Want to do your writing or art, even during the busiest times?
Want to keep your momentum and creative work up… even when your kids are home from school, your partner is out of town, you’re preparing the house for visitors, and you’re fighting off a cold?
You can.
There are some common pitfalls, but once you know how to handle them, it IS doable.
Last week, my kids were home for Election Day, my husband was away, and I was preparing the house for a new au pair, all while fighting off what I thought might be strep throat.
I was determined to keep writing my latest story, so I planned to go to bed early and get up at 5 a.m.
As I was trying to get to bed, I noticed something: I was resisting… in a lot of small and subtle ways.
There was a pushing feeling inside me–a desire to keep DOING things.
Some were things I did have to do, like ordering groceries for the next day. But, I also felt other impulses come up: to answer an email, do another quick load of laundry, check in with my mastermind group, submit a story to a publication.
This is because one of the internal beliefs–handed down to me by generations of ancestors working the land in Taiwan—is “You have to work hard to survive.”
So naturally, even when it’s time to close down for the day, I have an internal urge to keep going and going… to squeeze in just one more thing.
But, if I had kept going and going, it would mean going to sleep late and then getting up too late to write… losing momentum… and feeling low on energy and “willpower.”
That could mean falling into another negative cycle the next day.
You have your own version of this dynamic.
You might have different circumstances, default beliefs, or pitfalls.
However, when you try to do your art, you have an internal resistance that emerges. Old beliefs, stories, and habits come out, sabotaging your efforts and making it hard to succeed.
Sometimes these stories and habits play out unconsciously. Other times they play out DESPITE your conscious efforts to resist them.
Until you RECOGNIZE and HANDLE and ultimately SHIFT those habitual responses, they will keep slipping in. They will keep sabotaging your efforts to do your creative work.
My clients discover how to recognize their own hidden “habitual resistance” when it comes up (especially when it masquerades as “positive behavior” like taking care of their family).
They get good at stopping the self-sabotage and turning a negative habit into a positive one… so that day after day, they’re taking more photos, adding more pages to their novels, finishing the songs and screenplays and animations they’re meant to bring into the world.
If you want this for yourself, I’m opening a round of my Artist in Action program soon.
You’ll figure out the unconscious habits that sabotage your creative work (especially when life gets busy!)–and how to transform them into habits that help you DO your art.
You’ll also master the fundamental steps to doing your art regularly and easily. You’ll find time for your creative work and generate the “creative excitement” and momentum to keep moving forward.
Most importantly, you’ll walk away with a full-on commitment to your creative work and career–a true, down-to-your-bones knowing that you are an artist in action.
If you want in, email me!
