Are you feeling in a creative slump? Reconnecting with the purpose of your creative projects is a great way to reinvigorate yourself, work through any creative blocks or frustrations, overcome any motivation issues, and stop self sabotaging your creativity. Let's explore these concepts in this blog post...
This article originally appeared as the May 18 2024 edition of the Solopreneur Diary Entries weekly newsletter.
You know that feeling when you start a new creative project, and you’re enthusiastic and inspired and motivated? You can’t WAIT to get started! You dive in with both feet, you’re a total idea machine, and it fills your cup. You feel amazing!
…and then the obstacles arise:
- Other tasks derail your timeline.
- Your schedule doesn’t quite have enough room for it.
- It gets frustrating when the creative process doesn’t go as planned or you experience a creative block.
- You wonder — or, let’s be honest, worry — what other people might think about it (Is it good enough?).
- etc.
This is very common. You are not alone in feeling this way ♥
AND ALSO: You don’t need to continue having that experience. Creative slumps don't need to throw you off track completely!
This has been on my mind lately because I recently started a fun hobby project with someone — and she had to reschedule a couple times. She sent me a voice note and I could literally hear the stress in her voice about trying to squeeze in our project alongside other things that came up in her personal life.
So I sent her this reminder:
“It’s okay! If this week doesn’t work, it’s not a big deal at all. This project is supposed to be something we enjoy doing — there’s no reason for it to be an added layer of stress. There are way too many other things to stress out about without adding this to that pile! We're doing this for the fun of it.”
THAT’S the key piece here:
Reconnecting with the joy and purpose of your creative projects.
At some point or another, when you’re working on a creative project (in life or business), you will likely get distracted or derailed. You will likely start overloading yourself. You will likely feel overwhelmed. You will likely experience self doubt. You will likely feel as though you’re letting yourself down. You will have motivation issues with creative projects. You will self sabotage your creativity.
And when those moments arise, THAT is your sign to pause.
Take a step back.
Refresh your memory as to WHY you are doing this project in the first place.
Your entire attitude can change in an instant when you remember the spark of joy and creativity and inspiration and vision that made you want to do this in the first place: when you reconnect with the purpose of your creative projects.
Hold onto that feeling. Hold onto that connection — and then carry it with you into THIS moment, where you’re at right NOW.
Want more help with doing this deep inner work? You need to watch the Intuition Activated masterclass:
When you do this, it’ll also broaden your perspective: You might realize that, for example, the strategy/method/approach you’ve been taking with this particular project actually isn’t quite the right fit. You also might be able to see where you’ve been putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.
You’ll be able to more clearly see where you’ve gotten too caught up in the DOING of the thing, that you’ve lost sight of BEING with the thing.
For instance, these moments often occur for me when I’m working on a novel (so far I’ve written and published 8 romantic comedies about alternative relationships; currently doing rewrites for my 9th!). What happens is this: I lose sight of the pure love and joy of writing and storytelling when I get too caught up in the idea of what readers will think.
→ I get too caught up with *doing the work* of writing a novel that I forget to simply enjoy the writing process and the JOURNEY of being an author.
When that happens, I like to reconnect with the characters and my passion for writing fiction… and upon doing that, the obstacles don’t appear so insurmountable, after all.
Any motivation issues I’ve been having with it dissipate.
With that in mind, I encourage you to do a check-in with your own creative pursuits!
5 questions for reconnecting with the purpose of your creative projects
Make a list of your creative projects (these can be hobbies, business ventures, or anything in which you have actively chosen to do a thing), and for each item on your list, ask yourself:
- How am I feeling, and what am I experiencing, about this thing right now? (e.g. Are you having fun vs feeling frustrated?)
- What is the original reason for WHY I decided to do this?
- Am I being present for this thing and genuinely enjoying it... OR does it feel like just another task on the to-do list?
- Does what I’m currently doing — and how I’m currently engaging with this thing — match up with my original reason for it? (e.g. If you started it for fun, but now it’s feeling stressful, then that’s a mismatch)
- What can I do differently to reconnect with the core purpose for this creative project?
This isn’t easy to do on your own!
You might discover that you know LOGICALLY that you’re struggling to reconnect with the joy/purpose of various creative pursuits, but it’s challenging to change the ways you interact with it…
You might have a tough time identifying HOW you can reconnect with the core purpose of your creative projects…
You might be worried about more motivation issues cropping up with your creative projects…
You might not be giving yourself PERMISSION to fully enjoy your creative pursuits…
Does any of that sound familiar?
In that case, you can 100% benefit from personal fulfillment coaching:
Looking forward to working with you on this!
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It originally appeared as the May 18, 2024 edition of the Solopreneur Diary Entries weekly newsletter.
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