It is so easy to fill up creative time with other people’s needs, new priorities, dealing with new obstacles, and competing demands for your time. Knowing how to preserve and protect your creative time is as important to showing up,  doing the work,  growing in your creativity, moving through obstacles, and always moving toward your creative potential.

Are any of these statements true when it comes to your creative work?

• I am not ever really getting to “do” my work.
• I am constantly being interrupted.
• I don’t seem to be making any progress…I am stalled.
• I want to do more creative work, but I can’t find the time.
• My time just gets sucked away with other things
• Before I know it, I’m doing something else
• I want to create and yet I seem to have difficulty doing it
• I have the time but I am not getting to my work
• I feel stuck and don’t know why
• I have so much to do, I just can’t make my schedule stick

If even just one of those statements even came close to ringing true for you…..

Now more than ever, it’s essential to protect your creative time.

How? 4 easy steps:

1. Make a commitment.

Decide right now that your creativity is important to you and you need to set boundaries around your creative time.  Remember WHY you create and how it is essential to you. Make a commitment that you WILL honor your creative time no matter what. You have to just commit to your time as you would any other important event or time in your life. Tell yourself you mean it and this is the only way you want to create.

A firm, non-negotiable  commitment will prove to yourself that your creativity IS worth it.

2. Set a schedule

Figure out the minimum that you need or want each day/week and schedule your creative time just as you would any other appointment.  You schedule other self care things…right? Haircuts, workouts, family time, doctor appointments, car tuneups …etc…  Your creativity is as important as these things (and probably even more important if you admit this to yourself).

Commit to time that you can keep as a priority, build a rhythm around, and schedule it on an ongoing, regular basis. Would mornings work? A set day each week? Right after your cup of tea? Last thing in the evenings before bed? It make take a few trials to find just the right time but don’t let this delay you from starting. Think about your energy cycles and when you feel the most productive and creative. Maximize this timing for yourself. You can change the schedule if the timing doesn’t work, but go on, set a schedule for a week and do it.

3. Set boundaries for others (and yourself) around your creative time.

Ask yourself, what do I REALLY need when I am creating? Set some boundaries for yourself AND for others. Once you figure out your needs, you can set the expectations with family members, co-workers, or studio mates. What boundaries do you need so you can fully be immersed in your creative work during your set schedule?

Create boundaries that provide for full focus, space, and attention to your creative work. Think about interruptions from others and things YOU do to sabotage yourself.  Set clear expectations with others what they can…and can’t do when you are creating. And then do the same for yourself.

I have two important boundaries I set with others:

• When my door is closed, it stays closed.
• You can interrupt me if there is blood (Yes, I have to get that graphic sometimes or my family finds all sorts of creative reasons to interrupt me…and I will fall for it and allow myself to get distracted)

I have two important boundaries I set with myself:

• I will not answer the phone, check email, open the door, or stop what I am doing during my creative work time.
• I will only focus my attention on showing up and doing my work.

4. Practice each day.

You want to feel success and each day gives you the opportunity to improve. Learn from what is working and adjust what is not working. Expect some setbacks or slipping back into old habits. Yet don’t give up. Every day you will get better at protecting your creative time. Always stay focused on why your creative time matters.

Your creativity and its expression are worth the work it will take to get boundaries set. Make no doubt about it, protecting and preserving your creative time will support you in your creative work. This is one step you can take starting immediately that will pay off and have a huge impact.

You just need to do it.

What boundaries do you need to set for yourself or others?

Now let’s get something straight.

I don’t believe there isn’t anything *wrong* with copying a master, adapting someone else’s idea, or doing something creative just like someone else.

I LOVE taking art classes to grow my creativity.  Sometimes I will do just what my instructor tells me and replicate a technique, style, or process that I am there to learn. Does that make me a copy cat? Nope. It makes me a learner…and explorer…someone willing to try new things…growing and sparking my creativity.

Once you understand HOW to do something you are copying/learning….then it is your responsibility to change it.

The key to being an original is to PURPOSELY move past the copying…you have to try it and then change it up and make it your own.

Give yourself permission. Copy and try and then commit to making the process your own. Do something completely different. Take it to the next level. Explore a new medium doing the same technique. Change the steps. Put yourself into it. I mean the REAL you…the one that is dying to create for itself.

YOU are creative.

YOU are an original.

YOU know how to make it your own.

YOU can take into your creativity and be yourself.

YOU need to share your creative gifts because you will inspire others.

YOU owe it to yourself to grow creatively

YOU know deep inside how to be true to yourself.

NOW… go on and copy if you want….and then live your uniqueness.

Be YOUR creative self.

We adopt attitudes or beliefs that keep us in a place of indecision. Or we adopt some perfectionist tendencies to justify our fears. Maybe we are in full on avoidance mode and never show up. Sometimes we doubt our ability or challenge ourselves to even wonder why the heck we bother.

Ever feel that way?

Yup. And guess what, you are not alone.

It happens to the best of us…it happens to ALL of us.

When you feel exhausted, overwhelmed, resistant, or crazy from indecision, it’s time to get reconnected to your creative source.

When you are stuck and about to give up, tired of banging your head against the wall, or questioning every decision you have made to this point…..see this as a signal to get a mirror, look long and hard at yourself, and tell yourself everything you are, everything you believe is on the line here.

Your honesty, your integrity, your health, your purpose……everything you believe you are and know you are is at stake if you stay stuck.

Yea…it’s that big.

Getting yourself unstuck is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.

And, yes, you CAN do this for yourself.

You can shift yourself from being stuck to being productive, creative, and inspired again.

You CAN take the first step. It’s doable…no matter HOW stuck you are.

The first step to getting unstuck: Begin the shift: look within.

You gotta begin with connecting back to your WHY you even create.

Go back to the beginning. Return to the inspiration. Revisit your creative purpose.

Know what question works for you (from below) and begin to focus on that answer. The answer lies within.

Take some time to let go and just BE with these questions. Look at them from a place of possibility, of hope…of solutions.

• When does my brain feel like it is exploding with possibility?

• What feels joyful and meaningful to me?

• When am I having fun and I lose all track of time?

• What is missing from my creative work, ideas, or goals?

• What is it about creativity and the creative process that I really miss?

• When is my creativity just bursting out of me so that I can’t control it?

• Why is being creative important to me and essential in my life?

• What is exciting, new and something I want to try before I die?

• If I could do anything fun or creative right now (without limitations), what would that be?

• Where do I feel the most alive and inspired to create?

When you are ready to reflect and begin to connect to why you love creativity and who you are when you are creating…you will begin to become unstuck. It’s a first step…and the first step leads to the second…the third…and down the path.

Having the awareness that you can do this and what you need to connect to…will show you the way to begin again. And if you are STILL having a hard time, come have a free call with me. I KNOW I can help you shift and have you within 1 hour back on track.

Which of these questions would best resonate with you? WHY do you need to answer this in times of resistance?

Do trust in yourself

Do know you are a creative spirit

Do believe your creativity matters

Do enjoy creating just for the sake of it

Do surround yourself with supportive people

Do take risks and say “YES” to opportunities

Do grow with each mistake, failure, setback or obstacle

Do find mentors who will inspire and empower you

Do commit to a regular practice of your creative work

Do focus expressing who you are with your creativity

Do create constructive habits and mindsets

Do let go of your procrastination, perfectionism, indecision, avoidance, and self criticism

DON’T's

Don’t stop creating when you hit a block or get stuck

Don’t judge yourself against other creatives

Don’t doubt your creative work matters

Don’t ignore your inner wisdom

Don’t listen to your inner gremlin wanting to hold you back

Don’t fear your success or failures

Don’t believe anything that keeps you small

Don’t let time or money be your excuse

Don’t stop using your intuition to create

Don’t take action unless it propels you forward

Don’t choose to say “I can’t”

Don’t give up….ever

What would you add to the list?

YET…sometimes a bit ‘o challenge to our routines provide us insights and opportunities for creative expansion.

Take a usual routine and change it up. Try doing something backwards. Experiment with skipping steps or trying a “risky” idea.

• Usually walk a certain way to work? …..Try a new route looking for idea sparks to solve your latest work challenge.

• Always brush your teeth before bed? ….Challenge yourself to come up with a new time or way to do it that is more fun or mindful.

• Sometimes do you eat the same dinner every Friday night?…. How can you explore a new recipe, or create a new routine for the winter months?

• Tired of repeating the same ole bedtime story or prayers to your little ones?…. Insert a new character or challenge each night and change the ending.

• Always work in watercolors, porcelain, on the computer, or only in person with friends? ….Get out new supplies, try an online course and make sure to try something that you are afraid of.

As adults we know change is inevitable but often we resist it. Embrace a change to your routine and purposely invite your creativity to come explore a new solution.

What routine, if you changed it, could have a positive influence on your creativity?

For the past few years,  I select a word at the end of December that will begin with the New Year to focus my intentions, my decisions, and my goals. I carefully choose a word that be broad enough to encompass what I want to create in many areas of my life as well help me be open to new opportunities that come my way.  Last year my year was ABUNDANCE and that truly is what I experienced.  Never could I imagine how my life, business, friends, and world would grow abundantly as it did in 2011.

So now for 2012, I have undergone the  introspection that guides me to what I now want to create. Through this process, I reflect upon what I made me feel successful over the past year, what I really want to create in my life, and what I feel I want to grow…expand…push…risk…live…explore…be.

And at the end of that process, I am able to name my focus word for the new year.

For 2012 I am creating: GROWTH

How am I going to create growth?

• Saying “YES!!” to more opportunities and possibilities
• Challenging and releasing my beliefs that do not support or propel me forward
• Taking ACTION on more risks that will stretch myself
• Providing more value to every client, every partner, every group I work with
• Shifting my energy to being anabolic in ALL areas of my life by letting go of what is holding me back, feeling catabolic, or creates any sort of limitation or judgment
• Asking for what I need and want
• Eliminating excuses
• Building more relationships and collaborative partners
• Opening myself to new areas that I haven’t even dreamed of yet!

I am excited by the richness and growth that 2012 will bring!

And what about you?

What do YOU want to create in 2012?

If you want to help figure out what YOU want to create, come join me for a FREE teleclass I am offering! Registration is currently open and slots are filling up!

Join the fun and begin to create what YOU really want!

In the beginning, people think vulnerability will make you weak, but it does the opposite. It shows you’re strong enough to care. ~ Victoria Pratt

How important is your creativity to you? Enough that you will take risks, expose your inner fears, and champion your creative spirit? Are you willing to risk it all because you know that without being creative you would wither and die?

Are you willing to face rejection, judgment, criticism, or personal attacks? Are you willing to defend, champion, and celebrate your creative work and spirit?

Just how important is your creativity anyhow?

Yes, I am the first to admit that acting from a place of vulnerability is scary. There are big ‘ole gremlins out there telling you your work isn’t good enough, important at all, finished, or that anyone would find any value in it at all.

The fears of being vulnerable can keep you paralyzed if you only see how it drains, depletes, or hurts you. You are not alone in feeling being vulnerable is risky. It is.

YET….yet…

Being vulnerable with your creativity is ESSENTIAL if you really want to embrace your full creative potential. Being vulnerable with your creative work means you deeply care…and you care enough to express yourself fully so you can reach your highest version of your creative self.  Being vulnerable with your creativity helps you to honor that which makes you, you.

You have a choice in how you want to deal with feelings of vulnerability. You can focus on the negative energy around it, OR you can decide to have a supportive, empowering perspective.

If you are ready to commit to feeling the vulnerability and doing your best creative work anyway, here is my best advice to support your journey.

Choose today to feel less vulnerable and more empowered.

Shift your perspective

When your vulnerability is telling you to stay small, play it safe, stay on the easy path, don’t change, procrastinate more…this is a HUGE wakeup call to you. Instead of heeding that advice, tell yourself, “Oh yea, baby. This is it. I need to do this even more so because….” and find that reason that will help you create, grow, and move forward.

In these moments, ask yourself, “What do I want to say to myself so I can be empowered right now?”

Shift your thoughts, perspective, feelings, and energy from focusing on the vulnerability to your creative possibilities, opportunities, and potential that will open up for you. Don’t look for failure, look for your success.

Then DO something vulnerable.

YOU are meant to share your creative energy, work, and spirit with others. YOU have a creativity that yearns to be shared, cultivated, and explored. 

Sure, you can live in a shell and create your work and keep it to yourself. You can be happy and dance by yourself, sing just in the car, only share your cooking with your dog, or draw only with children. You can keep all your creative gifts, hopes, desires, and dreams to yourself for the rest of your life.

And where would that get you? Where you are now.

Make a decision to DO something new that stretches yourself AND feels safe.

After you are willing to be in the vulnerability, ask yourself,  “What do I need to DO to get empowerment while being vulnerable?”

What is something that you can take action on that will  open yourself, and your creativity, to new possibilities, take more risks, and seize unplanned opportunities, and full ownership of yourself as a talented, creative being?

What step can you commit to, follow through on, and celebrate that will help you value your vulnerability radar even more??

It is up to you how you deal with your creative vulnerability. You can choose to keep creatin’ as you are now…or you can spread your wings, take a leap of faith, and KNOW your creativity will help you find your net.

Be alive. Be creative. And by all means, be vulnerable.

When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be vulnerable. ~ Madeleine L’Engle

What do YOU need to do to feel and act vulnerable?

In these moments when you feel like you are ready to give up,  this is when your commitment, dedication, and persistence need to kick in.   When you can persevere through the frustrations of failure, you will discover on other side how much you have grown, learned, developed, and progressed.

It feels counter intuitive, yet  the more failure you experience along your creative journey, the more you will be progressing forward.

Think of it like a domino chain. When one falls down, it pushes over the domino in front of it and a chain of falling dominoes lead to a spectacular result. If the domino spacing isn’t right, the chain ends and the dominoes never reach where they are meant to go. That extra domino spacing is like you giving up when you fall down or fail. If you know once you adjust that spacing, you will get back on track to where you want to go, you can make the adjustment, and keep going. Yet, if you never deal with that spacing issue and get back to work, you will stagnate and never have the results you want.

Every mistake or failure leads to an opportunity for your creativity.

Failure is a sign of progress.

How do you react to this statement? Do you believe it’s your decision how to fail?

How you choose to look at your failures makes all the difference.

See, acknowledge, and be aware of your failures as landmarks on your journey.  You can choose to shift your thinking and what you say to yourself in the moments when facing a failure.  Condition yourself that when you think “failure”, say to yourself:  “YAY! I’m getting closer!

When you focus on creative failures as progress, you can release pain, drama, suffering and get back to work.  Observe a failure and move on. Keep going. Stay the course. Think creative. Take action.

Embrace your mistakes and failures as gifts to your future success.

How do you approach your creative failures? Share some advice for your fellow creative spirits!

I am “in process” of creating my rockin’ new space in which I will, well…… create.

So this got me thinking about how important it is to have space in which to create and space that matches WHO YOU ARE.

The benefits to having space for your creativity:

• Your creativity will feel safe and nurtured.
• Your creativity will unfold organically and authentically.
• Your creativity will risk itself knowing you have honored it and are committed to it.

How to create a SPACE that honors your creativity:

S – separate it out.

Have a dedicated, separate space for yourself to be with your creativity. Whether its 10 square feet or 1000, the size of the space doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you keep this area sacred and dedicated to your creative work. Get clear about what you need (and want) for your space and how you will use it. This will help you know where to find it. (Do you need water, mirrors, room to move, soundproofing, or a lock on the door?). Having a committed space that honors your medium as well as  your creative needs is essential to embracing and owning your creativity.

P- picture what you want.

If you could have an ideal space for unleashing your creativity, what would it look and feel like? Envision it fully as though you were using it daily. (That’s the goal…right?) When you go to this space, what do you need it to give to you? How do you want to “be” in this space? Imagine how it is arranged and organized in a way that embodies who you are and what you love. Think freedom. Think passion. Think usability. Think love. Ask yourself: what does your creative space needs to feel like, embody for your work,  your comfort, practical needs, and how you are going to use it? Bring your needs front and center and design your space to take care of them. The more you can hone in on what you really want and need, the more you will be able to create it.

A-authenticate it.

As you begin to create a vision, check in with yourself on a regular basis. Ask yourself, “Is this really what I want?” …”How will this space become more like ME?”….”When I am in this space, who will I be and what will I create?”….”What about this space feels true and right? What about this space needs to change to become more like me.” The more you verify and authenticate every choice you make for your new space….the more you are creating something that you WILL truly love (and want to be creating in!)

C-create a way to start.

If you are looking at your space and don’t know where to begin, just start small. Look at the space as your canvas, composition, or choreography. Once you have a vision of the completed look and feel, you can begin to tackle the blank canvas of your space. What steps will it take for you to create this? Baby steps. What would the first step be to get started and start owning this space for your creative work? And then …. GO DO IT.

E-everyday use your space.

Even if your space is still “in process”, go ahead and begin to live, work, and create in it. The more you experience and use  your space, the more you will want to show up and  make it your own. Each day, go to your space and do *something*. Even if that is just sitting there and thinking about its purpose, your plan for it, or you unleash some creative shazaam…go there, be there, create there.

What is one thing you can do today to create space, or improve your space, to better reflect yourself, your work, or your goals?

Even as a creativity coach who knows about creative challenges, has powerful tools to overcome obstacles and blocks….. there is still one area that, I too, struggle with at times. This is the area of facing MY inner creative critic, my gremlin, who wants to keep me from embracing and living MY creative life to the fullest.

Why am I sharing this? Two reasons:

1. So you know that I still deal with an inner critic, aka my gremlin too.
2. So you know how I overcome my gremlin, so you can too.

My  inner critic, my gremlin, is known as Desmond. Yes, I have named him. Here’s a sculpture version I made of him last fall:

Desmond is the voice I hear, the messages I receive, the ideas I think when become unsure and fearful. Desmond is my gremlin who uses all my vulnerabilities against me to keep me “safe”.  My gremlin is incredibly smart, powerful, manipulative,  cunning, and creative in the  strategies he uses with me and against me.

You too, have a gremlin, I’m sure of it.

Who is YOUR gremlin?

Your inner critic is that voice inside of you that tries to tell you all the reasons your aren’t good enough. This is a message that has been created, developed, adapted just for YOU over your years. Your gremlin, claims power with reinforced, self perpetuating examples from your life. Basically you create your gremlin, and you give him (or her) power over time. Our gremlins usually are formed in your past (probably childhood–ugh, again!) and over time you have learned to trust and listen to this voice.

Your gremlin is your thoughts of fear.

A gremlin, or critic, is what keeps you small, prevents risk taking, and gives your ready made excuses to use when you are feeling vulnerable or scared.

Oh, yes. Everyone has an inner critic who hits us right in our tender spots,  stifles our creativity, has us say “NO” to opportunities and our potential, and works tirelessly to shatter deep positive belief systems as well as the life we want to create for ourselves.

So what do I do with this gremlin now?

Once you acknowledge that a gremlin is a part of who you are, you are ready to deal with it in a constructive way. Go ahead, align yourself with it.

5 steps to align with your inner critic.

1. Know it.

Really, the first step to dealing with your critic is to become aware that you have one. Own it. Know it. Understand it. Acknowledge it for what it is. Simply knowing about this powerful inner force provides YOU the ability to decide how to deal with it. When you understand that EVERYONE has some version of an inner critic…telling them covert messages…. you are more prepared to deal with your own.

Know that your gremlin is going to show up in situations that cause you to doubt yourself. Now that you know, you can be ready for it.

2. Name it.

Now you don’t have to go and personify your gremlin, as I have with Desmond, but for some people this is a great strategy. Naming your gremlin helps to separate the gremlin message from yourself. Your gremlin ISN’T you…it is just a part of you that you have created. Think of naming your gremlin as a counter strategy to the gremlin’s tactics. Just don’t name it after Aunt Sally…even if she is the one that started you doubting yourself. If you decide to really name it, provide a name that represents who it is today.

3. Befriend it.

Be ready. When your inner critic, gremlin pops into your head, be ready to counter it with a new, supportive message. When you can identify your gremlin in the moment, you are empowered with a choice  to deal with it. You can either listen and continue to believe its message or you can create a new, supportive alignment.

This is what I say to myself when I hear Desmond start to question if I can do something, create a new solution, or face a fear:

“Oh, hey Desmond! There you are! I was wondering when you would show up. Thanks for being here. I know it’s your job to keep me safe and protect me but today, I really need your support. I want to take this risk of _______________ because I am ready to ____________ and I need for you to ________________________________. Please help me succeed with this.”

By talking directly to my gremlin, I am changing my response with this inner voice. This empowers me.

4. Seize the opportunity.

Once you counter your gremlin, be ready to seize whatever opportunity has come your way. Step boldly, courageously into it knowing your gremlin will be with you but that YOU are now directing your life and choices. You have made a decision to respond to your gremlin, not react, and you are ready to keep moving forward.

5. Practice and repeat.

Really overcoming your gremlin and its powerful messages is going to take repeated practice and your commitment to follow your passion and create what you REALLY want.  Sure, it ain’t easy ate times but your persistence will be rewarded. When you are living in your full potential, you will know it was worth it.

Keep moving forward and have your gremlin be a partner on your journey. Align yourself with your gremlin and create a whole new paradigm for how your inner world will transform your outer world.

YOU can CREATE this change.

What is one step you can take today to align yourself with your gremlin?