Someone asked me once, when I knew that I needed to ask for outside help in any situation. I basically answered that when I’ve exhausted all of my resources, my research isn’t revealing any new information, the people I know and trust can’t answer my questions, my prayers aren temporarily not being answered and I’m frustrated most of the time. When I experience most of these signs on a consistent basis, then I know that I’m “stuck”.

I’ve experienced ’stuck’ places feelings of frustration in my creative work. I’ve had trouble starting projects: I’ve resisted completing a project, especially long, complex or involved ones and I’ve had trouble finishing projects. I know that once I finally start moving forward on a project, I feel strong negative feelings, then I start feeling really good about my work. What I am resisting is feeling the discomfort of learning. I’m avoiding feeling vulnerable avoiding making mistakes and being wrotng, and learning either from my weaknessess.

When I tackle my resistance, I don’t always know exactly where it is going to lead me. Even though I am fairly knowledgeable about my strengths and weaknesses and what in the learning process intimidates me, sometimes I’m still miss something. That something usually is the core thought, experience or feeling that is limiting me in producing creatively. It may be as simple as a hurtful remark a customer made at my last jewelry event. I took it more personally than I should have and now I am less confident when I make a certain type of bracelet. It may be more complex, such as a bad habit, like allowing myself to not to work on a specific creative skill on a daily basis, rather than on a seasonal basis. Finally, resistance might involve all three of these areas. This is a very basic description of what resistance can look like. It is not meant to thoroughly cover the topic. My point is that resistance is real. Resistance influences my creative process and it comes from many sources and exists at many levels.

What does being ’stuck’ or being resistant look like? Again, I want to emphasize that this is a simplified and working list of what resistant might look like. I’m sure that you can think of a few of your own to add to this list. Here are five ways that resistance can show up in your creative life:

PROCRASTINATION: This is the most common way that I describe being stuck. I put off starting a difficult project, by taking a nap, talking on the phone or researching a topic on the internet. I put off working through the process of creating during the job by giving into distractions like snacking more than I should, stopping and and picking up something off the floor when I feel nervous energy, feeling sleepy and finding a reason to go out and finish some errands that I put off last week. I put off finishing a creative project, because I’m scared of what it will look like. I’m scared of letting go of the project, because it is familiar or comfortable and starting to work on another project. I’m scared to face and work through the new skills required to finish this project. I’m scared to trust that my concept and idea will draw interest rather than disapproval from customers or other people. Finally, I’m scared to enjoy my work, rather than finding some way to make the process harder or more difficult than it needs to be.

PERFECTIONISM: I am afraid of making mistakes, especially in front of people. I have an ‘image’ problem. I want to look intellectually good. I want to be articulate and I want to be pleasant around people. When I make mistakes, I’m reminded that I can be wrong which usually really frustrates me. When someone indicates to me that I wasn’t clear or I forgot a word, I come down very hard on myself for making a normal set of mistakes. When I am less than pleasant around people, I become angry easily.I feel angry and embarrassed that I showed any negative feelings to anyone. I end up becoming moody and withdrawn, making an already awkward situation worse.

EARNING FROM YOUR CREATIVE SKILLS: I don’t want to believe that artists are limited to being ’starving.’ That doesn’t mean the image of a starving artist isn’t true. I just know that I don’t want to become one. I want to work creatively and to be paid well for it. If that isn’t happening, then I want to work in other areas, plus working creatively so that I can meet my financial obligations and still improve my creative skills. I’d rather be able to support myself, depending on several sources of income, than depend completely upon my creativity to completely support me. At the moment, my creative skills don’t fall into the category of meeting all of my needs. I do work in other areas because I need and want to do so. I have an ideal income situation that I’m working toward, but it’s taking longer than I expected to meet. What I notice about myself is that I want to earn creatively up to only a certain amount. I’ve worked hard to reach this minimum goal, but I am having trouble taking action to exceed that goal. I’ve heard this same story from other artists. I am jealous of those artists that I call ‘elite’. They are the ones that are the movers and shakers in their fields. The writers who produce consistent best-sellers. The singers who go platinum after the first or second hit single and the actors that are nominated for an Oscar in their first or second film. I’m recognizing over and over again, that they have paid their dues. They have done the footwork, to earn their respective places. What have I been doing? I’ve been doing footwork at a very basic level. I’ve learned to put on a friendly public face to my customers and other vendors when I show my jewelry. I’ve written several articles about journaling because it is my area of expertise and a topic that I am really interested in. I’ve asked for help from outside sources, because I’ve reached my experiential limits about creating workable marketing materials for my businesses. However, I still haven’t done enough to meet my ideal goal. What is your relationship with your finances and your creative discipline? What would it take for you to completely depend upon your creativity to meet your financial needs? What are you doing or not doing with your finances and how does this effect your creative progress?

TOO MANY OR NOT ENOUGH IDEAS: As a writer, I’ve read about writers who can’t find ideas for their projects and writers who can’t contain all of their ideas. The latter writers found it hard to focus on just one idea. I’m in the latter category. I have many ideas, many hard copy and online idea folders. Sometimes I find it hard to focus on just one project. I often have several ideas, come to me in clumps. I will start thinking about one idea, then another one will pop-up from a key word in the first idea and so on, and so on. Fortunately, I also have developed a strong ability to focus, when everything around me is in flux. If I didn’t have this ability, I would never complete any projects. It’s easy to use the excuse of ‘I don’t have any ideas’ to put off working on an assignment. It’s also easy to say ‘I can’t decide’, I have too many ideas and no time to finish my assignment. There is nothing wrong with being either a ‘too few’ creative or a ‘too much’ creative. Instead of admitting that I’m afraid to explore a new writing idea, or a experiment with a new jewelry idea, I will put taking that first step off and off. Instead of saying that I resent having to practice and perfect a complex skill that I can’t learn in 24 hours, I will make three other easy jewelry pieces. Be very careful about using either mindset as an excuse for not working through and completing your creative project.

DIFFICULTY WITH SELF-CARE: Not eating regular meals when you are in a creative mode, isn’t such a good idea. It’s a way of subtly interfering with your work. I’m not talking about the occasional ‘I forgot to eat’ situation. I think that most of us have experienced that situation at least once in our lives. What I’m talking about is a pattern that quietly turns into a habit, while you consistently creating. It’s really important that you guard your body as much as you guard your creative time. Becoming a workaholic, may be praised by society, but in the end it will reduce your working potential, including your creativity. Forgetting to eat a good breakfast, or other meals, or relying snacks and caffeine, will make your brain foggy, lowering the quality of your work. Finally, being unable to strike a balance between taking good care of yourself and completing your creative work, can hurt your working and personal relationships. When any of these areas become problematic, your overall creativity will be effected. If you are aware of any difficulties in this area, please look at making some changes. Don’t let the imbalances in your life, your adversely effect your creative work.

Tags: Articles - Creativity Coaching //