“I said I’d finally break out of the commercial work and do my real creative work—but I didn’t.”
“I never thought I’d be this old and still not have my novel done.”
“I keep saying I’ll finish my TV pilot, and I never do.”
“How is it that this whole year, I only finished two pieces?”
If you look back on 2018 and feel down about yourself and your creative work, I have something to say to you.
The truth is, you CAN turn your creative visions into reality.
There are just a few reasons people don’t reach their creative goals:
#1: They don’t know what to do or how to do it.
For this one, all you need is information and guidance–someone to listen to what you want and help you lay out the steps. (Sometimes this lack of knowledge is the problem and you don’t even know it—you just feel intimidated or uncertain, and you’re holding back.)
#2: They can’t get through the blocks
There are basically five kinds of blocks that can stop you.
* Physical blocks, like not having enough time, money, energy, or space to do your creative work.
* Emotional blocks, like fear, anxiety, or self-criticism.
* What I call “energetic blocks”—not having the courage, determination, passion, or “fire in the belly” to get it done.
* Mental blocks, or beliefs like “I can’t do it,” “I can’t be an artist and a good parent,” “It’s impossible to make money as a writer/musician/artist,” and “People will laugh at me.”
* Spiritual blocks: Not trusting yourself to make decisions, or not knowing how to listen to your inner guidance.
All these problems can be solved. They can seem overwhelming when you consider them all at once, but for each problem, there is a healing process, strategy, or action step. Even the blocks you’ve had for years, the ones that seem like octopuses with so many waving tentacles, are things you can get through. Truly.
#3: They don’t have the right support—someone who can guide them through the blocks and help them keep going when “stuff comes up.”
Support is the #1 factor that separates struggle from success. Personally, I could not have gotten where I am (in my creative work, business, and life) without a LOT of support. These days, I work with at least one coach/mentor, and often up to three or four at a time (because different coaches have different strengths, and I’m a big believer in getting all the support I need). I’ve spent well over $100,000 on my own personal development and training, and I attribute a huge part of my success to that.
Without coaching support, it’s easy to get stuck in your own limitations. We all have them, and unless we identify them and find ways to grow beyond them, we tend to repeat the same patterns over and over, with the same unsatisfying results.
I’ve been helping people do their creative work for years, and I can assure you of two things: 1) you’re not alone, and 2) you can get past what’s blocking you.
The truth is, what blocks you is similar to what blocks everyone else—and these blocks are things you can get through. (Yes, what gets in your way is yours alone because you’re a unique person with your own individual history and soul, but all blocks have common elements—and solutions.)
Other people have gotten through obstacles like yours. They’ve started doing their true creative work—and thriving. And you can too. You just have to decide—truly decide, like a commitment to your soul—that you will.
Why you MUST do it
Why? Because how long will you let yourself suffer? It feels horrible to go on, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, with your dreams never happening.
You feel awful about yourself. You know on the outside you look successful, but inside you feel anything but. You feel ashamed when you think about how long it’s been and all you haven’t done. At college reunions, you either feel embarrassed when talking to people who’ve really gone for it… or you feel like an imposter because despite your outward success, you know you haven’t achieved what you really want.
Why? Because the truth is, if you’re miserable about your creative work, your misery is poisoning your marriage, your parenting, your friendships, and whatever you do for money.
You think you can push it down and be a good wife, mother, husband, father, employee, friend… but your frustration leaks out. You get irritated at small things. You’re depressed and emotionally unavailable. Even though you try to be your best self (and you do!), you’re stewing in your own dissatisfaction, and you’re missing so many small moments of love and beauty. (And often, you don’t even know you’re missing them.)
Why? Because what else are you going to do? Give up and continue to feel this way your whole life? You know even if you give up, it will still eat at you deep down.
(You’ve actually given up before—either consciously or unconsciously. There have been long stretches where you let it go because you just couldn’t do it. But here you are, still wanting, still feeling bad that you don’t have it, right?)
So there are only two choices: Try, or give up. And giving up just means more of the same. So all you can do is try.
So will you? Will you finally make this the year you break through?
The year you do the creative work you’ve been longing to do. The year you write the novel you really want to write. The year you finish the screenplay. Get an agent. Sell your work at top dollar. Break through. The year you stop being the “best kept secret” and start being who you really could be.
Will you do it for yourself?
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P.S. Get started now. Take this quiz to find out what’s REALLY been stopping you–and get a personalized ritual to jumpstart your creative work. (Click here.)
