Why The Creative Process Is For Everyone
Quick Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click on them to purchase something on this page, it won’t cost you anything extra! I might receive a commission for sharing this good info with you. Which works out, because I was going to tell you about it anyway!
Do you think you’re an artist? Whether you’re an entrepreneur, employee, student or stay-at-home parent, you are an artist and creator. We are all the creators of our lives and not a day goes by without us creating something to make our lives happen. An artist has to create work. An entrepreneur has to create the structure of their organization. An employee is a part of creating ways to move the company’s mission forward. A student creates their future with their work in the classroom. A stay-at-home parent is typically the creator of how their household runs. Ultimately, we’re all artists of our lives and creating is something we all do each and every day.
As artists our hope is that we can communicate our ideas effectively and reach our goals, whatever they may be. Sometimes we can get so excited and caught up in the project or thing that we’re working on that we just want to get it out into the world as quickly as possible or tick off that checkbox on our to-do list. We might want people to experience the thrill that we had creating something, buy the thing we made so we can put food on the table, or receive our ideas so that we can achieve our goals. When that sense of urgency becomes all consuming, it’s time to take a step back and ask ourselves, “Is this really what I’m trying to say and how I want to say it?”
I’ve lived a double life. I’ve lived the life of a professional performing artist as a dancer and the life of a corporate girl. With these overlaps, I’ve experienced the importance of a creative process and confidant in all areas of my life. No matter if I’ve choreographed something or if I’ve tried to uncover how the jewelry company I worked for was bleeding money, I’ve had to get creative and produce something to get my ideas across to someone besides myself. At the same time, I learned (the hard way a lot of the time) that a trusted friend, mentor or confidant is imperative to open my eyes to a bigger perspective than just my own. The benefits of a creative process and confidant has significantly increased the quality and validity of my work beyond measure by:
Allowing me to experience life
Reminding me of who I am
Putting me in the right headspace to create
If you’re experiencing a lack of motivation, a lack of depth in the work you produce or a lack of joy in creating the life or environment you want to be in, read on, my friend. In this crazy, mixed up, messy life of mine, I’ve learned (and am still learning) to ditch perfectionism and embrace the uncharted path and vulnerability of a creative process.
Allows me to experience life.
When I first started my online business, I hit the ground running and forgot to breathe. The excitement of a new project, spending time with myself (my fellow mommas know this is literally like drinking water after dehydration) and getting to do something creative that helps people at the same time had me on cloud nine. I thought I had finally cracked the code to what my happy place looked like and I didn’t ever want to leave. Once I find something that I’m passionate about and enjoy doing, I usually dive completely in, head first, and forget about the world around me. I was cranking out blog posts like nobody’s business and was ready to launch my website in a crazy short period of time. I didn’t take time to live life (which is imperative to inform the work, by the way), allow the work to breathe or leave room for what sets my soul on fire in the first place: creativity. Since exploring what my creative process looks like and working it every day, I’ve finally gotten back to experiencing the real life happening all around me: my daughter’s laugh, my husband’s smile and the restorative experience of time spent with friends.
Reminds me of who I am.
As a retired professional dancer and choreographer, part of my creative process was to always have some brilliant people that I trust look at my work and provide feedback before releasing it into the world. This was about the only thing I carried over with me when I started to write. When a trusted confidant looked at the infancy of my work and was like, “Girl, this isn’t you,” I felt it on a soul level. I was caught. I was so busy trying to crank something out, make money and do it “the right way” instead of my way, I completely lost my voice. The work wasn’t unique and it wasn’t going to help anyone which was the exact opposite of what I was trying to achieve. She told me that I didn’t need to put “write blog post” on my to do list. The topic I needed to write about would reveal itself if I spent time focusing on my creative process. DUH! That is exactly how I would create work as a dancer, but it never occurred to me that that would translate into this new thing I was working on. Since implementing a creative process across ALL areas of my life, I have been reminded of who I am, not only by my trusted mentors, but by the simple act of staying true to the pure process of creativity. I’ve rediscovered my likes, dislikes, interests and hobbies outside of being a wife and mother. I’ve been reminded of who I AM.
Puts me in the right headspace to create.
As women, we have to juggle a lot. Constantly transitioning from mom-mode to wife-mode to friend-mode to work-mode can be overwhelming, and I haven’t even mentioned me-mode (read: time to breathe and be YOU). Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE all of those parts of me and most of what they entail, but a constant change of hats can make it difficult to get in a good flow. When I choose not to prepare myself for whatever it is I’m about to create, it is like slamming on brakes when flooring it at 100+ mph (lots of whiplash will ensue). The work absolutely suffers and doesn’t make sense a lot of the time because my mind is all over the place. Enter: the creative process. When I allow myself to get into the mindset of creation and release into the magical space of flow, I’m catapulted into the right headspace to create. Think of it like decompressing when you come home from work or your calming nighttime routine (link to a blog about my nighttime routine) to get you ready for sleep. A few tried and true steps that bring me to a place of immersive focus releases distracting thoughts of what’s for dinner or if I need to put clothes in the dryer.
Honoring a creative process is a commitment, sure. However, it doesn’t have to be this long, drawn out thing or even something that has to be done each and every time before starting work on something (not to be confused with a daily mindset routine). When inspiration hits, it HITS and sometimes I don’t have time to put on music and sit down at my desk. The key I had to realize is that a creative process isn’t linear. It can be messy and seem like what I’m working on today isn’t furthering the work I should be doing. The beauty (and horror, for a person who is impatient *raises hand*) is that although I may not fully understand how what I’m doing today will inform the bigger picture of what I’m trying to accomplish tomorrow, it will. Life is a crazy ride with twists, turns, bumps and bruises. Putting trust in the process can be a scary but freeing thing. I know that if I put in the work everyday to be the person I want to be and create the things and life I want, it will all work out and connect in a way that I couldn’t even imagine.
So, now what? The biggest factor in achieving your goals is creating a foundation of simple routines that set you up for success each day. I’ve got something just for you to help make that happen! In my free Morning Routine Maker, I show you just how quick and easy creating a morning routine actually is. Click the button below to get instant access to the life changing magic that is the morning routine. Brace yourself, you just might become a morning (read: routine) person!
To make our dreams happen, we’ve got to feel good, right? Our mind, body and spirit are all connected and if our body is out of whack, our mind and spirit aren’t going to be in tip top shape either. Something that is an important part of my intentional lifestyle to feel at my best is having a protein packed smoothie for breakfast. My Sunrise Smoothies are what I drink for breakfast every single day to pack in the nutrients needed for crushing my life & biz goals. Skipping breakfast because mornings are too chaotic to even think about eating something? Skipping breakfast because eating in the morning makes you feel nauseous? Skipping breakfast because you’re trying to lose weight? All of those are myths that can leave you feeling hangry and how can a hangry person achieve their goals? Let me show you the magic that are the Sunrise Smoothies and I bet all of those skipping breakfast excuses will fade away and your achievement will skyrocket.
How well do you know yourself? Do you know what really sets your soul on fire? Maybe you’ve taken a deep dive into getting to know yourself before but it’s been awhile. In the Happiness Helper, you’ll go through a quick and easy exercise to really dig into some parts of you that you may not have stopped to think about before. Once you’ve explored these areas of your likes and dislikes, you’ll experience clarity and may even be surprised at some of the things that make your wheels turn. Don’t live inside a tightly structured box of a narrative that you or someone else has placed on you anymore! Prepare yourself to feel empowered to go after the kind of life that YOU want to live; not a life that someone told you that you were destined to. Get ready to take a deep sigh of relief!
Putting small biz owner’s and serial entrepreneur’s plan into action with step-by-step breakdowns of long-term and short-term goals so you can obtain your version of success every day, month, quarter and year!