Creatively Punch Drunk? How To Avoid A Painful 12 Round Beating Each Time YOU Create
All of us who create know that no-one can sabotage or undermine our creativity and our creative efforts anything like as well as we can.
In fact if “Creative Self-Sabotage” was an Olympic event, the competition throughout the world would be fiercer than for all of the other events combined!
Sometimes we can get into such a cycle of thinking and (non-)action when we sit down to create, that at the end of the session, however long or short, we feel exhausted, mentally, emotionally and physically.
Getting in a boxing ring with the World Heavyweight Champion sometimes seems more appealing than the mental battering we give ourselves about our creative output.
Here’s 5 common ways we dish out the pain to ourselves. See how many you recognise:
1. The Body Blow
Just as we think we’re getting some momentum in a session of creating, there it is, that brutal thud in the torso that knocks the wind out of us and leaves us gasping.
“Face it, this novel’s never going to be the masterpiece you want it to be even if you DO ever finish it. Which is unlikely.”
“Yeh so you’ve crafted a few pretty tunes. But how can you afford to record them, let alone get them distributed to the right record labels?”
2. The Upper Cut
A sharp unexpected shock that sends us sprawling.
“Don’t forget your tax bill needs to paid this month, shouldn’t you be out earning more money?”
“Remember what you heard earlier - your old college friend Sarah just got her novel published by a major publishing house. They’re also in talks with 3 film studios to bring it to the big screen...”
3. The Swinging Left Hook
A little wilder this one, it doesn’t always hit the target. But when it does connect, oh do we feel it.
“My mother always said I’d never amount to anything.”
“When are you going to get over this creative “phase” and return to your safe and predictable former career?”
4. The Right Jab
A persistent nagging punch that gradually wears us down through sheer repetition. Sometimes it’s these type of comments that have the most powerful long term effect of all.
“You’ve spelt that wrong. Again. Can’t you type properly? And you can’t write like that, it’s not even a proper sentence...”
“Bad choice of colour. You shouldn’t have used that. How many times now have you ruined a painting by simply using the wrong colour at a crucial stage?”
5. The Low Blow
This is the cruellest and often most damaging blow of all, the deliberate and heartless attack of a known weak area.
“If you weren’t so unhealthy you’d find it much easier to create. When are you going to start taking proper care of yourself?”
“You’re too scared of failing to ever take any creative risks. You just churn out the same pieces of work time and time again.”
Ouch. Feeling a little bruised? It's no wonder!
How many of these bitter blows to yourself do you recognise?
How many do you regularly dish out to yourself when creating?
You wouldn’t send your best friend into the boxing ring with Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson would you? No. So why do it to yourself?
The first step to easing up on yourself and reducing this barrage of negative criticism is to recognise when you’re doing it. Often it’s become such a habit for us, having a head full of negative chatter becomes our natural state and we don’t realise the long term effect it has on us and how it depletes our morale and energy.
So take that first step, beginning today, and vow to be vigilant to ALL attacks and attempts at self-sabotage however they appear and whichever direction they come from.
Even if you can’t get out of the ring, learn to duck and weave and avoid taking the full force of some of those vicious and crippling blows...
In fact if “Creative Self-Sabotage” was an Olympic event, the competition throughout the world would be fiercer than for all of the other events combined!
Sometimes we can get into such a cycle of thinking and (non-)action when we sit down to create, that at the end of the session, however long or short, we feel exhausted, mentally, emotionally and physically.
Getting in a boxing ring with the World Heavyweight Champion sometimes seems more appealing than the mental battering we give ourselves about our creative output.
Here’s 5 common ways we dish out the pain to ourselves. See how many you recognise:
1. The Body Blow
Just as we think we’re getting some momentum in a session of creating, there it is, that brutal thud in the torso that knocks the wind out of us and leaves us gasping.
“Face it, this novel’s never going to be the masterpiece you want it to be even if you DO ever finish it. Which is unlikely.”
“Yeh so you’ve crafted a few pretty tunes. But how can you afford to record them, let alone get them distributed to the right record labels?”
2. The Upper Cut
A sharp unexpected shock that sends us sprawling.
“Don’t forget your tax bill needs to paid this month, shouldn’t you be out earning more money?”
“Remember what you heard earlier - your old college friend Sarah just got her novel published by a major publishing house. They’re also in talks with 3 film studios to bring it to the big screen...”
3. The Swinging Left Hook
A little wilder this one, it doesn’t always hit the target. But when it does connect, oh do we feel it.
“My mother always said I’d never amount to anything.”
“When are you going to get over this creative “phase” and return to your safe and predictable former career?”
4. The Right Jab
A persistent nagging punch that gradually wears us down through sheer repetition. Sometimes it’s these type of comments that have the most powerful long term effect of all.
“You’ve spelt that wrong. Again. Can’t you type properly? And you can’t write like that, it’s not even a proper sentence...”
“Bad choice of colour. You shouldn’t have used that. How many times now have you ruined a painting by simply using the wrong colour at a crucial stage?”
5. The Low Blow
This is the cruellest and often most damaging blow of all, the deliberate and heartless attack of a known weak area.
“If you weren’t so unhealthy you’d find it much easier to create. When are you going to start taking proper care of yourself?”
“You’re too scared of failing to ever take any creative risks. You just churn out the same pieces of work time and time again.”
Ouch. Feeling a little bruised? It's no wonder!
How many of these bitter blows to yourself do you recognise?
How many do you regularly dish out to yourself when creating?
You wouldn’t send your best friend into the boxing ring with Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson would you? No. So why do it to yourself?
The first step to easing up on yourself and reducing this barrage of negative criticism is to recognise when you’re doing it. Often it’s become such a habit for us, having a head full of negative chatter becomes our natural state and we don’t realise the long term effect it has on us and how it depletes our morale and energy.
So take that first step, beginning today, and vow to be vigilant to ALL attacks and attempts at self-sabotage however they appear and whichever direction they come from.
Even if you can’t get out of the ring, learn to duck and weave and avoid taking the full force of some of those vicious and crippling blows...
posted by Dan at 5:32 PM
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