What's stopping you from getting started on your creative goals
The Habitual Creator Lesson #1
You’d think starting is as easy as the Nike slogan “Just do it”, but it actually isn’t. Think of a creative project idea that you have, or about a goal for your creative life. Think about starting your creative work, or taking action towards that goal. What’s stopping you?
I bet there are some “buts” and some anxious thoughts coming up. Those thoughts lead to specific behaviour that’s not aligned with what you say you want to do, be or have. It’s making you delay and doubt and become dull and down.
Writer Steven Pressfield calls this Resistance, something that shows up in “any act that rejects immediate gratification, in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower.”1
Resistance can show up at any point - when you’re starting, when you’re in the middle of your work / in the middle of learning a new (creative) habit, or when you’re close to the finish line in a creative project. I personally find it’s usually at its heaviest at the beginning (before you get started, and a couple of days into starting), and at the end.
It can be a fear of failure, but that’s not the only thing.
Resistance is also fear success: “The glare of success can send the recovering artist scurrying back into the cave of self-defeat. We are more comfortable being a victim of artist’s block than risking having to constantly be productive and healthy” Julia Cameron writes in The Artist’s Way2.
At the core, it’s probably a fear of change.
When I started training for my first 5K run, I had to battle the voices in my head that told me “You’re not a runner!”. This Resistance made me start training, and stop shortly after I got started…many, many, many times (until I eventually managed to build a consistent practice and did indeed get to my first 5K!). It made me tell myself that this goal was silly, that I didn’t really care about it, that there were more loftier goals in life than being able to run 5K. It told me I didn’t have time to train running, that I should be working or practicing singing instead (Resistance loves either/or thinking!). It made me delay and surf the internet with Google search words like “learn to run”, “running courses”, "how to avoid injuries while training running”, “best way to train for your first 5K”, instead of going out for a run. It made me sit down on the couch and open up Netflix, especially on the days when I told myself I felt too tired to run, or it was a bit rainy outside, or too windy, or too cold, or too hot…
When we get started on a new (creative) habit (or contemplate starting), there’s an identity crisis going on in our minds. It’s because the act of committing to doing something consistently is about so much more than just about the doing itself.
“Being a runner” is not just about putting on your running shoes and going out for a run. It means you choose to go out for a run even if the weather isn’t good, even if you don’t feel like it. Being a runner means every single time you go out for a run, you get faced with the current state of your abilities, with your body and mind. If you intend to “be a runner”, you need to be ok with the fact that building up a sustainable running practice requires you to start slow. You need to give zero fucks about how red your face gets and what other people will think about your running style. “Being a runner” also means you stop repeating the old stories that are playing in your head about how you tried and failed in the past. “Being a runner” might change other areas of your life, too. Suddenly you’re drinking more water, making different food choices, even. You say “no” to certain things so you can say “yes” to running, because you are choosing to be a runner. And while many of the outcomes of “being a runner” might seem desirable to you, Resistance screams “NO!! Don’t do it!!” because it’s unknown territory.
To beat Resistance, you can study it and get clear about the ways it sabotages you. To embody the new identity of the person you wanna become through your new (creative) habit, you need clarity on what that identity entails.
Now, here’s your assignment:
1. Change “Being a runner” for something you wanna be, do or have.
Here are 3 examples relating to different creative disciplines:
Be: A published writer.
Do: Release my own music.
Have: Freedom to improvise as a singer.
Here are 3 examples relating to different (creative) life goals:
Be: More confident to share my creative work.
Do: Meditate regularly.
Have: A higher monthly income, so that I can save money for my future & for important life goals.
Write it down like this: “I want to be…” / “I want to do…” / “I want to have…”
You don’t have to write about all three. One is enough! Just saying this because I know that perfectionism often makes us think that in order to do the assignment well, we need to write about everything, come up with many goals, consider - and change - every single aspect of our creative work & life in one sitting. You don’t have to do that! Starting with one thing is enough. (This also goes for your answers to the questions below). One thing is enough. It doesn’t need to be a lot in order to be good. You don’t need to know all the answers now in order to get started.
2. Notice the Resistance-based thoughts & behaviour that keeps you stuck.
“I wanna write but I have no original ideas”, “I wanna release my own music but if I release this song, my old piano teacher will be upset with me”, “I wanna improvise but when I think about improvising I freeze and no sound comes out of my mouth”, “I wanna be more confident to share my creative work but I think I should improve my singing technique first”, “I wanna meditate but the thought of it bores me”, “I wanna have a higher monthly income so I guess that means I cannot be an artist”.
Just write it down for now. Later, I’ll tell you more about what you can do about those Resistance-based thoughts and behaviour.
3. Clarifying your new identity:
Let’s say you wrote down “I want to release my own music”. The identity you want to embody is the identity of a songwriter/composer who has released their own music.
Name one choice the person you wanna become makes (every week / every day).
Name one thing that person gives zero fucks about (so they can develop the habit(s) that leads accomplishing their goal).
Name one old story that person needs to stop repeating.
Name one thing that person says “no” to in order to say “yes” to their new (creative) habit.
What’s one thing that got clearer with this lesson & assignment?
Join the subscriber chat to share your insights & questions! I look forward hearing from you and answering your questions!
XO Katja
Steven Pressfield: The War of Art - Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles. Black Irish Entertainment LLC, 2002.
Julia Cameron: The Artist’s Way - A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2002.