The Creative Genius Corner
Lessons, musings and advice from the author of ‘The Life I Won’
The effects of ‘Schedule and Structure’ on a creative mind.
Many of my blogs come from my own experiences with myself and others. This one came from noticing just how different I am to many of the creative women I work with.
When you have been in business as long as me, you notice a lot. When you can do more than notice, when you can analyse with a view to making things better for the next person, then you can make a huge difference in the lives of others.
As the first cohort in my signature program ends in August 2020 and I ready myself to welcome 100’s of new women into a life and business changing opportunity like they have never experienced before, it is time to review, reflect and project.
The resistance that so many of my clients have had to time management, time blocking, and planning shocked me. I have given this a lot of thought and discussed it with several of my creative peers.
It is a ‘thing’.
I should have known really because I have fought it my entire career.
It has many names and manifests in many ways…
Shiny Object Syndrome
This is you if you start a project of any kind filled with enthusiasm and you go at it like a mad woman and then you get an idea.
It pings into your head like a shiny object and distracts you from what you were focused on.
So, you park what you were doing and go after the shiny thing with the very same enthusiasm as the previous project.
Then you do it again. And again.
You end up with lots of unfinished paintings, projects, stories…..fill in the blank.
It helps you to avoid being a ‘grown up’ or ‘profitable business owner’.
This results in feeling like a bit of a failure or feeds into your feelings of low self-worth.
You may see other people planning and staying on track and you think that you just can’t be like them.
You use your creative brain as an excuse. It feels very real. But the truth is that everything is difficult and learning to stop this shiny distraction is the same as learning anything else.
So many of my clients look back at themselves and recognise now how destructive this behaviour was.
I Prefer To ‘Wing It’ Than Use A Planner
Have you heard yourself saying this?
This is you if you truly believe that you can get as much done by ‘winging it’ daily as you would if you had a plan.
I know that you feel like a caged animal when you think others are imposing structure on you and you want to run for the hills screaming NOOOOOO.
I also understand the levels of stress it can cause you as a creative mind, because part of being creative is about being free to create.
But the harsh truth is that you do need to have some structure and strategy if you want a successful business.
Many creative women that I work with have an underlying fear that if they become successful that they will lose their creativity.
That to become a wealthy creative and banish the starving artist mentality they must morph into someone else.
This is a lie that society and others have introduced as a truth. You have believed it because so many people have said it. It runs through society like a red thread.
This is the very reason I stepped into the creative space so that I could make a difference.
There IS a middle ground.
I am “creative brain meets strategic brain” and it is OK to be both. You just don’t know what you don’t know yet.
This is what I teach on my Mastermind program.
I get you because I was you.
Be open to the fact that there is a way to keep your true creative essence and have a successful and profitable business.
Overwhelm Is A Regular Visitor
The number of times my creative cohorts have gone into overwhelm during their year with me has been an eye opener.
I knew when I wrote my 12-month program that I would have to focus on Imposter Syndrome and comparisonitis first and build up self confidence in my ladies, but there is a repeat loop.
They experience a little bit of success and then loop back around to I don’t deserve this.
This is OK. It is a process of elimination, and everybody has their own timescale.
If this is you, you may have signed up for 12-week programs, 8-week programs or even longer ones and still looped back to the same place?
The very act of signing up to something which puts you under time pressure and has deadlines can send you into overwhelm and you just don’t complete the work.
Alternatively, you complete the work, but it is only a part of the puzzle, and you are left feeling confused.
Therefore, I give you the whole damn jigsaw and we go at your pace, focusing on where you need the most work.
You need the 12-months.
Many of my clients do not flick the success switch until at least month 8 onwards.
If you have been trying to buy quick fixes you may have been imposing an impossible structure upon yourself and this has left you feeling like you have failed.
You haven’t, you just need the right program with the right support.
There is a downside to not finding a way to introduce schedule and structure and it is remaining where you are and not living the life you really deserve.
I wasn’t living the person that I was when I was a senior leader because I was a creative inside.
I was going through the motions, I was very structured, but there was a huge void.
I genuinely believed that I couldn’t make money from my creativity.
That I would be distracted and lose the ability to combine my leadership skills and my creativity.
I was wrong.
They fit like a glove, and I have a very successful creative business that is growing all the time.
You can have this as well. It is vital that you stop the cycle that is currently leading you to the shadow side of yourself. The side that thinks she can’t or that she is not good enough.
It is time to learn how you can introduce schedule and structure in the right way for your creative mind and see the amazing results it will deliver for you.
My clients from the first cohort are currently experiencing abundant sales and profit in their business.
They have learned how to become businesswomen that are creative, and they are loving it.
You are creative, amazing, and capable of living the life you really want. Believe it.