Crisis in Creative Confidence

Since my last post I’ve been trying to work out what to write. I knew what I wanted to write about - Creative Confidence. The ‘C’ in Creative Habits.

But how do you talk about creative confidence when that confidence seems to have deserted you?

I felt hypocritical talking about being confident in creative ability when I couldn’t think of anything to say. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to say, I just couldn’t write it. Does that sound strange?

Of late, I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about creativity. And whilst mulling over what to write, it dawned on me. I was in information overload.

I was also looking for the perfect topic and words. Talk about not taking my own advice (see my thoughts in perfection paralysis).

There and then I decided to get over my crisis of confidence (and myself). How did I get over the speed bump in front of me?

I decided to write about my crises, to get it off my chest. And do you know what? Once I started writing, once I put pen to paper, it just all came blurting out.

Here I was making it up as I went along and it felt great!!

My handwriting’s not the best, in fact it’s pretty awful, but who cares. It’s not the point.

I’ve just written my way out of feeling unconfident (new word??), of being able to write about creativity. And I think what I’m doing is pretty creative because it solved the problem.

This is my creativity confidence booster. This is my way of getting over the writing slump. Of the feeling I had backed myself into a corner by declaring what I was going to write about on this blog - the meaning behind Creative Habits.

So I tell myself…

I am confident in my creativity

I am confident in my ability to produce.

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Crisis over.. confidence back.

Creative Habits: C = Confidence in our ability.

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Many years ago I was given one of those motivation posters to keep on my desk - you know, posters with a picture and a quote underneath. It was a very 90’s thing and you saw them everywhere (and still do in some offices…).

Although the subject on my poster was ‘Goals’, what really struck a deep chord within me was the quote underneath.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of their dreams, and endeavors to lead a life which they have imagined, they will meet with a success unexpected in common hours”

It’s a quote from Henry David Thoreau, a 19th Century American author and philosopher. You may know his writing.

Why did it strike a chord with me? To begin with because I wanted to believe it to be true. I wanted to believe it was possible for my dreams to come true.

And you know what? I now believe it is true. That’s not to say all of my dreams have come true (which is just as well in some cases), but many have.

To gain those successes we dream about we need to be confident in our ability. We have to trust ourselves and what we are doing to achieve our dreams, our endeavors. They can and do lead to success - expected and unexpected.

We need to be confident in our ability to be creative.

Even today whenever I feel I need a boost in confidence in my creating ability I walk over to the poster and read it aloud. I take the time to contemplate what it means to me. To re-establish my confidence.

Try it next time your creative confidence falters.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of their dreams, and endeavors to lead a life which they have imagined, they will meet with a success unexpected in common hours”

Do you have a quote or saying that strikes a chord with you? I’d love you to share it with us.

PS. This is a photo of sunset over the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt from our boat on the Nile. It was always a dream of mine to visit Egypt and as you can see I achieved my dream!

When I started the adventure which is this blog - The Creative Infopreneur, it was because I believe to be successful as an infopreneur you need to stay creative. In fact, to be successful in anything requires us to be creative in some way.

Now it’s not to say we always have to be in the ‘creative zone’ but if we understand what we need to do to be there, it’s a giant step forward.

I call this understanding the ‘Creative Habits‘ and this is what it means to me.

Creative Habits are:

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C=Confidence in our ability

R=Resources and support systems

E=Energy levels

A=Action those ideas and thoughts

T=Thinking skills

I=Inspiration and where does it come from

V=Variety - think wide not narrow in our interests

E=Environment around you. What’s it like where you do your creating?

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H=Have passion in what you do

A=Acknowledge and celebrate your achievements

B=Be persistent, don’t give up at the first hurdle

I=Interested not interesting. Ask the questions not be asked them

T=Time. Allow yourself time to think and play

S=Stretch yourself and create your future

And this is the theme for the topics I’m going to write about over the coming months. I plan to work my way through each of the letters and talk about how it enhances our creativity as well as some practical hints and tips.

I’ll be starting with C for confidence (naturally) in my next blog and I hope you’ll join me on the journey to find out what Creative Habits really mean.

Before I finish this topic I would like to recommend you visit a fabulous blog on writing called Confident Writing. It’s where I got the inspiration to start the ‘Creative Habits‘ journey. Joanna Young encourages you to delve deeper into the themes and topics and do a bit of mindmapping for sub-topics. It gives you purpose and confidence, but you will do better to read it for yourself at Confident Writing.

Until next time and with Confidence!

The ‘aha’ moment

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I had an ‘aha’ moment a few days back about the importance of play as a creative habit for successful infopreneurs and I’d like to share it with you.

It was a beautiful warm day and I had decided to continue my reading and writing on the table outside. To be honest I couldn’t resist the beckoning of great outdoors. So there I was, reading…. writing…. contemplating.

As I looked up I noticed my six month old puppy playing with an old slipper. “Who thought you could get so many games from a slipper” I wondered. And that’s when the ‘aha’ moment struck me.

Play and creativity go hand in hand

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I couldn’t believe the amount of games he created with the slipper.

First he tossed it around, sometimes grabbing it mid-air, other times letting it fall to the ground only to quickly snatch it and give it a shake.

Then he ran with it into the yard and buried it in an existing hole (sigh..) only to unbury it a few moments later.

He chewed it, he ran around the yard tossing it about, he growled and barked at it, then he’d go and bury it again.

This went on for about half an hour, he was absorbed in his game.

And so was I. I was fascinated at how he could occupy himself for such a long time with such a simple thing as a slipper. So I sat there and watched and smiled and delighted in the games he played.

Once he had finished playing, he flopped down and snoozed contentedly.

As for me, I felt refreshed and reinvigorated because I too felt part of the play and took fun in the games he was playing. It was easy then to go back to what I was doing, in fact I was even more productive and inspired because of the play break.

And that was my ‘aha’ moment as I realized the importance of play as a creative habit. And it’s one habit I know from experience is a lot of fun. I highly recommend you add it to your creative habit toolkit and start enjoying the creative (and other) benefits of play now.

PS. My puppy’s name is Mozart and this is his picture (slightly fuzzy as he refuses to sit still!)

I was catching up on my ‘web reading’ of sites I go to help me get re-inspired or just to refresh and motivate me on my infopreneurial journey, when it struck me I should share them with you as well. Here are a few sites with a writing theme I enjoy and I hope you do too!

Wake Up Writing!

Katie-Anne posts a daily exercise intended to get your creative juices going. It’s targeted for writers and each post is only a few lines - but don’t let that put you off! They are very thought provoking, for example today’s is A fresh supply of story seeds where Katie-Anne starts your story off for you.

Grow Your Writing Business

This blog is full of great articles, podcasts and bits and pieces for infopreneurs. Yvonne has a growing community of writers who add depth to the blog through their informative comments. The latest blog on Book Habit - A New Self Publishing Site & $5000 Prize Money talks about self publishing something I know many writers have an interest in.

Daily Writing Tips

This site is full of great tips on all different types of writing genres, from business writing, fiction writing to freelance writing. There is something for everyone on this site. Their article of 24 April talks about writers who work from home and what you need to give you the best work environment. I must admit it was good to be able to tick off all their suggestions - all but the last, I don’t have a fish tank but I do have a fishpond outside so maybe that counts!

These are just a couple of my suggestions, if you have any great sites I’d love to hear about them. Take the time now to visit these sites, I’m sure you will find them as interesting, informative and fun as I do.