda for my writing time. I look forward to a daily dose of space for myself, where I can lie on a blanket in the park and rest with my notebook, or prop myself up on the couch midday to pen my 15 minutes away. I look forward to this space.
We start August 1st. Ah, sweet space! Do it with us!
Prioritizing for Creatives With Too Many Ideas
You’re gifted with tons of ideas, which all seem great. And you want to do all of them now.
The problem is, you’re not the goddess Kali, gifted with many arms and the ability to multitask. You have to choose. You have to prioritize.
Every client and student I’ve worked with has this challenge. I do, too. With so many things to do, how to know what to do and when? Here’s what my clients and I find works.
Start big, work small
Know what you want in the bigger picture. What are you doing in this life? What are you trying to achieve?
Having clarity on you’re about and how you want to execute that will help you choose projects that align with your vision.
Work with the calendar
At the start of each year, take time to explore your focus for the year. If you’re an artist or writer, is this year about producing work? Or is it time to put your work into the world?
Understanding where you are in your creative cycle will help you focus on what’s important. This will make it easier to say no to things that aren’t related to your focus.
From your annual focus, break it down quarterly. What is each quarter of the year about? What resources do you need, what actions do you need to take, what help do you need?
You may not be able to answer these questions past the first quarter, but even one quarter is a great start.
From the quarterly viewpoint, break it down into weekly actions. Again, you may not be able to plan it all out, but a sense of each week’s work will help.
Each week, get clear on the thing(s) you most want to achieve that week. Keep this to three or fewer items. Be sure you’re breaking bigger items (write novel) into smaller tasks (draft chapter one, write back story for characters X and Y).
Every day, when you go to work, do the same thing: identify the thing you most want to accomplish that day. Have no more than three things on this daily list.
This may not be the thing you want to do. It may be the thing that gives the most satisfaction to you, or that brings you closer to completing your goal.
When other opportunities spring up, ask yourself how they align with your bigger picture goals and focus. Learn to say ‘no’ as a way to say ‘yes’ to what’s really important to you.
Keep breaking it down
One mistake people make is thinking that once they set their priorities with their vision or even a weekly plan, it should be easy to follow.
But you have to keep driving yourself to reprioritize. I use this system and still have to keep asking myself throughout the day, “What now? What now?” After I complete each task or project, I consult my list.
The secret is to spend a little time planning. Plan the year, the quarter, the month, the week, the day. You’ll feel more satisfied on a daily basis and on an annual basis, you’ll see the results you want.
What helps you prioritize? How will you try my suggestions here?
Coaches help prioritize
One of the things that really helps to prioritize and take meaningful action is working with a coach. Earlier this year I hired a coach to help me with my business. I tell you, when you plunk down money to work with someone who has your best interests in mind, you get clear on your priorities.
My coach helped me see the bigger picture and identify specific actions to attain my goals. It worked. 2011 was my best fiscal year ever. I finished my novel, increased my reach, and felt happier and more empowered by it. I published more, traveled more, and enjoyed life more.
This is what I experience when I prioritize. This is what my clients experience when they prioritize.
I have a few spaces open for new clients in 2012. My rates will be increasing slightly on January 13th. If you need help prioritizing, send me an email and we’ll talk about how to get started with our work together.
Rebel at the Peril of Your Creativity
If you’re like my clients, you’re a bit of a rebel. You don’t like being told what to do and you’re happiest when you’re doing your own thing.
This rebellion might feel good, powerful, even, but if you’ve turned this rebellion upon yourself, you may be sabotaging your creativity.
Are you self-sabotaging?
You say you’ll write for an hour on Saturday morning. Once your writing time rolls around, you ‘don’t feel like it’ so you do something else. You chafe against structure so you never end up finishing your articles, stories and book.
Or…
You set up studio time, and choose a specific focus for your work. But once in the studio, you pass hours not getting anything done. You assert your right to ‘flow’.
Often creative people internalize the obstinate stance. We become so accustomed to positioning ourselves against something that we struggle against ourselves.
We like being bad, even if it’s damaging our creative power.