Creative Writing Secrets- 7 Ways To Be A Better Creative Writer Today

So you want to be a better creative writer?

Every one of us has the ability to improve our creative writing output, both in quantity and quality.

Here are 7 great ways you can use right away to be a better creative writer:

1. Become a sponge. Absorb all that’s around you, the tiny intricate details of the world that most people miss. A cobweb on a leaf, the rhythms of the city, the rise and fall of your partner’s chest as they sleep.

Creative writing that’s rewarding to write – and enjoyable to read - begins with noticing and appreciating the close up snapshots of everyday life.

2. Visit a variety of places and environments. Every time we visit somewhere we’ve never been before, there’s an abundance of new stimulation for our senses.

Become aware of how you feel in different places and environments and which make you feel more creative, and fill you with ideas.

3. Watch classic foreign movies. Without subtitles! By removing one powerful element of communication – speech and language – we can see more clearly how people communicate in other ways.

See how emotions are demonstrated in the subtleties of facial expressions and small gestures. Don’t mute the sound though. Listen to the changes in rhythms in the voices and see how much you can understand even without knowing the words they’re using.

4. Practice little and often. Have a daily ritual of writing creatively, even if it’s just 3 lines of poetry or a couple of paragraphs. Go to a place you can write without distraction and where you feel encouraged to write.

With these routines in place, you begin to “give yourself permission” to store up your creativity in between and let it flow freely in these special time periods.

5. Adjust your personal remote control. Imagine you have your own personal remote control handset, like a TV. Experiment with turning up the volume, increasing the brightness, or changing the colour saturation of the world around you.

Notice how when you focus on each element and increase or decrease the intensity of that element, you can have a more vivid experience of life around you.

6. Practice writing with different length sentences. Start with a medium length sentence, say 12 words, describing a scene. Then add a word at a time to make it more richly descriptive, until it’s double the original length.

Then go the other way, remove a word at a time while keeping the creative and descriptive essence of the sentence. See how few words you can use to still vividly describe the same scene.

7. Observe people’s conversations. Notice how people talk, their voices, the way their tone and volume changes, how they emphasise different words and syllables.

Notice too how people use their faces and hands to add impact to what they’re saying. By being more aware of these details, you can make your own creative writing more rich and realistic.

These are just 7 useful ideas you can put into action today to help you develop your creative writing.

Which are YOU going to put into action next?

Want to find out how more about how to unlock your creative writing potential? Get your FREE 5 part creative writing ecourse at www.YouAreACreativeWriter.Com.

Creativity Coach and keen creative writer Dan Goodwin helps people who are frustrated they're not using their creative talents as well as they could be. See more at his website: http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity & The Danger Of Blanket Beliefs - Which Ones Are Smothering YOUR Creativity?

What is the one single thing that will hold back your creativity, even if you have the perfect environment, studio, equipment, support network, marketing, and finances in place to freely create and share with the world whatever your heart desires?

The answer? Your belief system.

Our belief systems are the collected thoughts we have about the world and ourselves in it, those thoughts we assume to be true, and no longer question or challenge.

Many beliefs we have may come from direct experience and good judgement and are entirely healthy to hold and abide by. For example we believe if we put our hand in a fire it will get burnt. And we’d be right!

But what about other beliefs that appear to be just as irrefutable and entirely founded in truth, but actually aren’t?

These can be beliefs that in fact also limit us hugely, even if we don’t initially realise it.

There are those beliefs which may be fairly specific to your creative life and aspirations, for example:

“I can’t draw so it’s pointless me trying anything else artistic.”

“Getting a book deal these days is impossible, there’s too much competition.”

“I tried dancing ballroom years ago and was useless so I couldn’t dance salsa.”

Then there are those that are even wider reaching, such as:

“All artists suffer from depression”.

“You can’t make money from something you love.”

“You can only have a few good ideas before you run out.”

Do any of these examples sound familiar to your belief system?

We can call these beliefs, that we hold without having seriously questioned or challenged in years, and that seriously limit our creative efforts, Blanket Beliefs.

And yes, blankets can be very comforting. They can keep us warm and cosy, huddled up in the same position for hours, days or years, safe from the fear of change, protected from needing to reach out beyond ourselves and the familiarity of what we know.

But blankets can also smother us, stifle us, and entangle us, holding us back from breaking free, striding out and seeking what we truly desire in our creative lives.

The first step in breaking free from your Blanket Beliefs is to recognise them, and separate what is actually true from what you just BELIEVE to be true.

Take the time to think about some of the beliefs you hold without question about your creative life.

Write them down as a list, the thoughts you hold as unquestionably true that seriously limit your creativity and prevent you moving forward and achieving what you dream of achieving. Use the examples above if they’re relevant to you and add as many others as you think of.

Then consider what holding these unproven Blanket Beliefs costs you and your creative ambitions on a daily basis. Only then can you begin to work on replacing these beliefs with others that are more realistic, more healthy, and that will serve you far better in the long run.

So isn’t it time you began to identify and loosen some of your Blanket Beliefs?

Don’t you owe it to yourself, and to the rest of the waiting world, to stop smothering YOUR creativity?

Learn more about how to increase YOUR creativity today... Get your FREE copy of Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s powerful and practical "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook when you sign up to the FREE “Create Create!” ezine. Visit the website now: www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Writing- The 5 Key Elements To Prolific Creative Writing

Anyone can be a more prolific and more creative writer than they currently are.

Yes, there are natural talents and abilities that come into play up to a point.

But much of what it takes to be accomplished and prolific in your creative writing can be learnt, practiced and developed.

Some writers may be able to switch their writing abilities on and off like a switch. But for most of us it takes a lot more dedication and focus.

The good news is that we can all improve our creative writing output in both quality and quantity if we pay attention to these 5 key elements:

1. Believing that you CAN be prolific. First and foremost, if you don’t deep down believe that you can write creatively, this limiting belief will severely restrict all your creative writing.

Like a wasp trapped in a jam jar, however furiously you struggle, you’ll be buzzing around in a very limited space. Have an honest assessment of your beliefs around your creative writing, and if necessary, give them a positive tune up.

2. A good supply of ideas. Every book, every article, every poem - everything that’s ever been written - began with an idea. What do you do to ensure you have a steady stream of new ideas to develop in your writing?

The most valuable element of having a good supply of ideas is to catch them as they appear and record them in enough detail so when you return to expand them the essence is strongly there. Use a notebook or voice recorder to do this as they arise.

3. Using regular routines. One of the greatest resistances writers have is to getting into regular routines and ways of working. They feel it’ll somehow stifle their creativity and stop them being spontaneous and free in creating.

The only thing that will restrict your writing is you. Develop regular writing routines and you actually give yourself permission to create more often and more freely.

4. A conducive writing environment. If you come to write at your desk and there’s papers everywhere, you can’t find where your notes are from last time, or there’s stacks of unrelated clutter all around, you’re not going to be inspired to write freely.

You want to be able to come to your writing space and flow straight into writing without any unnecessary physical distractions. Do whatever you need to create a calm space where you can write as easily possible.

5. Learn from feedback. The only way to get better in anything is to do the best you can at this point, then listen to feedback about what was good and what could be improved and act upon that feedback.

Build a support team around you who you trust to give an honest appraisal of your creative writing, while remaining positive and encouraging.

These are the 5 key elements to being a prolific and developing in your creative writing.

Which of them do you have strongly in place already?

And which would it benefit you to spend a little more time and focus on improving?

Discover more about how you can develop YOUR creative writing right away. Get your FREE 5 part creative writing ecourse at http://www.YouAreACreativeWriter.Com

Creativity Coach and keen creative writer Dan Goodwin helps people who are frustrated they're not making the best of their unique creative abilities. See more at his website: http://www.CoachCreative.com

Be More Creative-How Mapping Tiny Landmarks In Your Creative Journey Can Help You Be More Creative

However creative or prolific we are, one thing that many creative people find difficult is to acknowledge and appreciate the great progress we make in our creative work.

When it comes to watching other creative people, we actually find it quite easy to keep track of what they’re doing, and how much they’re progressing.

We can remember that only 6 months ago, our friend Catherine had never even heard Salsa music. Now she’s out every Friday night living it up in the Salsa clubs, and wowing the crowds with her natural style and smooth moves.

We can recall how our Design colleague Ben was at an all time low creatively just a few weeks ago, and now after a personal creative breakthrough, is producing some of the freshest most exciting designs since his days at design school 10 years ago.

So why DO we find it so hard to recognise - and more crucially to VALUE – our own creative progress?

The obvious reason is that we have less objectivity.

Because we’re with ourselves 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it’s more difficult to stand back and get that perspective we get when we’re away from other people for periods of time.

Another reason is we tend to be less kind with ourselves about our achievements.

When we do create something amazing, we brush it off with casual comments like: “Yeh it’s pretty good I suppose, but anyone could’ve done it, it’s nothing special.”

So how CAN we get better at recognising our progress, giving ourselves more encouragement and being more creative?

A great technique to use is to have a Tiny Landmarks chart.

This is a chart that can be as simple as a sheet of A3 paper pinned up on our wall, where we note our “Tiny Landmarks” – the small but significant achievements in our creative lives, and the day we achieve them.

But calling it Tiny Landmarks, doesn’t that belittle our achievements, you might ask?

No, quite the opposite. As we talked about before, often we dismiss our creative achievements as not being important or significant. So we get in the habit of not acknowledging ANY of them, even though we're striding forward.

By allowing ourselves to record “tiny” landmarks, as well as major ones, we can see how we gradually and steadily build on our efforts, step by step, day by day.

Here are some example of some Tiny Landmarks you might record:

- 1st finished poem

- 5th published article

- 1st review in an art journal

- 3rd painting completed this year

- 1st blog entry to get a comment

- 1st commissioned portrait

- 10th piece of jewellery sold

- 1st A3 collage completed

- 1st 1000 words of new book written

- 3rd consecutive day of creating for an hour in the morning

- 1st song completed on new album

- 1st public performance of a poem

There are thousands of possible others. They can be as small as you wish, remember each step is a significant one.

At the end of each month, look back at your landmarks chart and see how much you’ve progressed.

By seeing the areas you’ve progressed with, this technique can also help you plan for how you want to develop your creativity in the future.

You can see which areas you’re naturally strong in, and which areas you might want to dedicate more time, energy and learning to.

Using a Tiny Landmarks chart is a brilliant way of tracking your creative progress, and as a result helping you be more creative.

Start yours today and see how effectively it increases your creativity.

Want to learn more about how to be more creative? Then sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Writing- 5 Powerful Tips To Increase Your Self-Confidence In Creative Writing

Creative Writing is something that everyone is capable of. And we can all improve our creative writing – and our enjoyment of it - in a great number of ways.

One of the key factors to writing creatively and freely is confidence.

It doesn’t matter how talented you are as a writer, if you lack the confidence to write and to explore your writing potential you simply won’t create as well or as often as you’re capable of creating.

So here are 5 powerful tips to help you increase YOUR self-confidence as a creative writer –

1. Believe you’re creative. If you didn’t believe you were capable of writing creatively at all, you wouldn’t even be trying, so you’re off to a great start. Now you can build on this core belief.

One way of doing this is to spend some time visualizing how your life would be if you were wildly successful as a creative writer, whatever “wildly successful” means to you.

Put yourself into this future visualization of yourself as strongly as possible. Ask yourself what beliefs you hold about yourself that have enabled you to be this creative, this successful. Then start bringing them into your life today.

2. Use your senses. So much of the time we walk round virtually oblivious to the highly sensory world around us. We may as well stick cotton wool in our ears, a sock in our mouth and bag over our heads!

It’s through our senses we connect with and experience the world. Take some time to go somewhere new and practice using your senses. Concentrate on each of your senses one at a time, what you’re really seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling.

Do this regularly and you’ll have an abundance of rich experiences to draw upon in your writing, which in turn will increase your confidence to write.

3. Set small achievable goals. If you haven’t written for a while - months or even years maybe - then to set yourself the task of writing a new novel this weekend is ambitious at best. At worst it’s simply setting yourself up for major disappointment and blow to your confidence.

Instead, set smaller achievable steps. For example, “Today I’m going to write 250 words about the past life of my book’s new character Jake.”

Start small to build your confidence, then add more challenging tasks for yourself as you go.

4. Write aimlessly. By this I mean don’t set out to write a perfect wartime romance, or a wonderful poem about the cherry trees in your back yard.

It’s great to have writing ideas and aims like this but the problems come when we get too attached to them. Then, when our creative writing takes us elsewhere, instead of exploring what could be a wonderful new direction, we just feel we’ve failed in writing the piece we set out to write.

Pick an inspiring starting point, then just let your imagination – and creative writing – flow wherever it wants to.

5. Join a supportive group. Being able to share with other writers is a very rewarding experience. It can be very supportive and healthy for our confidence on two levels.

Firstly, with other creative writers we get to share our creative writing, the work we produce, and get their feedback, tips and ideas, as each of us look to develop ourselves.

Secondly, we’re able to share the experience of being a creative writer. The joys, the frustrations, the rewards and the disappointments. Knowing that others feel similarly to us can be very reassuring. The help and encouragement of others can help boost our confidence no end.

Increasing your confidence as a creative writer is sometimes the only route to helping you unlock your creative writing potential.

These are just 5 of the best ways you can do this.

To discover even more ways to unlock your creative writing potential, get your FREE 5 part creative writing ecourse at www.YouAreACreativeWriter.Com.

Creativity Coach and keen creative writer Dan Goodwin helps people who are frustrated they're not using their creative talents as well as they could be. See more at his website: http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Writing- 3 Key Reasons Why You're Not Reaching Your Creative Writing Potential

A great number of us have creative writing talents far greater than we realise.

But despite this, most of us simply aren’t writing creatively anywhere near as well, as much, or as often as we could be.

Why is this? Surely if we truly want to write creatively it’ll just naturally flow?

There are many reasons why we don’t reach our potential. Here are 3 of the most common, and some top tips on how to overcome them:

1. You haven’t found your best writing format. Everyone has their favourite methods of writing, the ones in which we’re comfortable and competent in. Maybe yours is short stories, or poems, or novels.

But often we continue to write in this format because we feel it’s all we know how to do, it just comes automatically. Though we feel we’ve got much more potential to be discovered, we can’t seem to unlock it through this form of writing we’re used to.

Top Tips to try: Try different types of writing, those you’d never even consider, those you’ve never tried before, those you haven’t even discovered yet. You might find a new form that lets you unleash that creative potential like never before.

At the very least, you’ll return to your main writing medium a richer, more experienced creative writer.

2. You don’t write often enough. What not-so-secret method helps a creative writer improve more than anything else? Writing!

If you’re only writing once in a while and have serious ambitions to develop your creative writing potential, you’ll simply have to write more widely, more deeply and more often. There’s no avoiding it!

Top Tips to try: Regularity is the key. Commit to writing for a small period of time every day for 14 days. You could start with just 10 minutes, but make sure you stick to it every day.

Write a few paragraphs on a new piece of work each day or just whatever’s in your thoughts at the time. The crucial part is to write consistently every day, then you can build up the amount gradually.

3. You don’t believe in your creative ability. On the surface you appear to be writing at a good standard and at a healthy steady rate of output.

But inside you long to burst out of the familiar straightjacket and let your creative writing talent run wild. What stops you? On a deep level you simply don’t believe you’ve got it in you.

Top Tips to try: Think about what you truly believe about your creative writing ability. Write down all your beliefs around your creative writing ability. If you find you actually don’t believe you’re capable of taking your writing to a new level, you’ll never progress.

Start to adopt the beliefs that are consistent with someone who reaches a little closer to their creative potential every day. Think about what someone who’s confident and creative believes about themselves and take on those beliefs yourself.

These are just 3 of the most common reasons why we don’t reach our potential for writing creatively.

Pick one that you identify with and try the tips suggested to help you become a better creative writer TODAY.

Want to find out more about how to unlock your creative writing potential? Get your FREE 5 part creative writing ecourse now at www.YouAreACreativeWriter.Com.

Creativity Coach and keen creative writer Dan Goodwin helps people who are frustrated they're not using their creative talents as well as they could be. See more at his website: http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Writing - Are You Born A Creative Writer Or Can It Be Learnt?

Is creative writing something we can learn and develop?

Or are we simply stuck with a fixed amount of creative writing talent we’re born with?

Why do some people seem to find it easy to write pages and pages of wonderful flowing creative writing?

While others gaze on eternally frustrated that they will never be able to reach such heights of creativity and productivity?

For many of us, even if we DO manage to overcome our creative blocks in terms of the AMOUNT we write, we feel constantly disappointed with the quality of our creative writing output.

We feel we could write forever at this average-anyone-off-the-street-coulda-written-this kind of standard.

But really we long for that next elusive level.

We’re desperate for that creative writing breakthrough - that poem, that story, that single sentence – that blows us away and makes us feel we’re a powerful creative force to be reckoned with after all.

So how do we get there? How do we experience this creative epiphany?

Well, we can’t summon it up magically just like that. But there’s plenty we CAN do to make it easier for our creative writing talent to evolve to new levels.

Here are two simple ways:

1. Work on your beliefs about your creative writing ability.

If you don’t believe deep down you’re capable of writing creatively then you simply never will achieve the wonderful levels of creative writing you’re actually capable of.

Have a check in with your beliefs about your creativity.

Ask yourself honestly: How creative do I really believe I am?

If the answer is less than an emphatic - “there are no limits to my creativity, I’m as creative as I want to be!” - then it’s time to take a look at some of the ways you can increase your creative self-belief.

Start by simply listing all the things you think someone with strong self-belief thinks about themselves. The same things you’d need to think if you were to be highly creative.

Then read them out loud to yourself, as if you believe them yourself.

2. Gather evidence of your creative ability.

The second simple way to make it easier for your creativity to flourish is to gather together all the evidence of how very creative you are.

Get together all the creative writing you’ve done in the past. Everything: letters, notes, diaries, journals, as well as what you might consider your “proper” creative writing. There’s bound to be more than you think.

Another little exercise to do is take a random object from around where you’re sitting. Maybe it’s a pen or a book or a cushion.

Now pick an emotion. It could be sad, excited, overjoyed, frustrated, or any other emotion.

Imagine you’re someone for whom this object summons up that emotion very strongly. Write a couple of sentences why this is so, the history behind it.

Now you have further evidence of your creative writing ability. From just one object and one emotion you were able to create a story, and the background to a character.

Our creative writing ability is something we can ALL develop.

Start building up yours today by using these two simple techniques.

Want to find out how more about how to unlock the creative writer in you? Get your FREE 5 part creative writing ecourse at http://www.YouAreACreativeWriter.Com

Creativity Coach and keen creative writer Dan Goodwin helps people who are frustrated they're not using their creative talents as well as they could be. See more at his website: http://www.CoachCreative.com

How To Be Creative & Be Happy – Letting Your Creativity Naturally Evolve

We each have deep within us the knowledge and the resources to build a life of happiness and creativity.

We’ve tasted enough of being both creative and happy to know what we love and what we want more of, and what we don’t like and need less of.

The difficulty comes in filtering out the surface noise so we can truly listen to this deeper source of knowledge.

Every one of us is unique in our creativity, so every one of us has a unique recipe for a creative and happy life.

But there are some basic ingredients that are needed for everyone’s recipe.

Today we’re going to focus on one of the most important.

Letting your creativity naturally evolve is essential for a life of creativity and happiness.

What do we mean then by “letting your creativity naturally evolve”?

Many of us are capable of being prolific in our creativity and churning out project after project more efficiently than a factory conveyor belt.

But we’re creative artists aren’t we, not production line automated robots?

If we’re producing the same end product each time, how creative is that, really?

We’ve all heard and witnessed many times over the story of the “One Hit Wonder” in the pop music charts.

They write and release a catchy infectious tune, everyone loves it and it sells in the hundreds of thousands. Fantastic, everyone’s happy.

Then they release their follow up.

Hang on though, this sounds almost EXACTLY like their first song...

By the third single they’ve virtually disappeared off the pop radar, never to be seen or heard again.

So how do we avoid being a One Hit Wonder? Or even worse, a NO Hit Wonder!?

We let our creativity naturally evolve.

Letting our creativity evolve is about experimenting, taking risks, being brave, colouring outside the edges.

It’s also about listening to ourselves and finding what helps us be more confident and bold in our creative experimentation.

Of course we don’t try to reinvent the wheel completely each time in the way we create. Much in the same way we don’t relearn our alphabet from scratch each time we go to write or speak.

Finding consistent methods and techniques that work well for our creativity is brilliant, and to be highly encouraged.

But following the same techniques down to the very last detail, without shaking things up at all, can only lead to producing the same product over and over and again.

And that’s not one of the ingredients of a happy and creative life.

So what are you going to do, from TODAY onwards, to help your creativity naturally evolve?

Start right now by going and creating something different, something brave, something edgy.

Vow to do this every few weeks or so, just to give your creative work some freshness and the chance to develop and evolve in new directions.

By doing this regularly, and letting your creativity naturally evolve, you’ll be giving yourself one of the essential ingredients for a creative and happy life.

Learn more about how to be happy and be more creative. Sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

How To Be Creative & Be Happy – The Importance Of Connecting With Others

Although we sometimes feel far from happy or creative, we actually all have within us the resources we need to lead a life of creativity and happiness.

We’ve experienced and glimpsed enough of both being creative and being happy to know what we love and want more of, and what we don’t love and need less of.

The difficult is in cutting through all the surface static and listening to the source of that deeper knowledge.

Each of us are unique creative people, so we each have a different recipe for a creative and happy life.

However, there are some basic ingredients common to everyone’s recipe.

Today we’re going to focus on one of the most important.

Connecting with others is essential for a life of creativity and happiness.

So what do we mean by “connecting with others”?

Living a solitary, isolated life works for some people.

But for the majority of us, however creative we may be in this isolated existence, we won’t be very happy for long.

As human beings we naturally crave interaction and connection. And as CREATIVE human beings, this takes on another level.

The fundamental purpose of creating anything at all, for most of us, is to reach out and connect with others in some way.

It’s our language, our way to express ourselves and to communicate with the world.

Our art, the work we create, is our unique and highly precious medium for connecting and communicating.

The other way we connect to the world as creative people is when we’re communicating ABOUT our love of creating.

So, as creative people, we have two main channels for connecting with others:

Our creative experiences and love of creating, and our creative work itself.

With each of these, we can communicate directly or indirectly with the world. Here’s how:

Connecting directly:

With our art we can read our poetry at open mic events, have public open days for our beautiful gardens, play our music at bars and clubs. All of these are ways of directly sharing our creative work with others.

To share our creative experiences and our love of creativity, we can join clubs, groups and societies and participate in online forums and collectives. Again, direct ways of communicating and connecting with others.

Connecting indirectly:

We create our art and put it out there, whether it’s getting our CD in a music store, our garments in a clothes shop or our short stories in a magazine. Hopefully people enjoy and appreciate our art and if we’re fortunate we’ll hear back in some way about this.

To share our love of creativity indirectly we may read an article or book on creativity, listen to a CD of a favourite artist or visit a gallery. Or we might write our own books or articles on creativity.

Connecting with others is such a fundamental part of our lives as creative people

Without it, without getting our creative voice heard, without communicating passionately through our creative work, our lives feel hollow, empty, sad and incomplete.

So what are you going to do TODAY to connect with others?

Start right now and list all the ways you currently connect with others in your creative life.

Then make another list of all the new ways you can try, and pick 3 that you’ll commit to doing in the next 7 days...

By connecting with others - through your creative work, and about your love of creating - you’ll be providing yourself with one of the essential ingredients for a creative and happy life.

Learn more about how to be happy and be more creative. Sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

How To Be Creative & Be Happy - Finding Creative Routines That Work

It may not feel like it sometimes, but deep within us we all know how to build a life of creativity and happiness.

We’ve seen and tasted enough in the past to know what works for us and what helps us be creative and happy, and what doesn’t work and we need to reduce or eliminate.

The difficulty sometimes is getting through the surface chaos and listening to our inner, knowledgeable selves.

Every one of us is unique in our creativity, so we each have a slightly different recipe for a creative happy life.

However there are some basic ingredients that we all need for our recipe.

Today we’re going to look in more depth at one of the most important.

Finding routines that work is essential for a life of creative and happiness.

So what do we mean by “routines that work”?

Many of us who are creative recoil in horror at the idea of set routines or patterns of working in our creative life.

There are many traditional romantic images of the artist being struck suddenly by inspiration and being compelled to create feverishly until their new work is complete, their idea fully realised.

But what happens then during the times we’re not creating?

Do we just hang around hopefully and wait for inspiration to magically appear?

Boredom is one of the lethal enemies of the creative mind. Just waiting around for something to happen is at best a bit of a drag, and at worst excruciatingly painful and frustrating.

It’s not a formula for a very happy or a very creative life.

So what’s the alternative?

The solution – the best way to lead a life that’s consistently creative and fulfilling – is to find routines and systems that work for us.

Creating a little each day is one of the crucial cornerstones.

Setting aside a time when we just go to our creative work space, or somewhere we’ll be undisturbed, and just creating, even if it’s just for 15 minutes each day is essential.

It’s the basis we can build everything else in our life of creativity and happiness upon.

Other parts of our routines we can alter and adjust are:

When we work – experimenting and finding the times of day we’re most creative.

Our creative environment – the surroundings most conducive to us creating easily and freely.

Reviewing and editing – the systems we use to review what we’ve created and make any necessary changes.

There are many other parts of our creative lives where having a system in place – a system unique to us that we’ve tried and tested – can help us be as creative as possible.

How can we find routines that work?

Be willing to test and experiment. Read and absorb as much as you can from other creative people and creativity experts, try their methods and systems and take the parts that work for you.

Over time, tweak, fine tune and evolve your creative routines so they continue to allow your creativity to flourish as freely as possible.

What are you going to do TODAY to start to find routines that work?

Start right now, look at the routines you currently have that work and the ones that aren’t working that you can drop.

Research and gather new routines and systems and start to find your unique and most effective ways of working.

By finding the creative routines that work for you, you’ll be giving yourself one of the essential ingredients for a creative and happy life.

Want to learn more about how to be more happy and be more creative? Then sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

How To Be Creative & Be Happy – Getting The Support You Need

We all have inside us all the resources and knowledge we’ll ever need to lead a creative and happy life.

We’ve seen and experienced creativity and happiness often enough to know what they are. We know what’s good for us and what we’d like more of. And we know what isn’t good for us and what we need to reduce.

The difficulty lies in getting through all the surface static and tapping into this knowledge.

As we’re each unique creative people, we each have a unique recipe for a creative and happy life.

But there are some basic ingredients that are needed for everyone’s recipe.

Today we’re going to focus on one of the most important.

Getting the support you need is essential for a life of creativity and happiness.

So what does “getting the support you need” actually mean?

All of us who lead creative lives naturally have peaks and lulls.

When we’re on a creative high, we can easily create to our heart’s content and need little or no outside encouragement or input.

During the more difficult times though, very few of us can create in complete isolation and rely totally on our own reservoirs of motivation to get us through.

This is where support - and a support network - become so valuable and important.

A collection of people – our own personal team of enthusiastic cheerleaders.

Those we know we can trust and rely upon to encourage us, tell us we’re doing ok, and keep us moving and creating, especially in the more challenging times.

Having a support network works on two basic levels.

Firstly, it helps continually drip feed our creative confidence and our creative self-esteem.

Regular meetings and check ins with your colleagues, friends, or creativity coach help you maintain a high level of creativity, and stick to healthy, productive habits.

It keeps our creative batteries topped up, our fuel gauge in the black.

Secondly, our support network is there to catch us when we fall.

When we have those inevitable lulls, when we feel everything we create is worthless and pathetic, there’s someone there to talk to.

Someone to reassure us, tell us it’s ok, we’re not going insane.

Someone to listen, ask the right questions and give practical advice.

What happens when we don’t have this support?

Quite simply, our levels of creativity drop significantly.

It doesn’t pay to be TOTALLY dependent on others, and we should do all we can to build our creative confidence in a number of different ways.

But if we lack support completely, pretty soon we’ll simply grind to a halt, unable to sustain the levels of creative energy and motivation and encouragement that we get when we have a support network in place.

So how can you get the support your creativity needs?

Take a good look at the support network you have in place around you.

How strong is it? How many people are genuinely committed to supporting you and have your best interests at heart?

Are there any people you need to see less of or not see at all, as they’re a constant negative drain on your creativity?

How else can you find support from like minded creative people?

What are you going to do TODAY to get the support you need for your creativity?

Start right now, assess your current support structure and look at the many ways you can make it even stronger.

By doing this, you’ll be giving yourself one of the essential ingredients for a creative and happy life.

Learn more about how to be happy and be more creative. Simply sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

How To Be Creative & Be Happy – Being Recognised & Appreciated

Inside us all, we have the knowledge and the resources for a life of creativity and happiness.

We’ve had enough of a taste and glimpse of being both creative and happy to know what we love and want more of, and what we don’t like and need less of.

The problem is getting through all the surface clutter and down to the pure source of that knowledge.

We’re each unique in our creativity, and so we each have a different recipe for a creative and happy life.

But there are some basic ingredients that are needed for everyone’s recipe.

Today we’re going to focus on one of the most important.

Being recognised and appreciated are essential for a life of creativity and happiness.

What do we mean then by “recognised and appreciated”?

As creative people, as artists, we need to feel at a deep level that our work has some purpose.

We need to know that what we create – and therefore our creative life itself - has some point and some meaning.

Part of this comes from within ourselves.

Someone with very high self esteem, huge levels of motivation and endless courage can quite happily produce creative work in complete isolation.

They can comfortably rely on themselves and their “inner rudder” to guide them to through the right decisions, the right projects, the right areas of focus for their creative energy.

But that’s not what most of us are like.

The majority of us need constant recognition, acknowledgement and affirmation from others around us, those we trust, admire and respect.

We need to hear:

“Wow, that’s amazing. For me it’s the most powerful and emotive abstract work you’ve produced yet.”

“Eighteen months after their debut, this new record is even more ambitious, more rewarding and truly stirs the human soul.”

“You’ve written a quality article every week for the last 3 months, that’s great going, well done.”

And sometimes just:

“I really admire how you’ve chosen to live a creative life and follow your talents and your calling.”

What happens when we don’t get recognised and acknowledged?

We feel we’re beating our heads against a wall. We wonder why we bother to create anything when no-one ever sees it or takes pleasure in it.

We wonder if our work is any good, or if we’re making any progress at all.

We may even create our own version of the famous riddle: “If a tree falls in a forest and there’s no-one around to hear it, does it still make it sound?”

“If I create and there’s no-one to around to appreciate it, did I actually create anything at all, or was it just a dream??”

So how can we get the acknowledgment and recognition we need?

In fact this doesn’t begin with other people. It begins right here, right now, with ourselves.

When was the last time you actually acknowledged and appreciated something you’d just created?

When did you last take a moment to actually say: “I’m proud of that creative project. I really feel I’ve progressed, it’s the best I’ve created in a long while.”?

Once we start acknowledging our own creative work – and appreciating our own creative EXISTENCE – we can start to become more open to receiving it from any number of other sources.

We can then take it out to those people who’s opinion we respect and admire, knowing we’ve done the best we can and are now open to constructive feedback from others.

What are you going to do TODAY to acknowledge your creativity?

Start right now and get into a regular habit of acknowledging and recognising how much you achieve, and you’ll be giving yourself one of the essential ingredients for a creative and happy life.

Want to learn more about how to be more happy and be more creative? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity And Guilt - 5 Common Guilt Trips Of The Creative Soul And How To Overcome Them

There are any number of reasons why we feel we can't unleash our creativity and start to realise some of the huge potential we have to be more creative.

Many of them, once we dig a little deeper, stem back to some form of guilt or other.

Guilt is one of the most powerful human emotions.

Feelings of guilt held over time this can be incredibly destructive.

And even if it doesn’t stop us in our tracks completely, and we do manage to continue creating whilst carrying this guilt, it makes us feel absolutely terrible.

As a result we never get to enjoy the creative process anywhere near as fully as we could do.

So here are 5 of the most common "guilt trips" of the creative soul, and a way to overcome each of them:

Guilt Trip No. 1: "It's selfish creating just for me. Focusing time and energy just on me is so self-indulgent."

How to overcome it: The fact is, if you're more creative you're more happy, more alive, more fulfilled. This good feeling and positive energy inevitably spills over into the rest of your life.

So you're more relaxed, more easy going, more fun to be around. Surely this can only be a great benefit for everyone?

Guilt Trip No. 2: "I have all this wonderful creative equipment and materials, I should make use of it, I feel guilty it's just sitting there.”

How to overcome it: By having the equipment and materials there it’s a constant reminder and pressure on you. Make the decision to either sell or give it away, or put it away out of sight and commit to regularly taking out and using just a small amount at a time.

This way the visible pressure is greatly reduced and you won’t get overwhelmed by trying to create with every piece of equipment and material in one single “ultimate creative project to end all projects.”

Guilt Trip No. 3: “When I’m creating I feel there are other priorities, other chores I should be getting on with."

How to overcome it: Accept that there will always be other chores, something else that needs doing. It’s just not possible to finish them all. It IS possible though to have a creative life and still do the other everyday tasks we all need to live.

Set aside a small amount of time each day that’s just for you to create. If it helps, use it as a reward for getting other stuff done. But don’t wait until after you’ve done everything else and you’re completely exhausted!

Guilt Trip No. 4: “When I do create I often make mistakes and mess up. I feel guilty that I’m ruining materials and equipment someone else could put to better use.”

How to overcome it: Making mistakes is one of the best parts of creating. It’s often in these “mistakes” that we unlock new and stimulating paths to creating that we never would have found if we’d stuck to a rigid, safe formula.

If you really can’t get beyond making a start on an expensive canvas for example, for fear of ruining it, then start on something smaller and less expensive. Build your creative confidence – and your willingness to make “mistakes” - in small steady steps.

Guilt Trip No. 5: "I find it easy to create, and that makes me feel guilty. There are other people more deserving than me that have to work so much harder than I do to get similar results."

How to overcome it: We all have our gifts and talents, the secret is discovering what they are. If you’ve found you can create beautiful things, that’s wonderful. Focus on how you can nurture your talents. The better you become, the more others will appreciate your work.

Another way of giving back to others directly is by starting a creative class, or helping out at an existing class. Those beginners new to creating can benefit from your experience and support.

These are just 5 of the most common guilt trips of the creative soul.

Which do you most relate to and why?

Which are you going to steps to overcome, starting today, so you can begin to truly unleash your creativity?

Want to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity - The Truth About Your Creativity - Who DO You Create For?

Creativity has a thousand different guises and expressions. Indeed, each of us who create may have any number of different ways of creating and communicating with the world through our creative abilities and works.

But how many of these are truly the things we WANT to create?

How much of our creative energy is invested in those projects we burn with passion for and yearn to produce, the projects that when we’re in the midst of creating feel rewarding, exciting and fulfilling like nothing else?

Often we may appear to be very productive on the surface and be churning out new work apparently effortlessly and without breaking a sweat.

So this makes us highly creative. Doesn’t it?

Well, yes in one sense.

If we measure how creative someone is by the volume of their output then someone who writes 6 novels a year or records an album every 3 months, is very creative.

But consider also the quality of this output.

And not even the quality as measured by the outside world, but the quality of the experience to the artist who created it, the value and benefit that creating these works gave them.

At one end of the spectrum there may be, for example, an artist who creates one new piece of work every 4 years, yet each day of those 4 years, each moment invested in their project, was rewarding, enjoyable and entirely necessary for the creator.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, there may be an artist who creates something new every day, generating new work like a perpetual motion conveyer belt.

Regardless of the opinions of the wider world, their work may be equally as rewarding for them as the artist who produces something every 4 years. Or it may not.

Only the artists themselves know what drives them to create and who they’re really creating for.

Consider this example:

Imagine you wrote a novel that you found personally incredibly satisfying to write.

It then got picked up by a major publishing house, sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and received great acclaim.

Fantastic.

Naturally, your publishers, and the fans of your work demand more, a sequel or follow up to the first novel.

You oblige and write the second book, though it was more difficult than the first and the pressure was completely different.

5 years and 5 novels down the road, the enjoyment you’re getting from writing is virtually non-existent. You feel highly stressed and under constant pressure to deliver.

The motivating and highly personal reasons that helped you write your first book have all but evaporated.

When you began you had dozens of ideas for books, each very different to one other, and each exciting and challenging for you to write. Now, instead, you find each novel you produce is a virtually photocopy of the previous one. The challenge, the thrill, the purpose and the point of writing, have all but disappeared.

Put simply, you’re not creating for yourself anymore.

It’s easy for us to lose sight of why we create, especially in the face of any commercial or critical success. We’re torn between wanting to pursue our successes - mining the potentially rich seam we’ve found - and trying to remain original, authentic and innovative enough to satisfy our natural need to evolve and grow as artists.

How does this relate to your creative life right now?

Ask yourself, what is most important to you - creating to satisfy your deepest artistic urges, fulfilling the need that nothing else can replace, or reproducing the type of work that you know has been successful in the past?

Be truthful in your answer, there’s no definitive right or wrong that works for everyone. We’re all individual and that’s just the point.

So what is the truth about your creativity. Who DO you create for?

Want to learn more about your own unique creativity and how you can be more creative? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

How To Be Creative & Be Happy - 5 Essential Ingredients For A Happy Creative Life

Deep down, we all know how to be happy.

We have enough self awareness to know what feels good, what feels right. We know what type of creating makes us feel excited, stimulated, powerful, alive.

The difficulty comes NOT in knowing just how delicious the recipe for our happy creative life can be.

We’ve had enough of a taste at various times in our creative life, however fleetingly, and however few and far between these occasions may have been, to know how wonderful it CAN be.

The hardest part is knowing which ingredients to use and what quantity of each we need.

So to give you a little more clarity about YOUR own unique recipe for a happy and fruitful creative life, here are 5 of the essential ingredients we ALL need:

1. Recognition and Appreciation. We all need to be recognised and appreciated as creative artists, to feel our work - and our very creative existence - has a purpose.

This begins with ourselves. How completely have you accepted that you’re a creative person, and that creativity plays a crucial part in your life? Isn’t it time you “came out of the closet” to yourself and the rest of the world?

2. Support. Though sometimes it’s of benefit to create away from outside distractions, none of us can create for a sustained period in complete isolation.

The support of others, someone to tell us we’re doing great and we’re on the right track, is invaluable to us as creative people. What kind of support network do you have in your creative life?

3. Stability and Routine. Though many of us visibly flinch at the idea that as creative people we should have routines and systems in place to be able to be creative, the fact is they work.

The only way to produce consistent, rewarding and fulfilling creative work is to create regularly. And we can only do this with routines in place, systems that work for us. What creative routines and system do you have that work for you? How can you make them even more effective?

4. Connection To Others. For many the fundamental purpose of creating ANYTHING is to connect with others, to communicate with the world. Our art, our creative work, is our unique and precious way of doing this.

If we’re creating in a vacuum though, we’re missing out on a huge and rewarding part of the creative life. In what ways is your creative work out there in the world connecting with, touching and inspiring people? And how can you directly communicate and share more with other creative people?

5. Development and Evolution. We simply can’t have a happy creative life if we produce the same piece of work over and over again. Creative development is essential to having a rewarding creative life.

The root of all personal creative development is being brave and bold enough to experiment, and willing to evolve and change. In what ways do you experiment, take risks and scribble outside the lines in your creative life? How can you do this more?

Finding a delicious recipe for a happy creative life is an ongoing process.

By having these 5 elements in place, we’re off to a excellent start.

Finding the right type and amount of each that works best for you can only be found through experimenting, being brave and being open.

Open yourself to the possibility that a life of happiness and creativity is something that’s not only achievable, but it’s something you already know how to do, if only you'd give yourself the chance and the permission.

Want to learn more about how to be more creative in your life? Just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them - "I Never Finish Creative Projects, So Why Start?"

All of us who are creative know what it’s like to experience creative blocks.

That feeling when however much you long to unleash your creativity, it seems about as easy as juggling hot custard.

Whatever we seem to do, we can’t get past a certain point, we’re literally blocked, can’t see a way through and quickly get discouraged and frustrated.

There are many different types of creative block, and each of them has its devious ways of trying to sabotage our creativity.

The first step in overcoming any creative block though is to recognise when we’re up against it, and see exactly what it is we’re dealing with.

Here’s one of the most common forms of creative block and some tips to overcome it:

Creative Block: “I never finish creative projects, so why start?”.

How you know when you’re experiencing it:

The main symptom of experiencing this type of creative block is having a trail of part finished creative projects in your past history.

In a dark cupboard that hasn’t been explored for months, even years, there lies a collection of unfinished projects. What were once sparkling with intention and pregnant with wonderful possibilities, now lie discarded and disowned, like forgotten and unloved orphans.

Although the projects are out of sight, they’re not necessarily out of mind. The impact each of them had at the point when you “gave up” has left its own tiny scar.

Over time, this collection of successive scars has left you feeling unable to start another new project. “Why bother starting anything new? It’ll just end up in the cupboard like all the others and I’ll feel like a failure all over again.”

Tips to overcome this type of creative block:

The most significant part of this creative block for many of us is simply the association of not finishing a project with being “a failure”, “a lightweight”, and “incompetent”.

To begin to better deal with this creative block, what’s needed is a way to reduce the impact this “failure” feeling has on our ability to begin subsequent projects.

Here’s some tips to help with this:

There’s no failure only feedback: The only way we can truly fail is to give up completely and never create again. And I know deep down that’s not what you want at all.

Any project that doesn’t go the way we thought it would gives us an opportunity to learn a little bit more about ourselves, how we create, and what’s important to us.

An increase in self-awareness: If we come to a point in a project where we really can’t see how it can benefit us to continue with it, then don’t. This shows good self-awareness.

It shows we care enough about our creativity that we’re prepared to stop “flogging a dead horse” and redirect our creative energy into something we’re more into. It’s a positive step.

Practice finishing: Maybe it’s been a long time since you finished any project and you feel you don’t even know how to. This is something you can practice.

Begin with a very small project, like making a birthday card, organising 10 of your photos, or writing and sending a letter to a friend. Once you’ve completed a few small projects and got more comfortable with seeing a project through from start to finish, it becomes easier to build up to larger projects and do the same.

Feeling “I never finish creative projects, so why start?” is just one of the most common creative blocks we experience.

Experiment with the tips above to see how you can begin to overcome this type of creative block and go on to unleash your creativity.

Learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity today: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them - "I Always Mess Up My Creative Projects"

There are many different reasons why we don’t create as much as we could.

Trying to get focused and unleash your creativity sometimes feels about as easy as tap dancing in quicksand.

The more you struggle, the deeper you seem to sink into a state of depression, frustration and non-action.

Creative blocks come in many different guises, and each has its own particular ways of defeating our creative spirit and energy.

The most valuable starting point to overcome these creative blocks is to understand what we’re up against, and recognise exactly what it is that’s holding us back.

Here’s one of the most common forms of creative block and some tips to overcome it:

Creative Block: “I always mess up my creative projects”.

How you know when you’re experiencing it:

Over a period of time – months, years, even decades – you’ve had a number of creative projects not turn out how you first planned them. You often start with big bold ideas and loads of enthusiasm, and throw yourself into a new project with great momentum.

But pretty soon, the project starts to look a little different to how you thought it would.

Instead of accepting this, and letting the project, and your creativity, flow and evolve into something special, you see it as a failure.

You consider yourself undisciplined and unfocused, and as someone who doesn’t have the strength or ability to see things through to the end.

You feel: “There’s another project I’ve made a mess of. I’ve got to be close to triple figures by now…”.

This experience repeated over a period of time has worn you down to the point where now you don’t even bother to create because you feel: “I'll only mess this up, what’s the point of starting, wasting my creative energy and materials?”

Tips to overcome this type of creative block:

“Making a mess” and “messing up”, whatever that means to you, is a natural part of creating.

Making mistakes, taking wrong turns, getting half way through a project before realising it’s evolving into something entirely different to what you envisioned it being when you started, are ALL healthy and necessary parts of our creative processes and development.

Accepting this can seem difficult and unnatural, and we believe everything we create should be perfect first time and pop out into the world like some immaculate conception.

Here’s some of the ways you can begin to happily welcome “the joy of mess” into your creative life:

Tip 1. Deliberately make a mess: Get a brand new notebook, go to somewhere in the middle, turn it upside down and start scribbling your thoughts in every direction on the page. Become familiar with creating outside of the lines, and beyond the limits of neat, ordered perfection.

Tip 2. Making a mess means… : Write this in the middle of a blank page and then write around all the reasons you can think of, however good or bad. Just brainstorm and write what making a mess means to you. This will help you unlock some of the negative associations you have, and begin to reduce their power to block your creativity.

Tip 3. Mess Is Beautiful: Write in large letters “Mess Is Beautiful” and pin it up somewhere on your wall near where you create. Each day take a few minutes to contemplate how mess can be beautiful and how it can help you evolve in your creative life.

Feeling “I always mess up my creative projects” is just one of the most common creative blocks we experience.

Use the tips above to experiment with your beliefs and associations around making a mess and messing up, and see how you can soon begin to overcome this kind of creative block and unleash your creativity.

Learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity today. Just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them - "I Don't Know What To Create"

Trying to unleash your creativity is often easier said than done. There are many times when creating ANYTHING feels like an upward struggle on the steepest mountain in the fiercest elements.

The harder you try, the more stuck and blocked you feel. Soon you feel so disillusioned and demoralised, you give up creating altogether, rather than face another exhausting battle.

Creative block appears in a number of different disguises, with a variety of reasons behind it.

The most valuable first step in overcoming creative block is to recognise when you’re experiencing it, and what type of block it is.

Here’s one of the most common forms of creative block and some tips to overcome it:

Creative Block: “I don't know what to create”.

How you know when you’re experiencing it:

Coming up with ideas for creative projects is one of the last of your worries.

You find it easy to produce a steady stream of possible projects to work on, in a number of different creative mediums.

In fact this type of creative block is very deceptive as it appears that your creativity is anything but blocked, and it’s actually flowing like a raging river.

But the problem lies in actually choosing ONE project to work on, and seeing it through to its natural end. You’ve started dozens of different projects, only to find half way through it doesn’t interest you anymore and it gets abandoned for a new, more exciting and more stimulating project.

How often have you found yourself thinking: “Now THIS is the project I REALLY want to be working on right now.”

Tips to overcome this type of creative block:

The most important factor here is to pick a project, start creating and see it through to some kind of natural conclusion.

Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of projects and possibilities open to us is where most of us get really blocked.

So here’s a simple 3 step process you can use time and time again:

1. Choose a project. Don’t take too long in this, the aim is to pick SOMETHING and get creating, rather than spend all your creative energy in deliberating. Wherever you start, it’s a great place to start.

2. Set a creative period and review date. For example commit to working for 15 mins each day on your chosen project for the next 14 days. Then on day 14 review your progress. Whenever you’re creating, you’re learning about yourself.

3. Review, adjust, create some more. When you reach your review date, look at where you are with your creative project, what’s been going well, what you’ve discovered, what you’d like to change, and so on. Then set the next review date and carry on creating.

Feeling “I don't know what to create” is just one of the most common creative blocks we experience.

Experiment with the 3 step process above in your creative life and see how it helps you overcome this type of creative block. Very soon you’ll begin to see how it can help you reduce this kind of creative block and unleash your creativity.

Learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity by subscribing to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine. Sign up today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Go to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them - "I Don't Know HOW To Create Anymore"

Sometimes when we wish to create, it’s not the lack of willingness that’s the issue.

However much you long to unleash your creativity, that fact is there are times it feels like the hardest thing in the world.

Invisible blocks stop you dead in your tracks and you can’t see a way to get going again.

So you end up feeling frustrated, dejected and disillusioned with creating completely.

There are a variety of types of creative block, and many reasons behind them. The most important first step is to recognise them, then you can begin to take action to overcome them.

Here’s one of the most common creative blocks and some tips on how you can overcome it:

Creative Block: “I don’t know HOW to create anymore”.

How you know when you’re experiencing it:

You used to create regularly and freely, whatever your favourite types of creative media were. Slowly, and almost imperceptibly, you began creating less and less, as other parts of your life took over.

Now, having realised how little you create – if you create at all – you want to get back to creating like you used to.

The major block however is that you doubt you CAN create like you used to. You’re afraid of trying, because the not knowing is less painful than knowing outright that you can’t create like you used to.

Trying, and then “failing”, would be too difficult to bear, so you don’t even attempt to, and this is the root of your creative block.

Tips to overcome this type of creative block:

The most effective way to overcome this kind of creative block is to start small and gradually build up your “creative muscles”.

If you were an athlete who hadn’t run a marathon for 5 years, and had barely run at all in the last year, you wouldn’t expect to go out tomorrow and run another marathon.

It’s the same approach with creating.

Here’s 3 simple steps that will help you get back in the creative flow:

Step 1. Choose a form for your daily creative output. This could be a journal entry, a small sketch in a pocket notebook, or a few lines of poetry. Something easy to get into.

Step 2. Commit to a time each day to create your daily entry. It needs only be 10 or 15 minutes to start with. Choose a time of day you’re more comfortable with and you can make a regular commitment to. It might be first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or at lunch. Do whatever’s practical for your creative life.

What’s MOST important is that you show up to create at your regular timeslot and create SOMETHING everyday. It doesn’t matter if it’s one line of writing or three lines of a sketch.

You’ve showed up, you’ve created. You’ve proved you can do it.

Step 3. Repeat, build and expand. After a week or two of creating regularly, start to build up the time you create for, and the amount you create. Like the athlete in training for the marathon builds the distance they run over time, do the same for you creativity.

In just a few weeks, if you commit to your daily creativity you’ll start to see amazing results in both your creative confidence, and in finding what you want to create again.

Feeling “I don’t know how to create anymore” is just one of the most common creative blocks we experience.

Use the tips above to experiment and begin to overcome this form of creative block. Very soon you’ll feel once more how you’ve begun to unleash your creativity.

Learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity by signing up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine. Do it today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them - "My Work Isn't Good Enough"

All of us who create experience times when creating feels more difficult than others.

However much you want to just let go and unleash your creativity, sometimes it feels like running through treacle with lead boots on.

There are many different ways we experience creative block, and a variety of reasons behind them.

The most valuable first step is to recognise the creative block, then we can take action to begin to work through it.

Here’s one of the most common forms of creative block and some tips to overcome it:

Creative Block: “My work isn't good enough”.

How you know when you’re experiencing it:

You’re creating less and less because you fear that your work - the art and the projects you create - just isn’t good enough.

At some stage, from somewhere or other, you’ve inherited some measure of what “good enough” looks like and sounds like.

The only problem is, your version of “good enough” in fact to others looking in from the outside is more like “impossibly ambitious” and “perfect in every last detail”.

There’s nothing wrong with creative ambition – it’s highly important to all of us. Being willing to create the best you can is also honourable and admirable.

But striving to be perfect with every project, and as a result not finishing any of them, is simply not healthy and productive for our creativity.

Tips to overcome this type of creative block:

At the root of this creative block is the pursuit of perfectionism. So the natural way to overcome it and work beyond it is to reject - or at least greatly reduce – our quest to be completely perfect with every creative project.

Here’s some ways to do this:

Progression not perfection. Replace your pursuit of perfectionism with a pursuit of progressing yourself creatively. With each project aim to give the best creative expression of yourself at this time, rather than the absolute perfect creative expression possible.

Allow creative projects to evolve naturally. Maybe you start writing an article about choosing vegetables to grow in your back garden, then find most of what you’re writing is about how to prepare the ground.

So your article goes from being called “Grow Your Own Vegetables: Choosing The Right Produce For You” to “Grow Your Own Vegetables: Preparing The Soil For A Bumper Harvest”.

Let it evolve naturally, and you have a great focused new article, plus part of the original article to expand in the future. Resist letting the article evolve and you end up with a single confused, half finished article, that isn’t want you wanted anyway.

See each creative project as a learning experience. With everything you create, ask “What can I learn from this project? What do I know about myself and my creativity that I didn’t know before?”.

If a project gets just too stuck, take a break, create something else. Choose something small, fun and with no expectation. When you return to your main creative project you’ll be in a different frame of mind to continue.

Feeling “My work isn't good enough” is just one of the most common creative blocks we experience.

Use the tips above to experiment and start to overcome this form of creative block yourself. Persist and you’ll soon see how you’re beginning to unleash your creativity.

Learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity by signing up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine. Do it today and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them- "I'm Scared To Create Something Different"

Sometimes as a creative individual, however much you long to unleash your creativity, it feels near to impossible.

The more you try, the more you feel as if some impenetrable barrier is in front of you and there’s no way through, no hope and no solution.

There are many different forms of creative block we can experience, and for each there’s a number of ways we can overcome them.

The first step is to recognise them so we can see what we’re dealing with, then we’re in a better position to overcome them.

Here’s one of the most common types of creative block and some tips to overcome it:

Creative Block: “I'm Scared To Create Something Different”.

How you know when you’re experiencing it: You’re tired of creating the same work and same type of projects over and over and feel desperate to create something new. But each time you come to try you get scared of being out of your creative comfort zone, scared of failing, and revert back to the tried, tested and safe way you created before.

Tips to overcome this type of creative block:

The most important factor is to keep creating, keep experimenting. It’s better to be creating similar projects to those you’ve created before and make small adjustments each time, experiment with altering little details, than to stop creating altogether.

In the long term, doing this will help you evolve, and you’ll learn which of these small experiments produce interesting, stimulating results, and which produce very little new inspiration or ideas. Then you can build on those positive discoveries.

Here are some of the elements you can change, one at a time, then see how it affects your creativity:

Where you create: Try a different position in the room you create or a different room. Take your work outside into nature and see how that stimulates your creativity. If your creativity relies on equipment that can’t be taken outside, then just go with a notebook, camera or voice recorder and capture some ideas in a different way.

The materials you use: If you’re a writer, use different paper, different pens, a new font and colour on your word processor. If you paint, try new colours you’ve not used much before, or a different brush or a different size canvas.

The time frame in which you create: If your creativity normally pours out thick and fast and you throw ideas down on the page rapidly, try creating more slowly. Or even more fast! If you take your time and create very purposefully and precisely, try creating more quickly once in a while, just to see how creative you can still be in half or quarter of the time.

Feeling “I'm Scared To Create Something Different” is just one of the most common creative blocks we experience.

Experiment yourself with the above ideas and see how you can begin to overcome this type of creative block and unleash your creativity.

Learn more about how to unleash your creativity by signing up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them - "I Have No Ideas"

As a creative person, however much you want to unleash your creativity, you’ll know how difficult it can sometimes be to create anything at all.

However hard you try to be more creative, sometimes it feels like there’s an invisible force field in front of you that holds you back from progress and you feel stuck, despondent and frustrated.

There are many different types of creative block and a number of reasons behind them.

The first step to overcoming them is to recognise what they are, then we’re in a stronger position to take steps to move through them.

Here’s one of the most common forms of creative block and some tips to overcome it:

Creative Block: “I have no new ideas”.

How you know when you’re experiencing it: You feel you can’t come up with any good new ideas. Everything you do produce in the way of ideas feels like a rehash of something you’ve already done, a pale imitation of what you’ve done well previously. Or worse still, you can’t come up with anything, even if it is an altered version of what you’ve created before.

Tips to overcome this type of creative block:

1. Change your surroundings. If we’re always creating in exactly the same place, with the same surroundings, out creativity is not being stimulated very much.

So by changing our surroundings we can shake up our creativity, get some fresh inspiration and input, and jump start our creativity and ability to produce new ideas.

Here are some of the different elements you can change:

Your visual surroundings. Experiment with altering what you see around you by either changing what’s around you in the room or studio you create in or going somewhere else entirely and creating.

Change the sounds around you. The easiest way is to use music in the background or on headphones. Using different types of music can have a very powerful effect on our creative mood and output.

Use different scents. The scents around you also can stimulate your creativity ideas. Either use scented oils or candles or take yourself to different places where there are strong natural scents, such as in a flower garden, or near a freshly cut lawn.

2. Change your outlook. If we always look at things in exactly the same way we never stimulate our creativity and challenge ourselves to come up with new ideas.

Use a series of different questions to get new perspectives and give yourself prompts to create.

Here’s an example of a few:

Q. What would I paint if I had a budget of £1 million? What if I had just £10?

Q. What poem would I write if I only had 50 words to use? What if I had just 10 words?

Q. What music would I create if I had just a four track recorder and no instruments?

3. Use a new technique. By always relying on the same techniques to produce ideas we can get stale and stuck. Or maybe we don’t even have any techniques in the first place?

Here are some different methods to produce and store creative ideas:

Mindmapping. Use mindmapping techniques to brainstorm, create new ideas and form new connections between elements that didn’t exist before.

Use a notepad. Carry a notepad wherever you go and get into the habit of recording ideas as soon as they come to you, to return to and develop in the future.

Hold creative collaboration meetings. Get together every month or so with creative friends to have an exchange of ideas and give feedback on each others’ creative projects.

Feeling “I have no new ideas” is just one of the most common creative blocks we experience.

Experiment with the tips above to see how you can begin to overcome this type of creative block and unleash your creativity.

Learn more about how to unleash your creativity by signing up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine. Subscribe today and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Just head over to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - 7 Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them

As anyone creative knows, being able to unleash your creativity is often easier said than done.

Being more creative would come more readily if it wasn’t for the many different types of creative block we experience as artists and creative people.

But there is hope, and many ways to deal with these creative blocks.

The first step, as with anything that holds us back, is to recognise the block for what it is, throw a light on it, rip off its mask, get it out in the open.

Once we can see what we’re dealing with, part of its power and negative impact is already reduced.

So here are 7 common creative blocks and how you can begin to recognise and overcome them.

Creative Block 1: “I have no new ideas”. You feel like every idea you come up with is just the same as your previous ones, or worse it’s only a weak imitation of a previous one.

Solution: If what you’re doing isn’t working, try something completely different. Radically change one element at least – the medium you’re creating in, the style you’re using, the time you create, where you create. Shake up your routine and see what difference it makes to your creativity and ideas.

Creative Block 2: “I'm scared to create something different”. You feel stuck and limited in what you create but fear trying something different in case it turns out to be disappointing.

Solution: You don’t know until you try. Maybe by writing haikus for a while instead of another novel, you’ll discover a whole new side to your creativity and add a deeper dimension when you return to your previous type of work.

Creative Block 3: “I don't know how to create anymore”. Maybe it’s been a while – weeks, months, even years – since you last created and you fear you’ve lost the ability.

Solution: Start small and create regularly. Whatever your main creative medium, by committing to a daily journal entry, poem or sketch, and building up the amount you create, you’ll slowly and surely rediscover your creativity.

Creative Block 4: “My work isn't good enough”. You don’t create because you’re always disappointed in your work or feel others will be.

Solution: Let go of perfectionism! One of the most dangerous creativity killers is trying to create perfectly. Aim instead to create the best expression of your creativity at this time and then move onwards and upwards to your next creative project.

Creative Block 5: “I don't know what to create.” You have so many ideas and possible projects, you’re just overwhelmed and don’t know where to put your energy and focus first.

Solution: The best place to start is somewhere. It doesn’t matter where you start, just start. Whenever you’re creating, you’re evolving and learning about yourself. Pick one project, commit to give it your best for 2 weeks then review and either continue with it or take what you’ve learnt to a new project.

Creative Block 6: “I always mess up my creative projects”. You feel afraid of creating more because you don’t want to make a mess or “waste” your artist materials or time.

Solution: Often, the joy of creating is in the messy bits! If we never mess up, make mistakes, or create outside our comfort zone, we never progress. Making a mess in the short term leads to a greater knowledge of your creativity in the long term, and therefore more rewarding, fulfilling and enjoyable work.

Creative Block 7: “I never finish a creative project, why bother starting?”. You have a string of unfinished projects hidden away in dark cupboards and are stuck between feeling you should finish them and wanting to start something new.

Solution: You don’t have to finish projects if they’re not working. It’s braver to actually realise that this isn’t the right project for you right now, take what you’ve learnt and apply to something you’re more into, than to freeze up and stop creating altogether. It’s not failure, it’s good self awareness.

These are just 7 of the most common creative blocks we experience.

How many have you been affected by in your creative life?

What steps can you take TODAY to identify just one of these blocks and help you unleash your creativity?

One great step you can take to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity is by signing up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine. Do it today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Who's The True Creative You? 5 Questions To Help Unlock Your True Creative Self

All of us in our everyday lives have to play a number of different roles, and put on a variety of personas. Different parts of life require different abilities to come to the fore, and similarly, different people bring out different parts of our personalities.

Think about your own life. You may be at various points in the day a mother or father, spouse, business partner, son or daughter, employer, employee, colleague, friend, and a host of other different roles.

This depends on who you’re with, the environment you’re in, and the expectations on your behaviour and way of being, from yourself and from others.

Sometimes even, we seem to need to wear more than one of these many hats at one time, juggling them as best we can whilst at the same trying to remain true to our core beliefs and values that run through everything we do.

But, when you come home at the end of the day, and are able to remove all the various hats, relax and detach from the expectations of the various roles you play, who is it your left with?

Who is the real you underneath it all?

The true creative you that is always there but sometimes gets pushed aside or repressed?

It’s all too easy for us to lose touch of the core identity of ourselves amidst all the chaos and demands of day to day life.

So here are 5 powerful questions to ask yourself, to allow you to “Come Home To You” and get closer once again to your true creative self.

1. If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do with the time? Would you spend it with friends and family, would you go places you’d always wanted to go, would you create the art you’d always longed to create?

2. What are your 5 greatest strengths? What are the 5 most fundamental things you do well and are best at? What strengths have you called upon time and time again in difficult times of your life?

3. What would your closest friends, colleagues and family say are your 5 greatest strengths? This often gives surprisingly different answers to the previous question, because it forces you to look at how others see you, and often highlights strengths that others value highly but you maybe just take for granted.

4. Which 5 guiding principles in your life are most important to you? Think of these as the fundamental guidelines you live by, and which influence everything you do. For example: being honest, being creative, willingness to learn and grow, tolerance to others, and so on.

5. If you had to create one piece of work or art that defined the essence of you most accurately, what would it be like? Would it be similar to something artistic you’ve already created or completely new and different. Either way, consider the reasons behind your answer.

Answer these 5 questions as honestly and fully as you can, and you’ll begin see a very clear picture of the real you.

The next stage is to ask yourself what steps can you now take, with this greater knowledge, to start to “Come Home to You” more frequently, more authentically and more deeply?

Want to learn more about how to find your true creative self? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - How Rewarding Your Creative Achievements Can Help You Be More Creative

There are no shortage of techniques and tips available to help you unleash your creativity and tap into your vast reserve of creative talents and abilities.

But why don’t we make more use of them? What often happens is we discover lots of different techniques at once, start to put them all into action, then get confused as to which techniques are actually helping us and which aren’t.

So the natural reaction is to back out, and give up on all of them.

Sometimes we don’t even get this far, and find we’re so overwhelmed by choice, that in trying to select the one “perfect” technique to increase creativity, we just freeze up and choose none of them.

Here is just one powerful technique you can put to use right away to help you be more creative.

Used consistently this technique can increase your creativity dramatically. The key is to try it out, experiment and adjust and see how you can make it work best for you. Once you find effective combinations and routines, keep using them and watch your creativity flourish.

Rewarding your creative achievements can help you be more creative.

We nearly always find it easier to acknowledge and give praise to the creative achievements of other people, and stand in awe at what people accomplish in their creative lives.

How many times have you found yourself thinking “Wow, I wish I could be as creative as they are...”?

When it comes to our own creative achievements though, most of us suddenly developed an acute blindness to the bare reality.

How creative would you say you are, compared to other people?

It’s highly likely you’ll think straight away - “less creative”.

First of all, it’s dangerous to compare ourselves to others. We are all talented and creative in our own unique ways and trying to emulate others can often end in setting totally unrealistic aims and inevitable disappointment and frustration.

Beyond that, there are two simple steps to rewarding our creative achievements:

1. Acknowledge what you’ve achieved and continue to achieve. Again this is about you and your creative life. Make a list of everything creative you’ve done in the last week, then month, year and so on.

Once you get going, you’ll realise you’ve created a lot more than you realised. And don’t dismiss any smaller creative work and acts as insignificant or unimportant.

Even the daily routine tasks we can inject a little more creativity into, and by noticing our creativity more, it’s easier to build upon it and create more easily, more often.

2. Reward your creative achievements. This can serve both as a natural extension of acknowledging what you’ve created and saying “well done” to yourself, and as a motivation for increasing your creativity even more.

For example you might at the end of each week or month, review what you’ve done during that time, and reward yourself with something that you genuinely enjoy and appreciate.

Or you could set yourself future treats and rewards, like when you reach a certain number of chapters written in your book you’ll treat yourself to lunch at a favourite café or restaurant to celebrate.

Acknowledging and rewarding your creative achievements is a powerful way of helping you increase your creativity.

By getting into regular habits of noticing how creative you actually are instead of comparing yourself unfavourably against other people, you’ll soon find your creativity increases, feels “closer to the surface” of your awareness and flows more easily.

Want to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - How Creating A Little Each Day Can Help You Be More Creative

In trying to be more creative, we often go in search of new tips and techniques to use that’ll help us.

What usually happens next though is that rather than find a technique and try it for a few weeks or so, we pick 3 or 5 or 10 or more, and start them all at the same time.

Soon after, some things might be better, some might be worse, but because we have so much change happening at once, we can’t determine which techniques are effective for us and which aren’t.

Or worse still, we don’t pick any new way at all, feeling unable to make a choice from all the options we’re bombarded with!

Here then, is just one simple but powerful technique you can put into practice today to help you be more creative.

As with any new technique, read through, understand it as best you can, then take action and apply what you’ve learnt.

The only way to develop creatively is to try new things, see how they increase our creativity, then make a few adjustments, see what works better and what doesn’t and continue to evolve from there.

Creating a little each day can help you be more creative.

This technique is quite probably more powerful and fundamental to a highly enjoyable and rewarding creative life than any other.

Creating a little each day is the key and the cornerstone to producing wonderful creative works over and over again, and growing and developing our creativity to new levels as we do.

Here’s how, in 5 simple steps, you can apply the technique effectively in your creative life:

Step 1. Start by setting a time period to create in. Be kind to yourself and begin small with 10 or 15 minutes, not 3 or 4 hours.

Step 2. Choose a time of day you think will work for you. When do you tend to be more creative – in the morning, afternoon, evening, late at night?

Step 3. Commit to creating at this time, for this time period, every day for the next two weeks. For this to work, you must commit every day, and create for at least your minimum time period.

Step 4. Adjust and evolve. After a week or two, increase the time period to 30 or 45 minutes. If the time of day you started with isn’t working so well, try another time of day. But be consistent and create at the same time every day.

Step 5. Repeat for the rest of your creative life and reap the rewards. This technique can help you create ANYTHING you want to create. Consistent creative action, however small the steps at first, will in time lead to great creative accomplishments.

Creating a little each day is a very powerful and flexible way of helping you increase your creativity.

Try it for just two weeks and notice the difference it makes. Before long you’ll be creating as naturally and easily as other things you do without thinking in your daily life like getting dressed, brushing your teeth or having a meal.

Once you master this, and how it works FOR YOU, there’s really no limit to how you much you can unleash your creativity, and what you can achieve in your creative life.

Want to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - How Chunking Down Your Creative Projects Can Help You Be More Creative

How many ways are there to help us be more creative? Probably too many to count!

This is often the problem. We find half a dozen new techniques, start trying them all at once, then a few weeks, or even a few days later, we’re so confused about which method is having what effect on our creativity, we give up on all of them and return frustrated to how we were before.

Or maybe we don’t even get that far. We feel so overloaded with choices and decisions about which tip to try that we just freeze and don’t pick any.

So here is just one powerful technique for you to use to help you unleash your creativity.

Read it through, think about how it can work for you, and how you can apply it to your creative projects, then take action and get started.

The only way to make progress and help you increase your creativity is by DOING.

Try something, see what works and what doesn’t, then adjust your approach to improve it, and repeat the process until you find the best methods that fit for you.

Chunking down your creative projects can help you be more creative.

Often, as creative people we’re highly ambitious with our creative projects, and have ideas for vast far reaching work that’ll change our world, and touch the lives of many others.

This is all fantastic and gives us plenty to aim for. But then what usually happens right after is we expect to go from having the initial ideas to completing the project in a couple of days, a completely unrealistic timescale.

The alternative is to “chunk down”, break the project down into manageable chunks and approach them one at a time, building momentum as you go. So how and why does this help?

Well, here are 3 of the reasons why breaking your projects down into chunks can help:

1. It takes the pressure off. If you constantly have deadlines hanging over you, you’re not likely to be creating very freely. Yes, often a time frame can be very helpful and motivating, and we don’t want to be working on the same project for the next decade. But be realistic and cut yourself some slack.

If you think your project will take 6 weeks, review it after 3 weeks and see where you are. If you need another 6 weeks, give yourself permission to take it, and use the time as effectively as you can.

2. It allows you to make best use of different aspects of your creativity. There are different stages to any creative project, from having ideas to planning to creating to editing through to presenting it to the wider world.

By breaking these into distinct parts you can put to use your creative talents that are most effective at each stage and make better progress, rather than randomly dipping in and out of the whole project in a haphazard way and not really getting anywhere.

3. It sharpens your focus. Once you break the project down then just pick one part to work on - say chapter 1 of your book, or the drum tracks of a new composition - you can focus all your creative energy on that part and make it as good as possible.

Rather than losing focus and momentum, and being overwhelmed by just how big the whole project looks, you can give your best effort to each smaller section and build a step at a time.

Breaking creative projects down into small and manageable chunks is one technique you can use to increase your creativity.

Experiment with different ways you divide up the project, whether into equal parts, like “I’ll write 250 words at a time” or into different stages, such as “I’m just going to focus on writing my characters and getting to know them without worrying about plot, the length of the book, where I’m going to publish it...” and so on.

Only by trying different methods of breaking the project down will you find the best ways to help you unleash your creativity.

Want to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - How Finding The Right Creative Environment Can Help You Be More Creative

When looking for tips and techniques to help you unleash your creativity and become as creative as you know deep down you can be, there are many options available.

What usually happens is we’ll take a handful and try them all at the same time. The amount of different factors and variables means we can’t get any accurate measure of which techniques are working and which aren’t, so more often than not we give up on ALL of them.

Or sometimes even we don’t get this far. We’re so overwhelmed by all the possible options we could take, we suffer from information overload and ended up choosing none of them.

So here is a one effective technique you can use to help you be more creative.

Read through the technique as described below, then try it out for yourself. After a few days or weeks, review how it’s improved your creativity, make any small adjustments you think you might need and see what happens next.

It’s only by experimenting like this, finding what works and what doesn’t, then doing more of the things that increase our creativity and less of those that hinder it, that we evolve.

Finding the right creative environment can help you be more creative.

If we try to create, and give ourselves fully to the creative process, when all around is chaotic, noisy and distracting, we’re not likely to produce much creative work that we’re happy with or that highlights our creative potential.

We’re simply not giving ourselves a fair chance. Creating can be difficult enough with all our internal chatter and distractions, without adding more outside and around us.

So it follows that if we take ourselves to places more peaceful, and with fewer distractions, we’ll be able to increase our creativity in both quality and quantity.

There are two main types of creative environment that can help us:

1. A creative environment that is calm and tranquil. Whether this is a room in the house where you won’t be disturbed, a meadow in the countryside, or a quiet corner of a library, the main advantage here is the peacefulness.

Without the chaos and noise of our daily lives we can listen to ourselves better, focus more clearly and create what matters at our own pace and in our own unique way.

2. A creative environment that is stimulating and inspiring. This might be a bustling local café, a favourite art gallery or a hill with a stunning lakeside view. This kind of creative environment is somewhere we feel energised, motivated and inspired to create.

Away from our familiar routine and everyday surroundings, we can allow our creativity to unravel and be encouraged by all the stimulation to our senses around us.

Creating in the right environment is one way you can increase your creativity.

Remember, we’re all unique creative individuals. There is no universal “right environment” that suits everyone. What you may find exciting and stimulating, someone else might find too hectic and distracting, and vice versa.

So, to unleash your creativity to best effect, experiment by creating in different places at different times, and see what works for you.

Want to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - How Getting Yourself A Cheerleader Can Help You Be More Creative

There are no shortage of ways you can use to help you unleash your creativity.

Many times though, we try to take on a whole host of new tips and techniques at once, can’t tell which are working well and which aren’t because there’s so much going on, then we get disillusioned and give up on all of them.

Or we might not even get that far, being so baffled by the sheer number of options available to us. Because we’re looking for that one killer creative technique and want it to be perfect first time, we literally drown in all the choices and directions available and end up taking none of them.

So here is just one powerful technique you can use to help you be more creative.

Read about the technique, let the details sink in, then pick a time to start using it for yourself. Don’t be afraid of experimenting, adjusting some of the details and ways you’re working with.

The aim, as with all new techniques we can use to increase our creativity, is to find how we can adapt it to best suit us and our unique way of creating. Once you find the things that work, keep doing them!

Getting Yourself A Cheerleader Can Help You Be More Creative

Creating can be a lonely process and it’s all too easy to stuck in a tangle of our own thoughts and lose perspective and focus.

Before we realise it, our minds can feel overloaded with a combination of negative doubts and inner criticisms, and about as organised as a plate of spaghetti Bolognese thrown against a wall.

So something of great value is having someone to be your cheerleader.

Now we’re not talking here about a young woman with pom poms dancing and chanting “Two - Four - Six – Eight, you’re fantastic GO CREATE!”!

Although that isn’t actually all that far away from what we’re aiming for.

Your cheerleader in this sense is simply someone who will encourage and support you and your creative work.

Find someone who’s naturally positive and supportive, will be a consistent reliable presence, and has your best interests at heart.

Who’s the most positive and encouraging person you know? That’s a great place to start finding your cheerleader.

And it doesn’t have to be someone who’s a creative colleague. In fact it often helps if it isn’t.

Someone who doesn’t know the fine details of what you’re creating and the form you’re creating in, who will just praise you for the way you’re showing up to create each time and making your own progress, can actually be far more valuable, because of their objective and non-judgemental perspective.

Arrange with your cheerleader a regular time each week to check in with them and update them on your progress.

Just knowing you have this check in time ahead of you will encourage you to be more accountable about creating and spur you on to do more. This regular accountability is one of the major factors in why people find coaching so helpful.

You could also offer to be someone else’s cheerleader. It could be the same person, or someone else entirely. The added bonus here is when we see others creating and progressing with their creative lives, it inspires us to do more ourselves as well.

Getting yourself a cheerleader is just one many different ways you use to help you unleash your creativity.

Experiment with this idea, starting today, and within a couple of weeks you’ll soon seen the positive effect it has on your creative life.

Want to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity-7 Ways YOU Can Tap Into The Unstoppable Flow Of Your Inner Creativity Today

We each have within us a huge amount of untapped creative potential, a vast landscape of undiscovered inner creativity.

But how often in YOUR life do you truly unleash your creativity?

How often do you feel that you’re creating as naturally and fully as you’re able, where ideas and action all flows easily and freely?

It’s very likely that you’re not creating as often, or as fully, as you’d like to be.

So here are 7 simple ways you use to can tap into your inner creativity today:

1. Listen to yourself. What do you really want to create? Not what do you think you SHOULD be creating or what do your friends, family and colleagues think you should be creating, but what do YOU want to create? What creative project inside you burning to get out?

2. Give yourself time. If you’ve not written a novel before, how realistic is it to expect to write your first in a weekend? Give yourself time to learn, develop and have fun creating as you go. If you don’t enjoy your creativity, how motivated are you going to be to continue?

3. Find a creative environment. This can be a room where you live, a corner in a library or a bench in the local park. To give yourself the best chance to produce your best work, find somewhere you’re happy to create, and where the pressures and distractions around you are as few as possible.

4. Get yourself a cheerleader. No, not a young woman with pom poms. Find someone who will encourage and support you and your creative work. Who’s the most positive person you know? It doesn’t need to be someone else who creates like you do, just someone who’s going to be a great source of positive energy and consistent encouragement for you.

5. Break Creative Projects down into chunks. If you try to paint a complex and multi-layered picture in a couple hours it’s unlikely you’ll be very creative with all that pressure you’ve placed on yourself. Instead, go easy on yourself, set smaller, achievable targets on the way to your larger goal of finishing the creative project.

6. Reward yourself often. When you do good creative work, acknowledge what you’ve done and congratulate yourself. And not just every time you finish a major project but at all significant steps along the way. Just showing up willing to start creating each time is a great reason to celebrate.

7. Create a little each day. This tip is possibly more important than all the rest. The key to creating consistently rewarding and fulfilling work is to create a little each day. Fit it in your schedule every day - early in the morning, late at night, over your lunch - whatever time works for you. Stick to this for just 2 weeks and notice what an impact it starts to have on your creativity.

So there are 7 simple ways you can use to unleash your creativity, starting TODAY.

Pick one of them right now (at least!) and get creating!

Over time, the more different ways you try and the more you’re willing to experiment, the greater the positive impact on your creative life will be and the more you’ll naturally increase your creativity.

Good luck and happy creating...

Want to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - How Giving Yourself Time To Learn Can Help You Be More Creative

There are a number of simple techniques we can use to help us unleash our creativity and start to use more of our unfulfilled creative potential.

Often though, rather than pick one and experiment with it, we try to take on 5 or 10 new things all at once, quickly get overwhelmed and come to a grinding halt with all of them!

Or, even worse, we get so baffled by all the choices and options available to us, in trying to choose the “one perfect technique” to increase our creativity, we just can’t make a choice so end up doing nothing.

So here is just one technique to help you unleash your creativity.

Read it through, let it sink in a little, then try it out for yourself a few times, enough to get the feel of how it’s affecting your creativity.

Experiment, find what works best for you, then once you’ve found ways that do work, stick with them, build on the success.

Giving yourself time to learn and develop can help you be more creative.

If you’ve never attempted a large creative project before, then taking one on and expecting to go from idea to completed project in a couple of days isn’t very realistic.

The pressure you put on yourself by having such unrealistic expectations can only restrict your creativity further and make it even harder to create.

Add to this the likelihood that you want to produce something a lot more than a quickly dashed out, barely though out, prepared and executed piece of work, and the pressure piles on even more.

So what’s the solution?

Give yourself time.

The only way we can truly learn, develop and evolve as creative artists, and as human beings, is through experience, through trying out something, seeing what works for us and what doesn’t, then doing more of what does work, and less of what doesn’t.

It’s OUR creative project, we can make a deal with ourselves when we start as to how the project is going to be, and how we will approach it, so it’s as fulfilling as possible.

To make this easier, focus on these 3 key elements:

1. Make a deal with yourself to be open to learning. If we go into a project thinking we know it all and have nothing left to learn about creating, we simply won’t learn or develop any further. If we’re open to learning, to finding new ways of creating, then they’ll come to us so much more easily.

2. Make a deal with yourself to have fun creating. If you enjoy what you’re creating, you’re likely to find it flows more easily, you’ll create more, be more experimental, find more exciting ideas, and so on.

3. Make a deal with yourself to let the project evolve in it’s own time. Having goals and a plan is great, it helps us stay focused and motivated. But be realistic, and be willing to adapt. If it’s going to take 6 months, and not 6 days, to do justice to your new project, then give yourself that time and space without guilt or pressure.

This is just one many different ways you use to help you unleash your creativity. Experiment with it, beginning today, and see the positive effect it has on your creative life.

Want to learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - How Listening To Yourself Can Help You Be More Creative

There are many ways we can increase our creativity using simple techniques. Often we get caught up in trying to do too many new things at once, get overwhelmed and stop completely.

Or, worse still, we get overloaded by the many options before we even begin and become paralysed and unable to make the “perfect choice” or use the “ideal technique” for us to increase our creativity.

So here’s one great way you can use to help you be more creative today.

Read through, take it on board, try it out a few times and see what it does for you.

Then experiment, adjust and have fun with it until you find the way that works best for you.

Listening to yourself can help you be more creative.

So what does this mean, listen to yourself?

You may feel you’ve heard all you have to say to yourself about your creativity. Maybe you find most of it often comes out as pretty negative and unconstructive comments.

But have you truly LISTENED to your creative self?

Have you ever asked yourself what you really want to be creating? What the big creative project that’s burning like an inferno inside you is? The one that’s just desperate to burst into the world in a blaze of passion and set light to everything in its path?

It doesn’t have to be a huge, complex, multi-layered piece of work.

It could be that though your creativity has traditionally been expressed in the form of stories, for years you’ve been longing to paint a self-portrait.

Or maybe you’re a fashion designer who’s desperate to learn how to dance salsa?

Many of us never stop for long enough to listen to what we want to create.

Ironically we’re often so busy creating the things we’re not actually all that passionate about, we don’t take the time, and find the stillness, to truly listen to – and actually hear – what out true creative passions and ambitions are.

So, to help YOU truly listen to yourself, try this exercise.

Find ten minutes (at least) to yourself where you’ll be undisturbed, grab a pen and paper and answer honestly these questions:

1. What would I create if no-one else ever saw it or found out about it?

2. What would I create if I was completely detached from judgement or criticism of what I created?

3. What would I create if I had just one day left to live?

These 3 questions are a great kickstart to get your thoughts flowing around what you truly want to create.

There’s no substitute for the motivation we get when we know we’re creating the projects most valuable to us, the things we’ve always wanted to create.

Take the short time it takes to answer the questions, and notice how significant an impact it has on your creativity.

Take this exercise on to another level by coming up with your own questions. What are the most powerful questions someone could ask you about your creativity and what you truly want to create? Go ahead and ask them yourself.

This is just one of many ways you can begin to unleash your creativity. Try it today and see the effect it has on your creative life.

Want to learn more about how to Unleash YOUR creativity? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Permission To Create - Why The Gateway To Your Creative Dreams Is Always Locked

Do you find in your creative life that you keep coming up against the same old stumbling blocks?

Whatever your approach, time and time again you get so close to your creative dreams – and the creative life you truly want – before somehow falling short of the target?

It’s as if this creative life you long to have, and the freedom, happiness and fulfilment that it will give you, is like a beautiful lush garden right in front of you with every colour, shape and scent of flower you can imagine.

There are even waterfalls, exotic birds and a mini rainforest!

The only problem is, there are huge imposing iron gates between you and this dream garden.

And there doesn’t seem to be any way through.

Whichever direction you come from, however you seem to change your angle of approach, whether from North, South, East, West, under, over or around, you still come up against the same impenetrable gates, with that wonderful garden – your creative dreams – tantalising close.

So what’s happening here? Why such huge gates? And why are they always locked?

The irony here is that you actually already have the key to these fearsome gates. Right there in your pocket. But you don’t know it.

All that’s stopping you from moving through those gates and closer to your creative dreams, is in fact one word:

Permission.

The only reason you’re not using the key to the gates is because, at some deeper level, you’re not ALLOWING yourself to.

You’re not giving yourself permission.

“But why would I do that, if what’s on the other side of the gates is so valuable, and exactly what I want?” I hear you cry!

There are many reasons why we don’t give ourselves permission to reach for our creative dreams and ambitions.

Here’s a closer look at 5 of the most common:

1. I'm not worthy, I’m not a good person. Maybe you feel because of past events in your life you don’t deserve the opportunity to achieve your creative dreams. You tell yourself you’ll give yourself permission “when I’ve been good” or “when I’ve made amends”, knowing this day may never come.

2. I’m scared of the unknown. Maybe your creative dreams won’t be as you thought they were. Maybe you’ll get through the gates into the garden and it’ll be disappointing in some way and you’ll have to find another garden. Or maybe your creative dreams will be EVEN BETTER than you thought. Either way, you’re not sure you’re ready to experience it so to protect yourself you stay on the safe side of the gates.

3. I believe there are others more deserving of success. You feel that for some reason there is a limit to the number of people who can be successfully creative and you’re way down the list of people who deserve to be, so you don’t let yourself go for it.

4. I simply don’t know how to try for what I want. You just haven’t had the experience of achieving any of your creative ambitions, you feel you wouldn’t know where to start. This apparently huge task ahead overwhelms you and you retreat behind the gates, not letting yourself even try one small step at a time.

5. I’m not good enough, I’m not talented enough. You feel you can’t be successful because you’ve haven’t got enough creative talent or ability, so you don’t even give yourself the chance to try, to learn, to evolve and to grow your creativity.

Which of these do YOU connect with? Maybe it’s one or two, maybe all of them in some way?

Permission is such a crucial element in creating.

Until we allow ourselves the permission to go for our creative dreams, we’ll remain frustrated and limited in what we achieve.

So when are YOU going to take that key out of your pocket, unlock those gates and make your way, one step at a time, to that wonderful garden that holds your creative dreams?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Writer's Block - A New Perspective To Help You Overcome Writer's Block

Writer’s block, or creative block to use a wider reaching term, is one of the most common issues with writers and other creative people.

The feeling of sitting at a blank screen, sheet of paper or canvas can feel like the ultimate challenge for the writer and the artist.

Creating in this frame of mind feels about as easy as if we were trying for the world 100m breast stroke record in a swimming pool of thick treacle.

We’re staring up close at the face of fear, the fear that not only do we feel we have nothing of worth to express right now, but that maybe we’ll NEVER have anything creative to contribute ever again.

The danger of writer’s block is that it seems to feed on itself and grow more powerful. The more we desperately try to create something, ANYTHING, of any meaning and interest, the tighter its grip seems to take hold and sap our last final few drops of creativity.

But it’s this perception that also gives us hope in overcoming it.

It IS a perception. It’s what WE see at the time, how WE judge the situation we find ourselves in, it’s not a static set of immovable facts.

Unfolding this perception, not just at the time the writer’s block has struck, but consistently over a longer period, is the key to freeing ourselves from its choking and debilitating stranglehold.

Think about the phrase “Writer’s Block”. What images come to mind?

The word “block” is a heavy, physical, immovable sounding word. It implies a fixed and permanent state, one that will not easily be escaped from.

It doesn’t exactly suggests it’s a fleeting state that we can take steps to move on from, which is exactly what writer’s block actually is.

Changing this perception of writer’s block is a major step in feeling less fearful of it and experiencing it less often.

Here’s an example of how a change in perception gives a dramatically different view of a situation:

Imagine a huge sheet of pressed steel, 2 metres wide, 3 meters high and 1mm thick. If we look at the sheet face on, it looks like a massive imposing object, something we couldn’t easily pass in a narrow corridor! The actual area we see is 3m X 2m = 6 square metres.

Now imagine if we turn the metal sheet so it rests on the ground along one of its longest sides and we now look into the end of the shortest side. We see a tall very narrow object, and the area is 2m X 1mm = 0.002 square metres.

This is now 3000 times smaller an area!!. Just from a simple change in perspective. But it’s the same piece of metal.

So what would happen if we applied a similar shift in perspective to writer’s block?

What if we said our creativity was just “on hold”. Or we were on “creative pause”? Or in a period of adjusting our creative perspective? A time of creative reflection?

Anything that reminds and reassures us that it’s just a short term, entirely natural phase that will soon pass.

Whatever words we use to reframe it (and after all being creative with words is what a writer does best!), it will lessen the fear we have.

So instead of thinking this: “I desperately need to avoid getting writer’s block, it’s the worst thing that can possibly happen to me. Once it sets in I’m finished as a creative force.”

We can say something like: “There will be periods when I’m less creative. This is natural in the cycle of a creative person, and my creativity will return as strong as before, if not stronger, after this temporary period of being less active.”

So how can you apply this to YOUR creative life?

What is it about writer’s block, or creative block that you fear most? How can you change your perspective and reframe how you describe this experience so it’ll help you move through it as easily as possible?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity Is For Life Not Just For Workshops! 3 Top Tips To Increase Creativity Today and EVERY Day

Picture the scene. You’ve just returned from a weekend break away, a creative retreat. Maybe it was a group writing retreat out in the mountain wilderness. Maybe it was a weekend singing workshop at a renowned theatre with some of the leading voice tutors in your country. Or it could have been a series of positive thinking seminars by some of the pioneers in the field.

You’ve enjoyed the weekend immensely and come back feel more energised and in love with life and your creativity than you have done in years.

You didn’t want to leave, you were wishing it didn’t have to end, and you could’ve spent days, weeks, months in the company of other like minded people and keep your energy and creativity levels permanently fizzing to the brim.

After a few days (or even hours!) back in your normal world though, the events and impositions of daily life start to take grip on your creative work again. That weekend already seems like weeks ago, and the red hot spurt of motivation you experienced has become more of a lukewarm trickle.

So what happened? Why didn’t the creativity and the energy last?

Well, one of the reasons these kind of retreats are so powerful is that they literally do allow us to retreat from our daily lives. They allow us to, temporarily at least, put aside our concerns, commitments, jobs, relationships and troubles and spend time just on ourselves and feeding and recharging our creative well being.

It’s inevitable that when we come back, simply because of the difference in surroundings, commitments and people, every day can not be the same as in that valuable weekend.

But there is hope. Creativity, after all, is for life, not just for workshops.

So here are 3 top tips for maintaining creative energy in your daily life:

1. Write every day. One thing in common to virtually all great creators is that they have a daily discipline of writing. Even if you’re not a writer, by spending 15 minutes every day jotting down thoughts, ideas and plans, you keep those creative channels open and the ideas are able to keep flowing forth, ready to be seized upon and evolved.

2. Count your blessings. By taking the time regularly, daily if possible, to take stock of all you have in your life to be thankful for, you adjust your outlook from one of feeling hard done by or put upon, to one of gratitude. Keep a “Daily Gratitude” journal and at the end of each day write 3 things that happened or you noticed that day you can be thankful for. Soon you’ll begin to look for and notice all the positives in your life far more easily.

3. Keep in touch with your vision. Regularly write, sketch, collage or otherwise construct a vision for your life, how you want it to be in all areas, in as much vibrant detail as possible. By doing this once a month, after just a few months, by looking back at previous visions, you’ll be amazed at how much comes in to being simply because you took the vital step of taking that vision from a collection of thoughts swimming around in your head to a tangible, achievable whole.

Each of these 3 practices will go a long way to helping you keep your creative energy topped up and bubbling away. By doing all three together, you’ll have an even more powerful framework in place to help you achieve all you want in your creative life.

Remember though that a steady consistent commitment is the key. Doing any of these exercises just once won’t get you very far. But do them regularly and you’ll soon start to feel your creativity flowing more easily.

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the powerful and practical “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity - How To Become A Creative Gardener & Nurture Your Creativity For A Full Harvest

How green are your fingers?

I’m not asking if you have some unfortunate medical condition or are a distant relative of the Incredible Hulk. I mean are you good with plants? Do you enjoy gardening, being out in the open air, growing your own produce and getting dirt under your fingernails?

As creative artists, there’s much we can learn from our horticulturally passionate colleagues. Here are just a few tips on how you can become a better Creative Gardener and see your Creative Garden give an abundant crop season after season:

1. Sow plenty of seed. Some of your creative ideas and projects will always fall on stony ground and not come to anything, but some will shoot eagerly and grow into the equivalent of wonderful fragrant flowers and lush beautiful plants. If you only sow a couple of seeds each year, how can you expect to have a bountiful crop time and time again?

2. Give plenty of sunlight and water. Just as plants need sunlight and water to grow healthily, our creativity needs careful nourishing. Regularly top up your creativity in any number of ways that work for you, such as reading books, visiting exhibitions, galleries and concerts, attending/ hosting workshops and classes and forming creative groups with others who share your creative passions. And don’t be afraid of trying new ways to nurture your creative soul.

3. Weed regularly. Persistent and aggressive weeds can literally strangle the life out of smaller plants that have not yet developed. The weeds that stunt the growth of your creativity are mostly internal, such as negative and self-critical thinking, doubting your creative abilities and lacking self-belief. Pick them out and get rid of them before they do too much damage!

4. Protect from dangerous predators. Local wildlife can have a feast and cause absolute havoc on a garden or allotment full of luscious greenery and vegetables. For them it’s like an open invitation to an expensive restaurant and having a delicious 5 course feast will all bills paid! Learn to identify the predators that destroy your creativity, the people who attack, criticise and pull apart your work unjustly, even if they do it in more subtle and passive ways.

5. Share your passion, knowledge and produce with others. One of the most rewarding elements of gardening is meeting up with others on an allotment or across a garden fence to share ideas, tips and a few freshly cut flowers or just-picked tomatoes. As creative people, we too can get great satisfaction from sharing our passions and knowledge with others, in person, or online. Join a group, club or community for your favourite creative mediums and see how sharing enhances your own creativity.

Which of these areas are you an attentive and caring Creative Gardener in already? In which of the other areas could you look a little more closely, and benefit from taking a leaf out the gardeners book?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Evolution - Letting Your Creativity Flow Naturally Without The Feeling Of "Selling Out"

All of us who create have a few common traits and ambitions.

One of these is to evolve and improve ourselves through our creativity, to keep developing so we get better, become more true to our creative core or soul, go deeper, reach wider, and so on.

Can any truly creative person really be happy with simply creating a slightly different version of the same song / book / design over and over again, without taking a risk and trying a new angle, a different technique or a fresh creative form every now and again?

It’s natural and healthy as creative people to want to be on an upward spiral of our own personal creative evolution.

When this spiral of creative evolution begins to change from simply steadily moving onwards and upwards, into wanting every creative project to be an exquisitely perfect work of unparalleled creative genius, that’s where the problems occur.

When this happens, instead of creating freely and letting the work take shape in its own unique way, we try to mould it in directions it doesn’t really want to go.

We may find negative thoughts starting to gather in our head, like:

“I must create in this way, it’s how it should be. If this creative project doesn’t end up EXACTLY as I envisioned it from the start then I’m a creative failure. If it turns out differently to what I committed to making it become, then it must mean I’m weak, a creative charlatan, and a sell out.”

Strong words. How often have you heard them in your thoughts?

How often have you felt this way about your creativity? That by not following the original plan for a creative project that in some way you’re selling out or letting yourself down?

In fact the opposite is true.

If we insist on following a creative project through to the (bitter) end, steering it in ways it can’t really go, we’ll end up with a deformed offspring. Added to this, because the project is not evolving as it would like to, it starts to die, and decay.

So what we’re left with looks something like a bag of rotten mangoes forced through a keyhole. With a sledgehammer.

So what’s the alternative?

The crucial point here is to understand and accept that letting a creative project or piece of art evolve in the ways it wants to is good for our creativity.

It shows our confidence, our maturity, and our good sense. It shows that by listening to ourselves and trusting at each stage that we’ll do what’s best for the piece of work - even if that’s far from our original vision – we understand how creativity works and we’re not afraid of letting it find it’s own unique expression.

Remember the common basis for all of us who are creative:

We want to travel in an upward spiral of our own personal creative evolution. A major part of this is listening to ourselves and having faith in our good intentions for everything we produce, rather than being hung up on whether it’s perfectly as it we envisioned it at the start.

A strong creative vision as a starting point is valuable and powerful. But being open to our creative evolution, wherever that may takes us, is even MORE valuable...

Learn how to Explode YOUR Creativity today... Get your FREE copy of Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s powerful and practical "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook when you sign up to the FREE “Create Create!” ezine. Visit the website now: http://www.CoachCreative.com

Be More Creative - 7 Reasons Why Everything You Create, Perfect Or Not, Has A Valuable Purpose

Trying to be absolutely perfect in every detail with everything we create is an easy habit to get into.

Of course we want to create the best work we can, we want to create in an authentic way that’s true to us, a way that reflects and supports who we are.

When you unleash your creativity you want it to be alive and focused, on fire, invincible and unstoppable.

But taking this expectation too far, from caring about your creative work, into the realms of unhealthy perfectionism, is a certain route to creative block.

Without fail, “Creative Perfectionism” will lead to, at best the slowing down and restricting of your creativity, and at worst cause you to stop creating altogether.

Under these creativity choking conditions, when you unleash your creativity, it’ll be less like a rocket trip to the moon, more like a soggy firework that just won’t light.

The fact is, whoever we are, everything we create WON'T be perfect.

And, more importantly, it’s OK that it’s not perfect. In fact, it’s actually fantastic that everything ISN’T perfect as it gives us the chance to observe, learn and grow in our creativity.

So here are 7 of the many valuable reasons why we should reject Creative Perfectionism and just create anyway:

1. It can keep you moving forward on a creative project. It can be easy to get stuck in the tiny detail of a creative project and feel yourself getting more and more frustrated. But by accepting that this is the best you can do right now, and leaving open the option of coming back to improve upon it later, you can move on with the rest of the project, rather than grinding to a complete halt and abandoning the whole thing.

2. It can show you where you don’t want to go. Maybe you’ve recorded a basic music track and come to the point of adding some orchestral backing. 3 days of experimenting later you come to the conclusion that actually the vocal and melody of the original track is highlighted by a very minimal arrangement, not drowned out by a 24 piece orchestra.

3. It can open you to new way of seeing and thinking. Trying to create perfectly all the time can narrow your vision and thinking. By creating in different ways, and being willing to make mistakes, and go down dead ends, you’re bound to come across new ways of creating that you never would have had you stuck to the same route to perfectionism every time you created.

4. It can connect you to new people. Going to a new class or group in a creative form you’ve no or very little experience in, with a group of people of people all in the same position as you, can be a very supportive and friendly experience. And, with your expectations and need to be perfect kept in check, it can be a whole lot more fun!

5. It can set you off on wonderful creative tangents. Maybe after a few days of trying to redesign your website logo, you don’t feel you’ve got anywhere, and keep producing new logos that are great but just not quite appropriate for this project. A colleague walking past however loves one of your “rejected” logos and uses it in a whole other project, giving you complete credit for the design.

6. It can teach you more about your own creativity than any book or course. Whatever you create, there are basic skills and techniques you can develop with the aid of books, manuals, courses and teachers. But to really get to know your own unique way of expressing your creativity, the best and ONLY way to learn will always be to just get creating.

7. It can make you feel alive! Sometimes it’s just the act of creating as wildly and fiercely as you can that brings the real joy and thrill. The end product is irrelevant, it’s the way that you throw yourself in with all the energy and creativity you have is what’s makes you feel creatively alive.

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the powerful and practical “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity And YOU Can Change The World

As individuals, however creative we may be and however much we want to change the world around us for the better, it’s easy to feel disheartened and powerless.

“How can I alone make any difference, I’m only one person out of billions?” many of us regularly ask ourselves.

Well, you may be helping to change the world already in more ways than you realise. And the easiest way to have more of a positive impact is to lead by example, be the best you can be and act as a role model for others.

That’s all any of us can do, but it’s something few us ACTUALLY do.

Have you ever heard of “The Butterfly Effect”?

It’s a term used in chaos theory to describe the “sensitive dependence on initial conditions” in a system.

If, like me, your understanding of chaos theory is a little rusty these days, what The Butterfly Effect suggests, in everyday language, is that a tiny butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the planet can ultimately cause a huge tornado across the other side of the planet.

The small initial motion of the butterfly’s wings causes a subtle change in the air immediately around it, which moves the air around that and so on, until the knock on effects swell and build to create a tornado thousands of miles away.

So how does this apply to your creativity? And changing the world?!

Maybe you’re a painter. You paint small abstract paintings and exhibit them in a local cafe. One day, a woman eating in the cafe is so moved and inspired by one of your pieces, the next day she returns to painting again herself, after having not even looked at a blank canvas since she was a young child.

Being a teacher by profession, she begins to introduce some of the pleasure she gets from painting to one of her classes. A shy young boy in her class, who found it difficult to interact with the others and was achieving below average in many of his other subjects, begins to display an extraordinary talent for painting.

The ability to express his inner feelings and communicate to the world through his painting, the way he feels free in a way he couldn’t through speaking and writing, lets him unleash his creativity and leads to a huge positive transformation in his life.

Some months later, his parents, so delighted at their son’s incredible progress, and the positive change in his attitude and outlook, set up a foundation to introduce painting to children who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to paint, or to even own a paintbrush.

Five years later, their foundation has centres all across America and Europe with thousands of under-privileged kids each year enjoying and expressing their creativity in a way they’ve never done before.

All from your tiny painting in your local café. The Butterfly Effect.

Maybe you’ll never know how your painting inspired the woman in the café. Maybe you’ll read about the foundation and think:

“What wonderful people, I wish I could have such a positive effect on so many people’s lives”.

But by following your creativity and being true to your creative talents, that’s just the effect you did have.

The greatest gift you can offer the world is your full true creative self. How much are YOU giving right now?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity- Become A Highly Charged Creative Lightning Rod For New Ideas

One of the biggest fears many of us have in our creative lives is that if we increase our creativity, then it will somehow drain the supply of new creative ideas we have.

It’s as if the amount we create is closely connected inversely to the ideas we’re able to have, and we’re allowed to enjoy a high level of only one or the other, but not both.

So let’s put this myth to rest.

“Increase Your Creativity” DOES NOT EQUAL “Reduce Your Ability To have New Ideas”.

In fact it works in the opposite way. When we create more, we become more fluid, more open to new ideas and they complement and feed each other beautifully.

But because this is against the logic many of us hold about the way creativity works, we struggle to accept this truth.

One way to appreciate this from a new perspective is to become a Creative Lightning Rod.

Lightning rods are used on buildings to attract lightning during electrical storms, to protect the building below. The key to their effectiveness is that they’re made of a highly conductive, low resistance material.

So the lightning is drawn to the rod because it’s the path of least resistance for it to connect to the earth through.

In a similar way, if we are to be more creative, and have more creative ideas, we need to adopt some of the properties of the lightning conductor. We must find ways to attract ideas and let them flow to us with as little resistance as possible.

A great way of putting this into action is to start an Ideas Diary.

This can be just a little notebook, small enough to keep with you at all times, in which you jot down new creative ideas as they come to you.

For this to be most effective it’s crucial that you switch off your critical voice when adding to your diary. Sometimes, ideas that seem silly or bizarre or unrealistic at first turn out to be the most interesting and the deepest, richest sources for developing further.

Also, to give yourself more confidence and freedom, make it a personal book that no-one else will see, so you’re free to write in it anything you want.

Start by just writing the ideas you have in your head right now about your current or next creative project.

Before you say you don’t have any, just think about the following questions and write:

What would you like to create next? How could you create it? What form could it take? What’s at the core of what you wish to express? What other ways could you express the same idea? What other related ideas come to mind?

The hardest part is starting. Once you get going, the writing becomes addictive and the ideas flow freely. If you do feel you’re slowing or get a little stuck, just refer back to those questions and write on.

Remember: The more ideas you have, the more ideas you’ll have.

Or, put another way, the more you allow yourself to have ideas, the more you lower your resistance and become that Creative Lightning Rod, the more the ideas you’ll attract, the more each of those ideas will attract others, and so on.

The next step is to start doing something with this flow of new ideas, but that’s for a whole other article!

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the powerful and practical “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Unleash Your Creativity - 3 Powerful Ways To Capture & Grow More Creative Ideas

The nurture of new creative ideas can be difficult.

We’ve all experienced versions of writer’s block or artist’s block, the feeling of sitting at a blank screen, page or canvas, not knowing what or how to create and terrified we’ll never create anything of any value ever again!

The cycle begins to feed on itself, the fewer new ideas you have, the fewer ideas seem to appear.

A kind of desperate starvation mentality sets in.

When you do have the odd idea you seize upon it like a hungry animal, tearing it apart, devouring and discarding it in seconds before looking around frantically for the next idea to present itself.

It’s not an enjoyable frame of mind to be in for anyone creative, and leads to further frustration and limiting of new ideas.

Fortunately, this kind of cycle also works at the opposite end of the creativity spectrum.

Once we get a few creative ideas recorded and growing, before we know it there’s another and another, and soon we’re overflowing with more ideas than we know what to do with.

The more creative ideas we have, the more we seem to have.

We’ve just got to get the cycle going by having enough ideas initially so that they start sparking off each other and the momentum carries us forward and on to more and more.

So here are 3 powerful ways for you to capture and grow an abundant flow of creative ideas:

1. Use a Creative Ideas Book. This can be any kind of small pocket notebook, something you can easily carry around with you. You can divide the pages into areas or columns and try to organise your ideas as they come in, but often, the simpler you keep this, the more powerful and effective it becomes.

Each time you have a new idea, jot it down in the book. Write enough so you’ll be able to come back to the idea and expand upon it, rather than just a writing a word or two.

For example when I thought of the idea for this article, I wrote the title, then quickly added the “3 powerful ways” and a line to describe each of them. I knew this would be enough to return to and grow into an article, which wouldn’t have been the case if I’d just written down part of the title or just one of the 3 ways.

2. Use a Creative Voice Recorder. This can be a Dictaphone or any type of portable device capable of recording sound. Many people prefer to hear and speak their way through their ideas before recording them in a written form.

When you have an idea, store it your voice recorder, and add to it any extra details, thoughts and connected ideas you can think of. Again record enough so that when you return to the stored idea, it immediately comes back to life, rather than causing you to feel it’s just a collection of random unrelated words.

With the article example, I might have recorded something like “how to capture creative ideas, 3 ways, first is book, write ideas in list forms, second way, vocal recorder, speak through ideas and variations, third way more visual, like a mind map, explain each way and give example of how they might work, remember to capture in enough detail to return to and easily expand…”

3. Use a Creative Sketch Pad. With this method, use a plain sketch pad, again something that’s portable enough for you to keep with you at all times. Where the Creative Ideas Book is structured in a list or linear form, use the Creative Sketch Pad in a more free thinking and multi-directional way.

When you have a new idea, write or draw it in the centre of a new page. Then immediately think of the different elements or attributes of the idea. Draw these as lines coming out from that initial central idea.

To use my article example again, I might have put the title in the centre, then had each of the 3 ways as a separate arm extending from the centre, with a few extra details noted down. I could then have added other arms such as “the problem we’re addressing”, “background scenario”, “action points”, “key benefits”, “other related issues”, and so on.

Experiment and practice

You’ll know yourself which of these 3 methods is likely to work best for you, but I’d encourage you to try all 3 separately and then in combination to find what’s most powerful and effective for your unique way of creating.

The key to all of these methods is to use them as often as possible, and to keep that creativity flowing. Even if you don’t feel like you have any new ideas, just record what’s in your thoughts and before long a new direction or idea will come to you.

Another tip is each time you record an idea in any of the methods above, think about close variations on the theme and record a few of them too. It’s a great time to do this as your mind is tuned into to that particular line of thought. You begin to train yourself to think in sets, groups or collections of ideas, rather than single ones.

So, what are you waiting for, go and get those ideas recorded right away!

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

New Ways To Create - 5 Ideas To Help You Experiment, Liberate And Reach Beyond!

Sometimes in our creative work, we want to focus on one particular project, get our heads down and create feverishly until it’s done, channelling all of our creative energy, and spending all our time, in this one direction.

This can produce excellent results, and by getting into a state of narrow blinkered focus, and blocking out all outside distractions we can achieve huge amounts in a short space of time. We’re in the flow and creating comes easily, instinctively and fluidly.

Other times though, the rate of progress we make isn’t what’s most important.

Whatever medium we’re creating in at any one time, it can be easy and very productive to get into a strong flow, but also dangerously easy to get in a creative rut.

Productivity, and finding the methods, environments and routines that work well for our creativity is one thing. But becoming a human photocopier and churning out almost identical pieces of creative work time and time again is something else entirely.

Anyone who’s committed to progressing and evolving creatively must be prepared to experiment.

The only way we can find new ways to create, new forms and new ways of expressing our creativity is to try different things.

Let’s take the example of a writer. It could be argued that writing just a couple of lines in a completely different style, form or language is actually a whole lot MORE creative than writing another whole book that follows virtually the same structure and story as their previous 3 have.

This same principle applies to whatever form you create in.

So think about how you can begin to experiment and evolve your creativity, whether it’s within one particular medium or maybe across a whole host of different creative media.

Here are 5 quick ideas to give you new ways to create:

1. Creating in a busy place. Go somewhere where there’s lots of people. Take your notebook, sketchbook, or laptop and just create in reaction to the environment around you, imagining the stories and complex lives behind the faces of the people nearby. This is a brilliant way of prompting our imagination and creativity into new directions.

2. Create in collaboration. Ask a friend or creative colleague to be involved in a creative collaboration. For example you could writing a story together. You could get together and combine ideas and sentences, or create via email or letter, alternate between writing a few words, sentences or pages each before sending it on to the other person for their next contribution.

3. Create backwards. Start from the end of the project, get a clear idea of how it will end, then work back to a beginning point. In a piece of writing this is fairly straightforward, but in a more visual medium this could be more challenging, but still entirely possible if you’re willing to explore and experiment.

4. Create a parallel vision. Start two new pieces of creative work at the same time. Each step you take with the first, do something that’s opposite with the second. For example, you may start one new piece of music with a strong insistent heavy beat. You could start the other with a random scattering beat, or a light pretty melody. Both can be seen as opposite to what you started with. Then add the next layer to the first piece, and something opposite to the second and so on.

5. Create left-handed (Or right-handed if you’re left-handed.) With anything involving your hands – painting, writing by hand, playing an instrument - this can be very liberating and gives a totally different outlook on your ideas. If your creating is not affected by which hand you use, trying creating in mirror image, approaching everything from the opposite side of where you’d normally want to go.

These are just a few ideas to get you thinking about how you can experiment with your creativity. Remember each time you try something new, it changes and enriches the way you create.

How many wonderful new ways of creating are out there waiting for you to try?

Techniques that could lead you to producing the most exciting and stimulating and rewarding work that you’ve ever produced?

You won’t know until you try, so pick an idea and start experimenting today!

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity - What Would You REALLY Do With A 36 Hour Day?

“If only I had more time I’d be able to create the things really important to me.”

“I have the creative energy, the ideas, the enthusiasm. What I don’t have is the time.”

“There are only 24 hours in the day, that’s my biggest problem!”

How often do you find yourself saying things similar to these?

If you were to list the top 10 reasons why you’re not creating as much as you want to be creating, how high would “lack of time” rank?

Number 5? Number 3? Number 1?!

Most of us feel some kind of time pressures and time constraints in our life. And naturally these restrictions extend to our creative lives and the time we dedicate to working on creative projects.

Often, in the priority list of things that need urgent attention, creating tends to start off fairly low and slide ever downwards as we’re bombarded by more and more demands from every angle.

So imagine this scenario:

What would YOU do, if tomorrow a worldwide treaty agreed to change the number of hours in a day from 24 to 36?

At first you might think:

“Fantastic! That’s exactly what I need. More hours in the day will allow me to work more on my creative projects and increase my creativity. I’ll now have time to fit in all the daily necessities, then have time left over to be more creative. What a great idea!”

But what if you soon found that actually lack of time wasn’t the main factor in stopping you from being more creative?

What if you realised that now instead of working 8 hours a day, to fall in line with the new calendar system, people were now working 12 hours a day?

What if, to relax and wind down, we began watching 3 hours of TV each night instead of 2, or spent 45 mins in hot bubble bath rather than 30?

And to catch up with our rest, we started sleeping 10 or 12 hours a day too?

What if pretty soon, we realised that EVERYTHING had expanded to fill the extra hours?

Everything, that is, EXCEPT the time we spend on our creative projects, and the time we allocate to pursuing and developing our creativity.

So maybe it’s not about time after all?

Ask yourself honestly: “If I was given a week off from all obligations, a week purely to myself to focus on my creative projects, what would I actually do?”

“Would I actually KNOW what to do, which creative project to work on, where to start, how to focus my creative energy?”

And if the answer to these questions isn’t immediately clear to you, maybe this is in fact a perfect place to start to devote your time?

Maybe looking a little more deeply into what you would do given more time – focusing on what you really DO want to achieve in your creative life rather than focusing on feeling you don’t have enough time - could actually be one of the most valuable and beneficial things you can do in the long term for your creativity?

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the powerful and practical “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Perfectionism Is A Killer Disease: Here's The Miracle Cure

What is the one single thing that more than anything else stops us from creating?

The disease that kills creative projects dead, saps creative energy like a swamp full of starving leeches and can destroy a previously healthy and productive creative artist in hardly any time at all?

The answer is Creative Perfectionism, the quest for creative perfection.

So what do we mean by Creative Perfectionism?

Put simply, Creative Perfectionism is when we have already reached a very competent and perfectly acceptable stage with a creative project, but we’re still unhappy with it.

More than that, we become obsessed with finding the last tiny details that will make it “perfect”. So obsessed that we actually lose perspective, lose objectivity and become incapable of seeing actually how wonderful and how accomplished the creative work already is.

In searching frantically for that last 3% that we believe will make the work perfect, we become blind to the beautiful 97% that we’ve already accomplished and is already there.

But what’s at the heart of this behaviour?

It can be a number of different factors. We can find ourselves seeking Creative Perfectionism out of fear of not being taken seriously, fear of being seen as lazy or not passionate, fear that this is the only great idea we’ll ever have, fear that if we don’t finish this piece we’ll never finish anything in the future, and a whole host of others.

No doubt you can add your own versions and favourites to this list.

So what’s the cure? Is there any hope once we get this creativity killing disease?

Well, thankfully yes there is hope.

The cure is all about re-learning to let go when our creative work is “good enough”.

Now this doesn’t mean that we make any less effort in our creative projects or that we care less about them.

In fact the opposite is true - we actually care more

We care enough to want to finish the piece and let it go. We care enough to release it into the world where it can find an audience and inspire, delight and move other people. And we care enough to honour our ever evolving creativity and move on to the next creative project.

Over a fixed period of time, wouldn’t you rather have 3 wonderful pieces of creative art out in the world that people can admire and connect with, than one so-close-but-not-quite-perfect-enough-to-let-go-of-yet piece sitting in your room or in your studio or on your computer where no-one else can experience it?

Here’s the prescription for your medication

A great way to re-learn how to let go of our work is to produce some work as quickly as possible, and to lower the level at which we happily let it go.

As an exercise, make a deal with yourself that the next three creative projects you work on you’ll spend no more than 3 hours on. And, at that point, once the time is up, you’ll stop work and let it go, whatever stage it’s at.

Scary, huh? But we both know you can do it.

The outcome is not so important, it’s the process, and the letting go that’s important

Do this as often as you can, even if you spend more time in between on other creative projects. The object of the exercise is to make it easier to let the creative work go, and as a side effect of course it will increase your productivity.

Review after a few weeks or so and see how your ideas around Creative Perfectionism have changed.

You may find you still want to spend longer on larger projects, and continue to produce some quicker work in between. Or you may find that you’re able to produce these larger projects to a wonderful standard in much less time than ever before.

Either way, there’s so much to be learnt if you’re willing to try. So put that cure into action today and stop letting Creative Perfectionism kill YOUR creativity

Learn how to Explode YOUR Creativity today... Get your FREE copy of Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s powerful and practical "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook when you sign up to the FREE “Create Create!” ezine. Visit the website now: http://www.CoachCreative.com

Being More Creative: What's YOUR Story About Why You Don't Create More?

Storytelling has a wonderful, rich tradition in most cultures and young children all over the world are thrilled, excited, terrified and amazed by the stories their parents and friends tell them.

We all have our own stories about our lives, and each of has plenty to tell about the adventures and experiences we’ve had – creative and otherwise.

But each of us also holds dear another kind of story.

Or more accurately, a collection of stories, our own little pocket anthology.

These aren’t stories based on our own past exploits, events that have actually happened and we can recollect.

These are the stories we’ve carefully constructed and now carry around, about who we are and what we can achieve.

One of the most powerful and memorable things a Coaching Mentor of mine ever said to me was this:

"The only thing that's stopping you from having the life you want is your story about why you can't have the life you want..."

Its meaning didn’t quite sink in with me at first. I didn't get it.

I played it over in my head a few times.

The only thing stopping me is my story about why I can’t have what I want…

It seemed overly-simplistic and all too neat a summary of what are complex and multi-layered issues.

Hold on a second. It started to click.

Complex and multi-layered issues…

Is it that I can’t move on because these issues are too complex and multi-layered? Or, I can’t move on because I’m telling myself these issues are too complex and multi-layered?

I thought about a coach training course I wanted to do. I’d been frustrated up to now about it because although I desperately wanted to go on the course, my thinking had been:

It’s too expensive, I can’t possibly afford to go with my current income.

And I SO wanted to go on it.

I thought back to my mentor’s words, and my perspective started to change.

It is expensive. But it’s going to be worth it and it’s something I really want to do. So how could I make it happen? I could take out a personal loan, find some extra part time work, borrow some money from a friend, sell my car and get a cheaper one…

Crucially, I’d recognised the story.

My story about why I couldn’t go on that course was “because I can’t afford it.” Because before I’d seen this as set-in-stone unquestionable and immovable reality, I hadn’t even thought about possible alternative options and solutions.

But once I’d seen this as just a story – a story of my own making - and not reality, I was able to put my creativity to work and start thinking of alternatives solutions.

What stories do you have about why you don’t create more?

What do you tell yourself about why you’re not writing 500 words a day? Or why you’re not painting for 3 hours every weekend? Or making calls to arrange gigs for your new band? Or joining that art course that begins next month?

Take the time to write down the answers, to reveal the story. For example if you ask:

“Why aren’t I writing 500 words a day?”

One of your stories about this may be –

“I don’t have anywhere peaceful to create. I always get disturbed and lose concentration so I don’t even bother starting to write now.”

Now shift your perspective so you see this as a story. And, as it’s a story, how can you re-write it. What other ways are open to you? How would you like it to be different?

Maybe you could arrange with your family to have half an hour to yourself undisturbed every day to write? Maybe you could write each day on the train journey to work and put some music on earphones to block out outside distractions? Maybe you could go to a local library or café to write each day?

Maybe you could get up half an hour before everyone else or go to bed half an hour later than everyone else and write then? The only limit to the options available to you is your story.

Remember, the only reason you can’t have what you want in your creative life is your story about why you can’t have it.

Once you accept this, and make that adjustment in your thinking, you’ll find the alternatives just flow into to your mind. And then you can pick one or two and start putting them into action...

Learn how to Explode YOUR Creativity today... Get your FREE copy of Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s powerful and practical "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook when you sign up to the FREE “Create Create!” ezine. Visit the website now: http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Success: The Razor Thin Line Between Achieving And Not Achieving Your Creative Ambitions

Creative Success is so much closer than you realise. In fact it’s just one simple step away.

Before you turn away in disbelief, consider this:

Your personal idea and vision of success in your creative life is unique to you.

It can’t be decided by anyone else.

Even if you have role models or creative heroes you look up to, what you achieve creatively in your life has never been achieved by anyone before you and will never be achieved by anyone after you.

It’s uniquely yours and there for the taking.

Whether you choose to take it though, and how much you take, how much success you experience, depends entirely on one thing.

It’s the same razor thin line that’s the difference between success and failure, achieving and not achieving, in any other area of life.

So what is this one single crucial element?

Consistent Action.

You can be one of the most wonderful, creative and imaginative people that ever lived, and have a endless cascade of incredible ideas and innovations tumbling through your mind, but without taking action on them, they mean very little.

Think of a few of your favourite writers, musicians, or other artists in creative fields you’re involved in.

The fact that you’re aware of their work is because they took action with their creativity.

At some point they picked up a pen, sat down at a piano, or stepped up to a waiting canvas and took the brave step of putting the creative ideas in their minds down into a recordable form.

And, with some persistence, once they’d documented their creative ideas in this way, they took further action to get their art, their creative work, out into the world. Which is how you came across them.

Now consider this:

What if for every great artist you admire, there are a dozen others, equally talented, ambitious and potentially creative in their own way, just waiting to put their dormant creativity into some recorded form?

It’s quite possible. In fact more than that, it’s highly likely.

The difference between the artists we know and admire and those we don’t know, who may be equally talented, and who’s work may be just as capable of stirring our souls and leaving us rapt in awe, is again down to that one razor thin line.

They take action and create. Or they don’t.

So, how do you fit in to this scale? Which side of the razor’s edge are you on? Or maybe you’re currently tiptoeing right along it, on the brink of taking major, significant action?

Whether that action is the creating itself, or taking steps to get what you’ve already created out to an appreciative audience, I challenge you to take that action today. Right away.

Write that chapter, phone that magazine editor. Mix that song, put it up on online. Frame that photo collection, contact those galleries.

It may sound simplistic, but ultimately consistent action is the only way to creative success.

The choice is yours. What are you going to do?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Perfectionism: 5 Reasons Why We Destroy Our Creativity By Trying To Achieve The Impossible

Whoever you are, whatever your preferred creative field, there’s one guaranteed fail-safe method for causing consistent, damaging and painful frustration in your creative life.

One absolutely, so-sure-you-can-bet-your-house-on-it, way of ensuring you wear your creative energy down to nothing, and pretty much completely destroy your current creative motivation, possibly for ever.

What is this terrifying monster?

What could possibly have such a powerful and devastating effect on our creativity that, if we choose to live by its evil ways we may as well have our creativity measured up for it’s coffin, and order the hearse and the wreaths in right now?

Perfectionism.

Yep, that’s it. Just that one word on its own doesn’t look too scary does it? But if YOU’RE someone who doesn’t rest or move on until each piece of creative work you produce is 100 percent perfect, then... oh, that’s right, you must be still on your first creative piece of work.

Perfectionism stems from a whole host of different reasons.

And often, perfectionism isn’t actually the reason we don’t create at all, it’s just a convenient label to mask other fears.

So here are just some of the most common faces of perfectionism and some alternative ways of considering them. How many have you looked straight in the eye?

1. Fear of being rejected

“If I don’t make this utterly perfect then I’m likely to have my work rejected and just can’t face that experience of failure.”

Maybe you’ll create the greatest possible piece of work in the history of mankind’s creativity. But creativity is subjective and one man’s life-changing art is another’s meaningless junk. There are always going to be people who don’t like what you create, or aren’t attuned to your creative vision.

2. Fear of not being seen as passionate or authentic

“If I don’t produce perfectly realised creative work, work that takes blood, sweat, tears and YEARS to produce, I won’t be considered as an ‘authentic’ artist.”

Some of the most respected artists are loved for their prolific and varied output, and their willingness to move on and embrace change. There are few musical artists for example more revered and admired than David Bowie who often explored more ideas on one record than most others would produce over a whole career.

3. Fear of not being able to move on

“If I don’t finish this creative project then I won’t be able to give my all to the next one, I’ll keep thinking back to how I’ve failed to be perfect this time.”

Some creative projects are bigger than others. Many people have a number of different sized projects on the go at once to help them keep momentum and interest.

For example over a 2 year period a writer may write a novel, and in between experiment with some poetry, produce a series of articles on one of their passions and have a go at some new creative writing exercises, all of which keep her fresh, inspired and moving forward.

4. Fear of the going beyond where you’ve gone before

“I’ve never actually finished a painting before, I’ve always abandoned it in frustration. If I did finish one I wouldn’t know what to with it next!”

Consider the words of artist Paul Gardner: "A painting is never finished, it simply stops in interesting places.". Maybe you’ve reached some interesting places in your creative work but through fear of what you might have to do next if it is finished, you’ve carried on working on it?

5. Fear of never having another good creative idea

“This is the greatest creative idea I’ve ever had. It’s my one big shot, if I ruin this then I’ll probably never have another good idea again.”

Truly creative people believe that they have a limitless flow of ideas and as soon as one has been expressed, another just as good - if not better - will come along. In fact we’re ALL capable of experiencing this abundance of creative inspiration. The difference is whether we believe we’re able to experience it or not.

How many of these can you relate to having experienced? How can you change the way you approach the concept of perfection to start to free up and increase your creativity more?

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? It’s easy: just sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the powerful and practical “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity and Achieve Your Creative Goals: Putting Flesh On The Bones Of Hope

“Hope is a desire with an expectation of accomplishment.”

The origin of this quote is unknown, but the words ring as clear today as whenever it was first said.

Unless we have hope that we’re moving towards something, progressing in a particular direction and that with consistent measured effort we’re going to get closer and closer, there’s very little motivation for continuing to make any effort at all.

In our creative lives, let’s consider our hopes as the bones, the raw frame on which we add the flesh and detail of our creative ambitions.

So what will these bones look like exactly, and how can we make them as strong and supportive a structure as possible to build upon?

The bones of your creative life are the goals, aims and ambitions you have for your creative work and your creative development.

Think about where you want to be in each of the areas of creativity that are important to you. Begin with a goal - an end point, the place you hope to reach - and then map each step towards that creative goal as a point on a timeline.

Or alternatively, start with the timeline, showing the next month, 3 months, 6 months, year, 3 years and so on, and at each of these points in time plot and describe briefly where you want to be in your creative life.

Even after taking this first step you’ll see how your creative life can begin to take shape in the future, and it’ll give you more clarity and focus.

Next look at each of the points on the timeline in more detail. Write them, or map them out as a diagram, individually in a much detail as you can. For each, think about what it will look, sound and feel like once you’ve achieved this creative goal. Connect with it as fully as possible.

Now, start putting flesh on the bones.

This is where we plan how we’re going to get there. It involves simply breaking each creative goal on the timeline into clear steps.

Depending on the goal, this may be a case of dividing it into even chunks to be achieved each month. For example if you had the creative goal of writing 12 articles this year, then break this down into writing one article per month. If you’re goal was 50 articles, this would be roughly 1 article per week.

If your creative goal needs to be based on an ordered sequence of steps, then break each of these stages down until you have clear “bite-size” chunks with a time frame next to each of them.

For example when writing a book you may have stages such as: Research, First Draft, Editing, Second Draft, Research Publishers, Submit for Publishing, and so on.

Now we have the flesh, the detailed plan of action, upon the bones, the creative goals and hopes you have for your creative life.

All that’s left is to begin taking action, so choose the first step on your plan and get started today!

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity Defaults: How Are You Unknowingly Limiting YOUR Creativity?

What would you say if someone suggested to you that you were greatly limiting your creativity and creative output without realising it, every single time you come to create?

You might respond in a variation on 1 of 3 ways:

1. You might deny it indignantly, saying:

“That’s ridiculous, of course I’m not, why would I hold myself back and limit myself, I love creating!”.

2. You might say:

“Ok maybe sometimes I limit myself when I’m feeling less confident or negative about a project”, which is something no doubt we all relate to from time to time.

3. Though it’s highly unlikely, you might respond:

“I know I limit myself and I know exactly how. I’m going to stop immediately.”

So why is almost certain you’d reply with answer 1 or 2 and not 3?

Simply because you probably don’t realise just how and when you DO limit yourself, and the subtle and almost imperceptible ways these limitations can manifest themselves.

To explain this more clearly, here’s an analogy:

When I come to write a new article, I open a blank document in my word processor. To make it easy for me to get the idea down on the page and write as effortlessly as possible, I’ve already set up my word processor program to use a default font, size, margin and so on. This means I can get straight into writing with as little delay and distraction as possible.

The font I use is the very neutral Verdana, the size of 11 point is large enough to see clearly, and the page size of 125% is also as easy to view as possible.

But what if, as my default new blank page, the font size was set to a tiny, eye straining 4 point? Or the default font was an oblique elaborate handwriting typeface? Or the page size set to 10% so it appeared on the screen about the size of a postage stamp?!

Of course, if any of these were set as the default, I’d struggle to get going. I’d either type away anyway, squinting to see the almost invisible text appearing, and along the way give myself a headache and a sore neck, and my face a permanently pained expression.

Or I could change each of the settings one by one to some that were more comfortable and easy to use. But then, unless I change the stored default settings, each time I again open a new blank document, I’ll go through the same clumsy process.

So how does this relate to your creativity?

Well, consider what happens when you settle down to create. What are YOUR default settings, both internally and externally? Are the conditions set up to enable you to create as easily and freely as possible?

Is your attitude and outlook set to “Open, Creative, Adventurous, Motivated”? Or is it more like ”Fearful, Anxious, Doubt-filled, Lethargic”?

And your external environment, how is that arranged? Organised in a way that suits and enhances your creativity? Uplifting, inspiring surroundings? Tools and equipment all ready and available?

Or is it cluttered, chaotic, bleak and bland, with your equipment scattered haphazardly so you can never lay your hands on the right pen/ brush/ instrument/ material/ when you need it?

Take a few minutes out to look honestly and carefully at these factors

Consider both the internal thoughts and processes in your mind, and the external environment you create in.

Then ask yourself if your default settings for creativity really are as favourable as possible to give you the opportunities to create your best work?

If like most of us, they’re not, then start to think about how you can improve them, and take the action necessary to put these changes in place. Reset those defaults, and notice what a difference it can make.

Learn how to Explode YOUR Creativity today... Get your FREE copy of Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s powerful and practical "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook when you sign up to the FREE “Create Create!” ezine. Visit the website now: http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Support: Are You "Reaching Out" But Not "Letting In"?

The saying goes that no man is an island.

Even if that’s true, many of us still try to be an extreme version of just that, an isolated and self sufficient mass that relies on nothing outside of itself, an impenetrable iron fortress constantly on guard from any approach, however friendly.

We may feel that unless we go it alone and create with any outside help or support from others, that somehow we’re not being “truly creative”. If we allow any outside input or influence in, it may corrupt and tarnish our inspiration, flow or muse.

Does this sound like something you relate to at all?

Many of the myths around creativity revolve around the tortured artist, struggling all alone against himself to create that which will set him free.

But of course this doesn’t make for a very fulfilling life!

In fact one of the easiest ways we, as creative people, can make our creative lives as difficult, painful and lonely as possible, is to take on this myth, and this behaviour, and become the isolated impenetrable island.

For those of us who realise we don’t wish to live in this way, and are prepared to give and receive support from other creative people around us, the benefits are many, and far outweigh any concerns about the authenticity or artistic integrity of not going it alone.

But even when we accept we need support, there’s a way to go before we actually allow people to give it, and further still until we let it have a positive effect on us.

For example, an artist struggling to create a certain mood in a landscape painting, may accept the need for outside support and ask a respected painter they know for their views.

This is a great first step, accepting they’re stuck and reaching out for the help they need in able to allow themselves to progress with the piece they’re working on.

But reaching out is not the same as letting in.

Upon receiving the advice from their fellow painter, the artist may reject it outright and entirely, claiming their colleague simply does not understand their perspective or dilemma.

Or they could listen carefully to the advice and, accepting that each of us are different in our creative style and techniques, take the parts of the advice that are helpful and disregard those that are not so relevant or resonant.

This is a simple example. Sometimes the difference between reaching out and letting in can be far more subtle. In fact reaching out but never letting anything in can be more damaging even than not reaching out for support at all.

Think about some of the ways you’ve sought support in the past, but, if your honest with yourself, you weren’t really seeking the input of someone else with any intention of taking it in.

Instead you were just looking for evidence and ammunition to reaffirm your belief that “no-one understands me” or “no-one appreciates what I’m trying to achieve with this creative project.”

You weren’t reaching out from a point of being openly willing to let in.

So next time you ask for help, stop and ask what your motives behind it are. Are you genuinely willing to receive the support, ready to begin letting in and enabling yourself to develop, learn and evolve?

Or are you simply reaching out for some other less genuine and beneficial reason?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity: How To Achieve Your Creative Goals

For many of us, it's all too easy to get stuck and frustrated in many areas of our lives by falling into ways of thinking that are based on "conditional happiness".

For example, we may believe that we'll be completely happy and totally worry free when and ONLY when we have a certain amount of money, or when we meet the right partner, or when we finish a creative masterpiece.

Another variation on this is saying "I'm going to start that project “WHEN I have the right inspiration", "...WHEN I'm in the right mood", or the eternally popular "...WHEN I have enough time".

Are any of these sounding familiar? Well you're not alone!

By believing that these fixed pre-conditions are necessary for our happiness - often things that we don't actually have specific or clear measurements of anyway - and then finding they never quite arrive when and how we expect them to, we set ourselves up for much frustration, procrastination, even anger, and can trigger off spirals of negative inner thoughts and criticism.

The fact is, the idealistic conditions we set out in this way will NEVER arrive, because of the way we're thinking. And even if we get very close to them, by being in this frame of thinking, we inevitably will add other conditions to the list.

"Yes I've got enough money now, and I have the time, but I can't start today because I got out of the wrong side of bed this morning and the planets are in COMPLETELY the wrong alignment..."

So what's the alternative, how can we overcome this?

Consider the words of the Taoist Philosopher Lao Tzu -

"A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step."

By taking the first step towards what we want to achieve and then taking regular consistent action thereafter, as well as moving towards our goals or dreams, we also gain greater clarity about what they are, and make them more real.

Each time we take action, we can look at how it's moved us towards what we really want and whether it's right for us.

If we feel we're heading in the right direction, that's great, we can keep taking successive action steps in this direction and build momentum and motivation.

If we come to a point of feeling "this isn't quite the right direction for me", that's great too, as eliminating something we know we don't want gives us greater clarity about what we DO want.

So we can re-adjust our focus, try something different and take action in that direction. And soon we find we're back on the right track again.

So how can you incorporate this into YOUR life?

What is YOUR first step towards one of your goals or ambitions going to be?

Maybe it's to write an outline for a book. Maybe it's research a course in something new you want to learn. Maybe it's to make that phonecall to a useful new contact you've been putting off?

Whatever it is, write it down with a date and time you're going to do it and commit to it.

Make that first step TODAY.

You've got nothing to lose. And then, take another step tomorrow. And the day after that and the day after that...

Be bold, be brave, don't wait around for the perfect conditions to arrive, they never will.

You have the power and resources to create your own!

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity Coaching: But Isn't That Just For Professional Artists?

The main blockage many of us have when it comes to being creative is that we simply don’t think that we are.

We each have a set idea or vision of what a “creative person” or “artist” is like, and more often than not, we don’t include ourselves in this category, however much evidence there is to the contrary.

And so, by not even considering that we ARE creative, and thinking that our creative work isn’t valid and important - whether we write, weave, paint, knit, act, sculpt, cook, compose, sing or enjoy any number of other creative activities - we limit ourselves from receiving the recognition and nurturing our creativity deserves.

This really is for many people THE major stumbling block to being more creative.

How often have you found yourself saying or thinking things like:

“But I’m not creative. Not really. So what’s the point in me spending more time and energy on it?”

“I’ve got no creative talent, I just dabble and play around, I only do it for myself.”

“What right have I got thinking I’m creative anyway? There must be millions of people more creative than I am.”

ALL of us are creative in some way or other.

And, just as an athlete tones their body, builds their muscles and eats a healthy diet, we too must look after our creativity if we are to see it grow and develop.

This begins, again, with the belief that we are creative in the first place.

Even if we don’t initially feel we can paint like Michaelangelo, or sing like Marvin Gaye, it shouldn’t stop us improving our painting and singing the best we can, and equally, if not MORE importantly, having great fun and enjoying the creative adventure in the process.

What are your own creative beliefs?

What are your own beliefs about how creative you are and how much you deserve to devote time to creative projects and pursuits?

If someone offered to pay for you to go on a creative weekend of discovery or have a series of sessions with a creativity coach, what would you’re immediate reaction be? Honestly?

Start gathering the evidence of your creativity

A great way of giving yourself a boost in confidence in this area is to actually write down all the creative things you have done, and continue to do.

These can be specific creative projects like something you’ve made, designed, painted or written for example. But also remember to include all the other things you do that are creative, that aren’t specifically framed as creative projects.

The stories you make up to tell your children at night. The songs you sing in the shower. The delicious meals you invent, prepare and serve. The way you often come up with brilliant ideas in your office for things no-one else thinks of.

Once you begin to recognise, accept and then celebrate your own unique brand of creativity, you begin to see it’s true value and that yes it IS worth spending more time and energy developing it, for your own sake, and for the benefit of all those your creative efforts come into contact with.

Start today, believe in your own creative ability and worth, and make that list of creative achievements. Who knows what it might inspire you to do next..?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity With Visualisation: How Just 10 Minutes a Day Can Boost Your Creative Output

Visualisation is a technique we can use to boost our creativity by playing in our heads powerful images of how we want to be, at our most creative, productive and happy.

Here’s how it works: Every time we see an image we give it some meaning and then associate emotions to it. For example, what would the following pictures make you feel? A Caribbean beach in a holiday brochure? A set of dentist’s tools? A brand new Porsche? A giant cockroach?

With visualisation we can imagine images that trigger within us states that are most conducive to our creativity. Images that we picture inside our heads can be as powerful as those we actually see with our eyes. And the great thing is, we can produce these images whenever we want.

Many people think they can’t do visualisations. Here’s a simple example to try:

Imagine you’re standing at the front door of where you live. Think about the following things –

What colour is the door? Are there any windows or panels in the door? What type of handle does it have? Where’s the keyhole? Is there a knocker or a bell? What’s the letterbox like?

Ok, now how did this exercise feel?

That was an example of a simple visualisation. Once you can do this then it’s just a case of expanding it to whatever you want.

Let’s try adding a few more details.

Go back in your mind to the image of your front door. Imagine your key in your hand. Is it cold or warm? How heavy is it? Put the key in the lock. How smoothly does it go in? When you turn the key, what do you hear. As you open the door, how easily does it open? What can you smell? What else can you hear?

How did it feel this time to add more detail the image?

Now you have the basic format for powerful visualisations.

Think about how you can adapt this to boost your creativity.

For example, you might want to visualise yourself sitting at your computer typing away furiously at your novel, writing 1000 words an hour or more. Or you might wish to see yourself opening a letter to reveal you’ve been offered a 3 novel publishing contract.

You might see yourself out in nature somewhere painting landscapes, feeling highly inspired, creative and alive. Or at the opening night at your new exhibition at a national gallery, soaking up the atmosphere and praise all around you.

Maybe you’d like to visualise yourself dancing, putting on a flawless performance, being totally in the flow and at one with the music? Or the audience’s reaction at the end, delighted, amazed, spellbound.

Whichever you choose, make it something that you really desire, that you’d love to be experiencing for real in your creative life. Put simply, visualise yourself doing your greatest creative work.

Once you’ve picked something, set aside at least 10 to 15 minutes, go somewhere quiet where you’ll not be disturbed, get comfortable, close your eyes and begin your visualisation.

Imagine every detail you can, bring in each of your senses as fully and vividly as possible, until you feel as if you’re really there.

Practice to increase the impact

Practice your visualisation every day, and very soon you’ll find it easier and easier to slip right into and enjoy.

If you find you’re not quite fully connecting with your visualisation, then maybe it’s not the right one for you. Adjust some of the details until you find one that is most rewarding and that you look forward to returning to time and time again.

What you’ll also notice over time is how your creative life will begin to move closer to the images in your visualisation. The more you practice, the more you make your mind familiar with the visualisation, the more powerful it will become.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity And The Artist-Overcoming The Biggest Fear Of All

“What’s stopping you?”

That’s one of the most powerful questions we can ask someone when they say they really want to do something in their lives but just can’t quite commit to taking the action.

The answer is often surprisingly clear and simple. Sometimes the person will say “Er, well, nothing!” and just that moment of clarity and realisation will set something off inside them and spur them into the action they’ve been putting off for so long.

When this happens, it’s fantastic to see that “light bulb moment” and the following beaming smile and flurry of action.

Most of the time though, the answer’s more than “nothing”. And it nearly always involves some fear or set of related fears.

Here are some examples you may relate to having experienced in your creative life:

1. I want to: write a novel about my experiences growing up in a small town.

What’s stopping you? I don’t know if I’ll have enough interesting material, or be able to recreate the characters I knew well enough.

2. I want to: experiment in composing electronic music.

What’s stopping you? I’ve only ever written songs on a guitar before. I wouldn’t know where to start, or how it would turn out.

3. I want to: start photographing in black and white rather than colour.

What’s stopping you? I don’t know much about black and white photography. You have to know about all sorts of elements I don’t know much about.

In each of these examples, and a thousand other scenarios we could highlight, the one thing stopping you from taking the next step of action is in fact exactly the same.

More than that, it’s probably the single biggest fear and reason why people don’t create more.

So what is this fear?

I might not be any good at it.

As simple as that.

Once we realise this, that most of the time we don’t have a whole series of complicated and intertwined fears and doubts, that they can all be summed up as “I might not be any good at it”, we can start to deal with it and overcome it far more effectively.

Just imagine for a moment that you had experienced all three of the above examples. At the same time. (Quite the Renaissance Artist aren’t you..?)

Instead of feeling overwhelmed with all the doubts and concerns detailed in the examples, just say:

“I’m scared I might not be any good at it. But I’m going to do it anyway and give it the best shot I can.”

If you say this each time, then quickly take action towards giving that best shot, then you become simply unstoppable. Nothing can stand in your way.

Try this technique each time you feel a fear about creating. Remember, the more you do it, and the more you realise how often it returns to the same fear, the easier it will become for you to carry on and create anyway.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

How To Be Creative - The Simple Technique Anyone Can Learn To Increase Creativity

Some people suggest that creativity is only bestowed upon a gifted few, and the majority of us should give up before we begin, resign ourselves to a life of middle of the road mediocrity, rather than aspire to achieve anything creative.

Those people are narrow minded, and we shouldn’t take any notice of them!

There is a contrasting belief that in fact EVERYONE is potentially highly creative, in a variety of ways, which is the belief I much prefer to hold, and my experience as a coach has proved this to be accurate time and time again.

Surely some are more creative than others though?

True, there are some who seem extraordinarily talented and creative. And that talent, and their pioneering creative work should receive all the plaudits it deserves, for it inspires and touches the lives of so many others.

But how much of this creative development in such a person is down to natural talent and how much is due to the opportunities and support they’ve had in their life?

Each of us, with the right guidance and encouragement, someone who will hold our hand along the way and say “it’s ok to create”, “it’s ok to experiment and try different forms of creating”, and “creative expression is a natural and vital part of life”, can go on to achieve new levels of creativity.

As you read this, how often in your creative life have you had support like this? And conversely, how often have you had someone say something like: “Don’t be stupid, you’re not creative” or “Who did you think you are even trying to sing/ write/ dance/ paint...” ?

So if I haven’t had this positive encouragement, how do I become creative? How and where do I begin?

The answer is simply to begin today. Paint a few strokes, write a few words, play a few chords, take a few pictures. Then tomorrow do a little more. And the next day, and the day after that.

The hardest part isn’t creating. It’s being brave enough to start. And once you do, you’ll amaze yourself.

So do it today, right now. Then commit to a minimum amount each day for the next week. Make it 15 minutes at least, 30 or 60 if you can, and just create. Think of it as a daily appointment with your creative soul or source.

If you were to take creativity as your religion, this time each day is your creative prayer and worship. Treat it with the same commitment and reverence and importance as a priest would a spiritual activity.

What then, at the end of a week of creating every day?

After the end of the first week, notice what you notice about your creative efforts. Pay more attention to the daily practice than what you’ve actually created, as it’ s the discipline that will lead you to creating great and wonderful works.

When you feel you want to, increase your daily amount of creating. Start to think maybe about linking your sessions together to work on a larger creative project rather than a new piece each time.

This really is the basis, the secret, to being more creative. You can only go so far in your thoughts and plans, then you’ve got to simply step up to the plate and regularly create.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Health For Life: Why Short Term Crash Diets Don't Work!

Most of us have embarked on new diets or exercise regimes in an effort to be more healthy, lose weight and get our bodies in better physical shape.

Here’s what usually happens:

We start with huge motivation and the best of intentions, and for a few days or weeks, all goes fantastically well. The weight comes off, our fitness noticeable improves, and we start to feel a little healthier.

But then, a few weeks, or even days in, almost inevitably we begin to falter. We start to miss how we were before. The extreme structure of the diet plan, so different to how we exercised, ate and lived before, starts to feel too demanding, too much of a strain and too much to maintain.

In short, the radical plan we began on may have helped us to gain some very short term benefits, but it’s simply not sustainable. Because most diets are aimed at short term weight loss or an increase in fitness, not at a long term new way of healthy living.

How does this relate to our creative lives?

Similarly in our creative lives, we may have an idea for a new creative project, begin it with huge enthusiasm, commit hours a day to it for a few weeks then realise that this too is not sustainable.

We see other things in our lives start to slide, the motivation we had when we began the new project starts to falter, our creative resistance notches up a few gears, and before long, the new project is resigned to a dusty shelf in a dark cupboard along with the dozens of others we’ve begun equally enthusiastically in the past.

Sound at all familiar to you?

And, in that same forgotten cupboard, take a look at the shelf below. Yep, there’s all those crash diet plan books...

Why don't these crash diets work?

So what can we do? How can we maintain the impetus and momentum we gain from those first few days of a new project, or a new diet?

We need to first understand why the quick fixes and crash schemes DON’T work, and why we have this cupboard full of aborted efforts.

And the reason is surprisingly simple. The new regime we took on was just too different to the habits and routines we’d been used to before.

The habits and routines that we’d grown into and been comfortable with for years, maybe decades – however good or bad for our creative health they may be - just can’t be changed overnight.

It’s unrealistic to expect to be able to drastically change a vast number of elements in our lives at once and be able to maintain those changes.

Sounds a bit negative. So what CAN we do?

There is hope! The alternative, the way that CAN work, is to realise that a healthy creative life comes from putting into place little habits, taking it step by step, building up a long term plan for how we want to live, and how we want to create.

So if you want to write a new novel but haven’t written more than a few sentences for months, how realistic is it to expect to be able to write a chapter a night for the next 60 days?

Instead, start by setting yourself an aim that’s achievable but still slightly stretches you beyond where you are right now. For example, every day before breakfast, set aside 15 minutes to write 50 words.

Once you’ve developed this habit, increase it steadily to 100, 500 or 1000 words, and/or 30, 60, 90 minutes as you build your creative muscles and stamina.

If you want to create a new photography exhibition, but haven’t taken your camera out of its case for a year, do you give yourself a fair chance of achieving this by expecting to shoot 3 rolls of film every day for the next month?

Instead, again begin with an achievable aim like taking your camera out of its case and taking 3 pictures each morning, regardless of how the pictures come out. This too you can build upon as you strengthen your creative discipline and habits, working up towards the levels of creativity you want to be at.

Remember, “being creative” is not something we just do, it’s something we ARE. Creativity is a way of life, a part of our identity.

To get the most from ourselves creatively, we need to develop sustainable long term habits, not just quick bursts of unsustainable creativity that ultimately only end up adding to that dusty collection of part finished projects in our cupboards...

Take the next step to increase your creativity today by getting your copy of Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s powerful and practical "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook. It’s FREE when you sign up to the FREE twice monthly ezine “Create Create!” at www.CoachCreative.com

Overcome Creative Resistance: Conversations With Your Inner Fred

Creative resistance, all the internal thoughts and barriers that arise and limit or prevent our creativity, is something that is ever present at some level for us as creative people.

It’s simply not possible to eliminate it altogether. Whatever we do, there will always negative self-talk and thoughts that attempt to sabotage our efforts. It’s part of the creative process, indeed it’s part of being a human being.

Often too, it’s when we create more of the work that’s most important to us and has most meaning for us that this creative resistance actually increases, often it seems, very suddenly and violently.

Have you ever noticed when you’ve begun work on a creative project that you’re hugely passionate about and has great importance and meaning to you, how the negative chatter in your head shifts up into overdrive?

"You can't do this", "You're not good enough", "You have no talent", "Who are you trying to kid?", you know the kind of language that appears.

But, now we’ve recognised the reality, here’s the good news.

There ARE ways to live with the often dominant presence of creative resistance and STILL create everything we wish to.

One powerful way is to change your perspective a little in the way you see your creative resistance. Instead of seeing your resistance as a mysterious evil force you should just try to ignore, acknowledge it as a valuable part of you, and address it face to face.

Time to talk back

When you do, the conversation may go something like:

"Resistance, I acknowledge your presence and purpose in my life, and from now on I will address you as Fred. I understand that all you do for me is motivated by positive intentions, and that you’re often just trying to keep me safe, protect me from experiencing disappointment and getting hurt.

I thank you for this continued effort, but I want to make it clear to you that I’m going to carry on creating what’s meaningful for me, and working towards my vision for my creative life, whatever you say to me, now or in the future. My vision, my passion and my desire to create is stronger than you Fred, and will always drive me forward."

Just the act of recognising and addressing your resistance in this way, by giving it a name and personality, and acknowledging that it (Fred) is motivated by positive intentions, can often dramatically change our relationship with it. As a result its hold over us, and its power to limit and sabotage our creativity is greatly reduced.

Repeat for maximum effect

Addressing Fred just the one time may start to unlock our perspective but won’t necessarily have a lasting effect. This technique gives best results when repeated and maintained, and by having periodic conversations with Fred like the one above, our perception and attitude towards creative resistance will change.

You may also want to add the dimension of Fred having a volume adjustment, controlled by you, and when he starts to get a little too loud or demanding, tell him:

“Fred, again I acknowledge and thank you for your efforts in trying to keep me safe and protected, but you’re getting a little too loud and boisterous. I’m just going to turn your volume down now and continue with my creative work.”

Be open minded with this technique, have fun and play with it to see how it works best for you in reducing the power and influence that creative resistance has in your creative life.

So, creative resistance, what's yours called?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Enjoying The Creative Process: The Tale of Two Culinary Perfectionists

My partner and I love cooking together. It’s something that we both value and enjoy in our lives, from the choosing to the preparing, the cooking and finally the eating. But we didn’t always appreciate it as we do now. Here’s what used to happen:

We’d get out a selection of recipe books (at LEAST 7, but preferably double figures), scan through every page of every book and narrow our choice down from hundreds to a couple of dozen or so.

Then began the debate on which was most healthy, which was easiest to cook, which we hadn’t eaten recently, which we had time to create, and, crucially it seemed then, which we had the exact ingredients for.

More often than not we’d stumble at that last stage and realise we didn’t the right type of natural sea salt or our pak choi wasn’t organic and return to a previous recipe to try to choose again.

An hour or so later (if we’d chosen quickly) we’d then prepare and cook our carefully selected meal. Usually though, with thoughts in our minds like: “Hmmm. I think I quite fancy that chicken dish after all. I wonder if we could do that tomorrow? Or the next day. The other recipe books are still out, maybe I should go and see if there’s something better?”.

And then came the tasting. Now we’re not gourmet chefs but both capable of following a good recipe and making a delicious meal. Yet our comments at the table would be things like “It’s nice BUUUT… could’ve used a splash more soy sauce in the marinade” or “I think next time we should slice the carrots more thinly, the recipe said 3mm batons and some of these are definitely nearer 5mm.” Ok maybe that last one is a slight exaggeration…

The point is, there was no enjoyment in the process. What could be a fun, creative shared experience, became instead scientific, analytical, stilted, almost obsessed with making the perfect decision at every stage. And mostly our focus was on what could’ve been, the choices we didn’t take, the chances missed.

Sound at all familiar to you?

Now, our creative kitchen habits are rather different. We’ll pick an ingredient, say chicken or spaghetti or broccoli, then grab a few recipes that use that ingredient and pick the first one that appeals to us both. Which takes up to about 5 minutes.

Then - and this part is significant - we put all the other recipe books away!

We start cooking, maybe add a few creative tweaks along the way, using the recipe as a guide and an outline, not a sacred set of laws that must be obeyed at all costs.

Our focus is now on ENJOYING the creating, cooking and eating of the meal we’ve chosen. And now, the whole process is quite a different experience, we do enjoy it so much more at every stage. (Well OK sometimes those carrots are still a little chunky, but hey it adds a bit of variety in life!)

Think about your own experiences for a moment. How does you relate to the above in YOUR creative life? Which are you most like when it comes to choosing, preparing and creating a new project? The drawn out analytical perfectionist, ever hung up on making the perfect decision at every step? Or the free flowing creative, picking one project then committing to it, giving it your best and enjoying each stage of the creative process?

If you’re more like the first, be assured you’re far from alone. Yet how well does it serve your creativity and enjoyment of creating?

How could changing your approach increase your creativity and raise your enjoyment of all the creative projects you embark on? After all, if we don’t on some fundamental levels ENJOY creating, where’s the motivation for continuing to create at all?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

The Most Beautiful Shape: Letting Your Creative Work Find Its Most Natural Form

Creative and artistic projects can begin from any number of sources, ideas and sparks of inspiration.

A snippet of overheard witty conversation at party, the atmosphere of an old jazz record, a collision of colours in nature, a scent that recalls the summers of your childhood, and a million others...

The common factor though, is they all begin SOMEWHERE. However small the idea, it’s our starting point, the tiny jetty we set off from in our eager hopeful boats.

Pretty soon after we set sail though, what happens if we begin to get a little sea sick? If we get a little anxious about the way this new creative project is going, realising already it’s not quite turning out as we expected, what happens then?

We’ve barely lost site of the shoreline, but the wind’s changed direction, the sails are billowing and our vessel’s heading off determinedly in a completely new direction... This wasn’t the trip we planned!

For example, what if the most rewarding parts of your ambitious biting political satirical novel are actually in the intimate personal dynamics between three minor characters?

Maybe your exhibition watercolours of natural coastal landscapes is dominated by the beauty and impact of the solitary painting that features a derelict lighthouse?

What if, what started out as a dance record based on heavily processed electronic rhythms, only truly makes your spine tingle within the spaces of its slower ambient interludes?

Do We Haul Back The Rudder? Jump Overboard? Or Something Else?

When this happens, when we feel the heart of the creative project drifting away from what we originally expected it to be, we have a number of options.

Number one, we could panic, make every effort to haul the project back to where we want it to be, force it along a straight and narrow path, however much it seems to be resisting that path.

Or, number two, we could give up, jump ship and abandon it completely, exasperated at its refusal to conform to our perfectly formed expectations, exclaiming it’s got to be our way or no way at all.

Or, we could take the third option. Let go of the rudder, lay back, and let the wind take us. Allow the art to breathe, to have its own way, to find its own natural form and definition.

Which of the three sounds most like what you’d do? Which option would be most conducive to getting the most interesting and rewarding results from the creative project?

Which would be the most pleasing to your sense of natural creativity?

The Courage and The Faith

Every piece of creative work we begin has, to some extent, to find its own life, its own shape, and its own meaning. To loosen our hold, to stand back and let this happen, often takes great courage and faith. The courage to relinquish control and step into the unknown. And the faith that we have the patience, creative ability and resources to see the project through to its natural conclusion.

Some of the most famous inventions and artworks in history came as a result of their creator trying to create one thing and discovering something completely different as a “happy accident”.

Yet still we often have such fixed ideas of what our creative work “SHOULD” be that we lose the ability to let it fulfil its own potential, and take its own beautiful natural shape, whatever that may be.

Maybe the most beautiful shapes aren’t always the ones we set out to discover, but rather the ones that we allow to discover us...

How does this idea apply to YOUR creative life? How could you benefit from letting your creative projects find their own beautiful shape, their own rhythm and evolve into the most amazing and rewarding possible creative work for you?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Powerful Creativity Secrets: Background Static and Pink Monkeys

When we’re in full flow with a creative project, we usually want all our creative ideas, energy and focus to be directed towards that particular project, every spare sentence, idea, image or note to perfectly fit right into our latest work.

But in reality, it doesn’t work like that. What happens if, when writing a political novel set in 19th century Eastern Europe, you keep having ideas for a children’s story based around a manic pink monkey?

Or when you’re composing a dramatic orchestral film score, catchy pop lyrics and choruses keep forming in your mind?

Whatever creative channel we’re tuned into, it’s virtually impossible to totally eliminate all other interference.

Imagine it like being tuned into a radio station on an old fashioned analogue radio. Even when we feel we’re focused on one channel, we can hear static, or ghost interference from other channels in the distant background.

And, with the slightest adjustment of the dial, a whole new set of sounds come into earshot, often completely drowning out those we want to hear.

So how can we deal with this? How can we eliminate all the static, the surrounding interference we don’t want to hear when we’re focusing on one creative project?

The answer is we can’t completely eliminate it, but we can take steps to more easily live with it. By accepting and embracing the notion that this creative static IS inevitable, we can begin to use it to our advantage.

One of the most popular and effective ways of doing this is using a form of Ideas Book to gather up the extra creative tangents, diversions and offcuts we come across.

So, using the example from before, when you’re writing a crucial character development for the protagonist in your Eastern European political novel, and that pink monkey starts bouncing all over your thoughts, you might simply take your Ideas Book (kept always close to hand) and quickly jot down the monkey thoughts, then close the book, confident that you’ve transferred the idea from mind to paper, and continue with your character development.

The Idea Book method works in 3 powerful ways:

1. It allows you to accept that the creative mind is not completely linear, predictable and focused, and at one time there are hundreds of thoughts and ideas bouncing around. This acceptance allows for more natural, more free-flowing creativity.

2. You’re able to collect up all the extra interesting snippets of background static and “scribbles in the margin” that appear, and that may in future develop into wonderful creative works themselves.

3. It helps you to stay focused on your main creative project of the moment. The distracting idea appears, you acknowledge it, note it in your Idea Book, and continue on with your main work, instead of letting this invading idea distract you repeatedly and cause you to completely lose the thread. Taking 30 seconds to jot down an idea a few times an hour for example, is far more conducive to creative flow than having that same idea struggle to burst into your thoughts every few minutes.

Try a version of the Ideas Book technique for yourself. Don’t be afraid to play around with it to find out how it can work best for you and the way your creative mind works.

Embracing the static in our creative lives, rather than wasting energy getting locked in a endless internal battle in our minds, is a major step towards the highly and freely creative life we aspire to maintain.

As an added bonus of course, you very soon have a valuable collection of creative ideas to develop when you do finish your current project. After all, you never know, maybe that little pink monkey will turn out to be more than just an irritating distraction after all...

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Understanding Creative Resistance: Why Our Negative Thoughts Aren't Always What They Seem

As a creative person, no doubt you’re familiar with your own finely honed versions of classic statements of self-doubt like: “Who do I think I am, I have no talent”, and “I have nothing valuable to say”.

We all have our personal “favourites”, that ironically seem to actually increase in volume and rise up more strongly when we’re being MORE creative and productive.

These thoughts and phrases that clatter around our consciousness appear at first glance to be nothing other than entirely negative. But with a little deeper investigation we can see they may actually be motivated by a positive intention.

A core belief of coaching is that behind every thought and action there is a positive intention. Every thought and action can be traced back to some positive need or aim.

Here are some of the most common negative thoughts around creativity and some examples of what the positive intentions behind them may be.

1. Negative Thought: “Who do I think I am? I have no talent.”

Positive Intention: “I’m scared of trying new projects because I might not be as good as I thought. I’m trying to protect myself from disappointment. Or I might be far better than I thought! What would happen THEN? I’m just trying to protect myself from being scared and overwhelmed.”

2. Negative Thought: “I’m fickle and undisciplined, I can never make a choice and commit to and start work on a project.”

Positive Intention: “I’m scared of choosing the wrong project and wasting weeks or months of time. I want to be as creative as possible and create the greatest work I’m capable of. I want to choose the right project so I can honour my creative potential as fully as possible.”

3. Negative Thought: “I don’t have enough experience. It’s too late to learn and develop more now, I should’ve started years ago.”

Positive Intention: “If I don’t start anything then I can’t fail at anything. I’m protecting myself from that possible disappointment.”

4. Negative Thought: “I have nothing valuable to say or contribute with my creative work.”

Positive Intention: “What if people love my work and want to see more? I’ll have to produce more and more and won’t be able to keep up with the demand and feel totally overwhelmed. I’m just protecting myself from the stress that might bring.”

5. Negative Thought: “No-one will want to see/hear/experience my work, what’s the point of me submitting any to people who can bring me to a wider audience?”

Positive Intention: “If I don’t offer any of my work I can’t be told it’s not what they’re looking for. I’m saving myself the pain of rejection. Or what if people love my work. Then they’ll ask for more, I won’t be able to just create to order and the pressure will cause me to stop creating altogether. I’m protecting my creativity this way.”

As you can see, there are some common patterns that many negative thoughts can be traced back to, mainly motivated by protecting ourselves from pain, rejection and stress.

What’s also common to these is that they’re all possible future situations that may never happen anyway.

Try some gentle inquiry on one or two of your own negative thoughts and uncover the positive motive behind them. Notice any familiar patterns and themes that develop.

Once you gain a better understanding of your resistance you’ll be able to know better what you’re working with and begin to find ways you can accept its presence and STILL be consistently creative.

One final comment: Remember that creative resistance is totally naturally and experienced by EVERYONE who creates. And it’s true that often the closer we get to the work that’s most important to us, the stronger the resistance seems. So don’t feel you’re alone or some kind of freak!

Acknowledging this resistance and understanding the part it plays in our creative lives is the first step to overcoming it. What are you going to do today to begin to understand yours?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

New Ways to Free Your Creativity - The Experimental Sandbox

Brian Wilson, after creating what many consider the finest pop album of its time – Pet Sounds - famously went through a period of composing the follow up album – Smile – sitting at his piano in a sandbox in his living room. He claimed it aided his creativity because it replicated the feel of being at the beach and “created a mood that was magic”.

He also gave some of his musicians vegetables to play, recorded songs in an empty swimming pool and instructed the symphony orchestra to wear toy firefighter’s helmets. But those are all ideas for another article!

Back to the sandbox then. By creating a set of surroundings we find inspiring and comforting - a few metaphorical walls around us, edges that define a safe boundary for us, and familiar objects - we feel able to be more free, and experiment more with our creativity.

There are at least two elements at work in this kind of situation:

First Element: The Safety and Security to Relax

Imagine taking out a new possible love interest for the first time. Then trying to enjoy a steak meal sat in the middle of a pit of hungry lions.

How relaxing would that be? You and your companion attempting to enjoy your meal and get to know each other with a pack of snarling and starving carnivores circling you, saliva dripping from their razor sharp teeth? Probably not the greatest option for a romantic dinner date…

It’s the same for our creativity. By creating an environment that’s comfortable and safe and eliminates some of the external threats and obstacles to our creativity, somewhere where we’re out of the “public gaze” and won’t be critically shot down with every movement we make, we give ourselves a much greater chance and opportunity to produce interesting and rewarding work.

As well as somewhere safe, adjusting the small details of our surroundings – for example, creating a mood by altering the lighting, having motivating and inspiring words and images on the walls, sitting in a favourite comfortable chair – all just by their presence are conducive to greater creativity.

So by doing some of the above, we give our romantic date (in this case a date with our own creative projects) the best chance of being as enjoyable and fruitful as possible.

Second Element: Reducing Options Increases Focus

The second powerful “Sandbox” element is that by reducing our options, we actually become more focused and give our ingenuity and creative invention the green light to work overtime.

For example, imagine you were given the opportunity to be a classical composer for a day. The 100+ players of the London Symphony Orchestra are at your command, ready and willing to put your most amazing musical creation to life. It’s now up to you to simply create a piece of music and tell them what to play.

Where would you start?! Would you first consider the theme of the piece, the story and emotion behind the music? Or would you start by defining the length and structure of the piece, its sections, phrases and movements?

Maybe you’d begin with a melody or note sequence and build outwards from there? Or would you start with the string section of the orchestra, compose the part they’ll be playing and then add the woodwind, brass, percussion and other sections layer by layer?

The options are mind boggling, and the majority of us in this situation would be completely overwhelmed and most likely end up creating nothing at all. Yet this is often exactly the same situation we put ourselves in with our own creative work.

By working in our “Sandbox” and defining parameters – edges and limits within which we’ll work - we can eliminate dead ends, exercise our creative muscles and begin to focus on more specific ideas and solutions.

In the orchestra example, this is the equivalent of making the choice, say, to compose a 5 minute movement based on our feelings after the end of long love affair of our youth, starting with a simple 5 note melody and using the 8 lead players of the string section only.

Already these defining parameters give our creativity something to focus on, get its teeth into, and begin generating ideas around.

Without this framework, our possible options are huge and so too therefore becomes the pressure to choose where to begin and how to progress.

How can you create your own Sandbox?

The benefits of this idea are obvious, so much so that we can often easily overlook them.

So think right now about how you can apply the benefits of the sandbox in your creative life.

How can you incorporate the two elements described above – a safe, secure environment and a vastly reduced and focused set of options - to help you increase YOUR creativity?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creative Self-Belief: Overcoming The Danger Of Negative "Snap-Back"

Isn’t technology wonderful when it actually improves our daily lives?

An example is a product that’s used for the frames of many modern pairs of glasses. Flexon is a laws-of-nature defying material that has its own “memory”, allowing the frames to instantly return to their original shape when they’ve been bent or distorted.

So if you accidentally twist your glasses when removing them, rather then permanently bending out of shape or even breaking as frames of the past would have, the Flexon frames simply flex then snap back to their original shape. How clever.

We too are like Flexon!

But this is not a promotion for Flexon, nor is it an article on new technology. It’s about our beliefs and behaviours as creative people. And as it happens, we too are very much like Flexon. Here’s how -

When we do something new, something different and outside our normal state and range of behaviour, initially we may just go with it, experiencing a mixture of feelings of fear, trepidation, challenge and excitement.

For example, say you write for a local newspaper. You’ve had a regular column for a few years that you’re comfortable writing and it’s not too challenging or time-consuming.

Then an offer comes in from a national magazine. One of their journalists has been keenly following your column and mentioned it to their editor, who’s also recognised your talent and potential to reach a wider audience. After a productive meeting, the magazine offers you a contract to write a series of articles based on your expertise.

At first you’re delighted. This is the break you’ve been waiting for, a chance to reach a national audience and share your views and knowledge, and you begin brainstorming and writing in earnest.

Then the “snap-back” starts to take hold...

Pretty soon though this brave new world starts to get a little uncomfortable.

You become aware of feeling outside your regular comfort zone, and slightly daunted by what you’ve been asked to produce. You worry about whether even accepting this project was such a good idea after all.

Little by little, habit by habit, the doubts creep in and you begin to revert to old patterns of thought.

Negative beliefs reappear and you berate yourself with comments such as - “What makes you think anyone wants to hear what you’ve got to say?”, “You just haven’t the talent to write at this level”, and “You’re getting above your station, stick to writing your cosy local column.”

And so, before too long, like the Flexon frames, you once again faithfully snap back to your former position, the one you believe and accept is your natural state.

How can we overcome this cycle of behaviour?

So what can we do in this kind of situation? How can we break free from this behaviour and avoid reverting back to our previous safe levels each time we step out of our comfort zone and get closer to realising our full potential?

Well, a warning from one of the leading suppliers of Flexon frames gives us a clue. They state – “However, Flexon frames are not indestructible. They can break if repeatedly twisted.”

And the same again is true for us. If we continually and repeatedly twist our existing beliefs out of shape – the core beliefs we have about ourselves, who we are and what we “should” be doing, the ones that we always revert back to – then they too will break.

Because these beliefs ultimately define our behaviour, the only way to sustain a new behaviour is to change the belief that underlies it to one that will fully support and nurture that behaviour.

Put into practice, this means identifying then replacing those negative beliefs that keep us small, limited and achieving way below our potential.

Developing new empowering beliefs

The key word is “repeatedly”. Once we recognise negative beliefs, we need to replace them with new empowering beliefs that become deeply embedded in our minds and our ways of thinking.

Doing this once, twice, even a few dozen times, is not enough, we’ll simply revert back to our former state, the one we’re so familiar with. Only by adopting new beliefs, reaffirming them time and time again to ourselves, and behaving in alignment with them, can we break free of the cycle.

There are a number of different ways of doing this. A tried and tested technique used by many is to use affirmations. An affirmation is simply a statement about yourself describing how you wish to be in some part of your life.

A great tip for creating simple yet powerful affirmations is to use the “Three Ps”:

Each affirmation should be Personal – begin with “I”, Positive – something that is desirable and helpful, and stated in the Present tense.

Some examples are – “I am a talented and capable writer.” “I create work that people enjoy and connect with.” “I am overflowing with creative new ideas.”

By creating then repeating these kind of statements over and over to yourself, then behaving in a way that’s congruent to them, you’ll be able to break free from the old beliefs that held you back and become as creative, confident and capable as you wish to be…

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? Sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Just head over to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity Secrets Revealed: The Best Place to Start Your Next Creative Project

Under the banner of creativity there are a huge number of different disciplines and media that can be considered as creative, and expressions of our creativity.

There are those best known professions, creating the “Classic Arts” such as Novelist, Painter, Musician, Film Maker, Photographer and so on, as well as a large and diverse number of other equally valuable and important highly creative professions from architect to basket weaver, video game designer to choreographer, and stand up comedian to biochemist.

What all of these professions, and all of these varied types of creativity have in common is that they all create. Each of them have, within their field, various creative projects they take on, and these can be diverse in size, breadth, ambition, intention and scope.

So, we can see that whatever we create, and whatever our own personal favoured forms of creativity, our creative careers – professional or otherwise – are made up of a series of creative projects.

Some run one after the other, some overlap, some merge together, others spilt into sub-projects or morph into something very different from where they started.

Sometimes we’ll be intensely focusing our creativity on one single project for an sustained period of time, other times we’ll have a number of projects on the go and move between them, a juggler keeping several balls in the air at any one time.

Something else common to all of us who create is that every creative project has to start somewhere. Once it has been conceived, and that initial seed of an idea begins to germinate, there soon comes a time where we have to begin work, to put pen to paper, thread on fabric, brush to canvas, sound on record, image on film.

So where’s the best place to begin?

What comes first, do we plan and plot the outline of the project first or dive right in and start creating? Do we consider the project in the context of the other work we’ve recently done, and will do in the future, or just let it evolve naturally and be whatever it needs to be?

If we start in the middle will it be easier to create outwards from this rather then begin at the beginning? Or should we imagine where we want the project to end up and work back from there?

All these questions and many others can besiege us when we consider where to begin on our new creative project, and the sheer number of different possible decisions and options we’re faced with can halt us in our tracks. This kind of overwhelm has been the undoing of many a potentially great creative work.

If only we knew the best place to start, we could get on with the creating and putting all our energy and effort into the project itself!

So where IS the best place to begin? What’s the secret of those who create rewarding, stimulating, meaningful projects time after time?

The truth is simply this:

The best place to begin is the place where you begin.

Read that again and let it sink in:

The best place to begin is the place where you begin.

Whatever the creative project, whoever you are, and whatever your previous experience, the only way to create the project is to start it, right here and right now.

It doesn’t matter if later on you review your work so far and feel you need to plot or plan a little more. It doesn’t matter of you return and edit or recreate these early steps. It doesn’t matter of you later fill it out a little, add more before or after this point where you start.

What DOES matter, and what is one of the most fundamental laws of creativity, is you’ll never create anything if you don’t commit to starting, wherever that starting point is.

Think about a project you’ve been contemplating and deliberating where to start. Make the commitment right now, to the project and to yourself, to simply start creating and see where it takes you. If you don’t, you may never know what it could have become.

Once again remember the simple truth: The best place to begin is the place you begin.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity: New Creative Wardrobe - Where Would YOU Start?

Imagine that you lost all of your clothes in a domestic disaster like a fire. In some ways you’d probably be very upset at losing some of the garments that you love, make you feel good about yourself, and trigger off happy memories.

Looking at it from another perspective, there were probably lots of garments you hadn’t worn in months or years, just taking up space and gathering dust. Maybe a freak accident like a fire was the only way you were ever going to part with them.

So, the insurance cheque comes in, and it’s time to start to restock your wardrobe. Where do you start? Two pairs of jeans from your favourite store? Basic t-shirts in five different colours? Underwear? New heels? New training shoes? A little black dress? New pyjamas?!

No doubt, given the money and time, you’d soon create a new wardrobe of garments. Though you’d miss some of the clothes you’d lost, in many ways this could be seen as a new beginning, a chance to start from the essentials upwards, and a great opportunity to move on from the physical and psychological baggage of all those clothes you hardly ever wore.

Ok, so what does this have to do with your creativity?

Well, in the way our personal wardrobes are made up of a variety of different garments, our creative lives are made up of various different elements.

These can be physical, the tools of your trade, such as pens, paper, computer, paints, easel, camera, dance shoes, and so on.

Then there are the less tangible elements: Your sense of experimentation. Your dedication and passion. The natural talent you have. Your ability to adapt and be flexible. Your constant pursuit of the truth in your work.

And of course, there are those elements that are not so desirable: The way you often find something “more important” to do than sitting down to create. The negative self talk that rattles away in your head. The fear of failure. The fear of achieving all you want to achieve.

Let’s return to the “wardrobe in a fire” analogy.

If these various elements in your creative life we just mentioned were garments in your wardrobe, which would you be relieved to lose in a fire?

Make a list of them, all the things in your creative life that you don’t use, don’t need, don’t suit you, or hold you back.

Then, look at all the valuable elements. Like before when we talked the insurance cheque coming in and starting to rebuild your clothing wardrobe, now in your creative life, what are the most important core items you’d want to put back in place as soon as you could?

Again, write a list, in order of importance if possible.

Now look at your two lists. How can you begin to lessen or eliminate those items that don’t add any value to your creative life? Which can you reduce? Which can you let go of? Which can you discard completely?

In your valuable elements list, which things are the most important, those you value most highly? Are there any that you overlook, or take for granted? How can you make the best use of these valuable elements, and bring your strengths to the fore?

Sometimes we’re so caught up in the routine of life, we overlook the actual individual parts our creativity is made up of. We undervalue those unique powerful elements that allow us to be the creative individual we are, and underestimate the draining impact those negative elements can have over time.

So take a look at your creative wardrobe today and think about the steps you can take to reorganise it in ways that will better support and enhance YOUR creative life.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity: The Invisible Threads That Hold Together A Creative Life

For most creative mediums and forms of expression, there is some tangible way of measuring how much we create.

The value and quality of this output we often see as a secondary measure, believing it’s more important to write 5000 words of anything than 50 words of dazzling compellingly original prose.

There’s something about the bulk factor that soothes us, reassures that yes we are creative, more importantly we are ACTIVELY creative, we go to our creative workspace, create huge and create often.

If we were the business of making garments, this we might see as akin to producing the reams of raw cotton needed to make our clothes.

Now, don’t misunderstand, creating consistently is very valuable and of course to be encouraged. But what if all we ever created was reams of natural coloured cotton?

What if just produced the same type of creative work over and over, loading the same fabric time and time again on to the conveyer belt?

Here’s the problem:

Natural white cotton, as beautiful and as useful as it is, can only go so far.

To make our clothing more versatile, valuable, original, desirable, we need to colour the raw cotton in different shades and combine it with other materials.

And, at some point, to give it shape, function and meaning, we must stitch it all together into wearable clothing.

To do this, we need to create the “Invisible Threads” that hold it all together. What is a dressmaker without any thread? All they’ll have is a collection of odd shaped pieces of material, unconnected and unwearable.

So what are these “Invisible Threads” and how do we create them?

Well, they’re simple anything you do to support your creative work and your creative life, aside from the main creative work itself.

So one type of creative thread may be the word processor you use to type your manuscripts. Another may be the 30 minute time slot you set yourself each day to work on your latest projects.

Another may be the walks you take near the lake to refresh your mind and clear your head. Or the time you spend in your Creative Minds group each week sharing ideas. The inspiration you get from galleries you visit to see the works of familiar favourite artists, and new artists you’ve never experienced before. Or the comfort you get from reading the books of the writers you most admire.

All of these things, and hundreds of others, serve to thread together the cloth – the creative projects themselves – and give meaning, shape and structure to our creative lives.

Think about the Invisible Threads in your creative life, how strong and effective they are, and how well they are serving you.

What else can you do to strengthen and multiply these threads, and make YOUR creative life more consistent, more rewarding, more enjoyable?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com.

Creative Authenticity: What's Your Biggest "Project in the Closet"?

As actively creative people, we can have any number of creative projects in progress at any one time. These can be of different types and styles, and vary in size, complexity, depth and ambition.

We all work a little differently, and finding what gives us best results, what helps us create most effectively and with most meaning, is all part of living our authentic creative life.

Sometimes we’ll be working on an epic, multi-layered novel, whilst also taking time out once a week or so to write a couple of small poems.

Or maybe we’ll be working on a series of paintings around a common theme – our childhood in Tuscany, our late father’s sudden decline, or the Great Lakes of Canada, and in between sessions, sketch a few simple pencil drawings on the bird life in our back gardens.

Whatever we’re working on, we have different levels of interest, commitment, and emotional investment in each of these projects. We need this variety to keep us motivated and stimulated, and to grow and evolve as creative people.

Sometimes though our work, our creative projects, can become a little familiar, a little too safe. Even though the same powerful themes and ideas keep appearing and speaking to us, but we tone them down or ignore them completely, instead working on projects more within our comfort zone.

In short, we all have “Projects in the Closet”, that, for whatever reason, we’re afraid of opening the door on and letting out into the world.

So what projects do you have in your closet that you’re afraid of?

Maybe there’s a novel you have a burning desire to write, but are scared about whether you can convincingly portray the authentic voice of its lead character, a 12 year old boy suffering from a debilitating illness.

Maybe, although you compose mainly classical music, you long to explore sample and beats based electronic music on your laptop, but fear you’re too old or too inexperienced?

Maybe you’re tired of traditional ballet and want to break out and bring into being the contemporary dance piece you’ve been planning on and off for the last decade and a half but still fear your parent’s disapproval. Even though your 39 years old.

All of us have these kind of “Projects in the Closet”, the meaningful, powerful and potentially life changing work we secretly long to create but don’t for some fear or other.

But what’s the cost of NOT working on these projects? How does it compromise our integrity as an artist to continue to deny and ignore these major works of great personal meaning?

If we were to pass away without having even attempted to begin work on them, how would that fit within the image we have of ourselves been honest and truthful and leading a fulfilling creative life?

The first step to facing and embracing this issue is just to admit we have such a Project in the Closet.

Write it down, outline what it is, and where you’re at with it. Just doing that one thing, taking that first step, is a brave thing to do, and will show to yourself how important it is and how committed you are to your creative life.

Go on, do it right now, just take a pen and write:

“My biggest Project in the Closet is …”

and fill in the blank.

See, don’t you feel a little better already? Now, what’s the next step you'll take..?

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com.

Overcome Creative Block: When The Best Creative Work Is Not Just In The Words

Imagine this scenario: You’re a prolific writer, a veteran of a dozen critically acclaimed and best selling novels, and currently deep into the juicy heart of your latest work.

The words are flowing like Niagara Falls after a week of torrential rain, your characters are rich, alive and thriving, the story is galloping along like a herd of wild angry buffalo, and creatively, nothing could be going better.

And then, without warning, it hits you. Bang, right between the eyes.

One morning you go to your computer to write the next chapter and you can’t find the right words. You start typing but every sentence seems clunky, stuttering and awkward.

Hours go by, and nothing improves. You try to keep writing but the more you do, the more frustrated you become.

Now, your characters suddenly seem flawed, flimsy and one-dimensional. Suddenly, the people you’ve spent so much time with and been so close to, seem superficial and flat.

Harry, your lead character, is just a bit too handsome and flawless to empathise with. And Bethan, if she’s that unkind, insecure and callous, would she really be as popular as she is?

You realise too there are inconsistencies in the plot, that Catherine couldn’t be in Rome with her dying father because she’d only been in Los Angeles an hour beforehand, and Annie couldn’t have been on that trek in Peru two years ago because she’d have been eight and half months pregnant...

You write on but it just gets worse, the words more incoherent, the sentences all jumbled and out of sequence, you can’t string together two paragraphs that you feel are of any value to the novel.

In short, it feels like it’s all going horribly wrong.

Most of us who create no doubt have experienced this kind of creative block or crisis in a creative project at some time or other in our lives.

When we get stuck like this, as well as feeling unable to go forward with the work and the anxiety and fears that this creative paralysis can bring, what’s perhaps even more unsettling is how all we’ve created so far starts to seem a little less shiny and glowing.

Just a day or two of feeling creatively blocked can change our perspective hugely and we begin doubting whether a single sentence in our novel, brushstroke on our canvas, or note in our composition are of any use at all!

Another factor creeps in too, that of feeling we SHOULD be creating, we SHOULD be keeping to our target of 500 words a day, that we’re not progressing, we’re wasting valuable time.

Despite our best efforts to create and push through the block, sometimes it feels like wading through a river of treacle. Upstream. With concrete boots on!

Sometimes, the solution and the way through such creative blocks is not in the words, the brushstrokes or the notes.

Trying to add to what we’ve already created when it’s not flowing well just makes us more anxious, more debilitated, more depressed.

Reluctant as we often are to admit it, sometimes the best creative work is not just in the words.

Put another way, sometimes the most effective and beneficial creative work we can put into our project when we’re stuck like this, is to take a major change of direction and scenery.

A walk in the woods with no aim other than to enjoy all the nature around us. A day out with our children, or someone else’s children to remember how the world looks through the eyes of those so young. A long drive in the country with a few of our favourite albums blaring out of the stereo at full volume.

Sometimes, it’s during these valuable breaks AWAY from our creative project that we have the subtle insights and “A-ha!” moments that can literally revolutionise the approach we take when we return to work on them.

In fact, although we may feel guilty taking time away from the project, especially when we feel we’re not progressing on it as well as we should and ought to be spending MORE time on it, the greatest work we can do for the benefit of our creative project is by getting some distance and perspective AWAY from it.

So the next time you feel creatively blocked in one of your projects, try this different kind of approach. Remember, sometimes the best creative work is not just in writing the words.

© Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? Sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Just head over to http://www.CoachCreative.com.

Creative Immersion Sessions - The Joy of a Long Hot Soak

Picture the scene: After a difficult and seemingly endless day at work, you battle your way home through the rush hour traffic, stagger through your front door looking like you’ve mentally gone 10 rounds with a heavyweight boxer, kick off your shoes, and slump on the sofa.

Your head is pounding, you barely have the energy to keep your eyes open and the mere thought of even standing up again takes more effort than you’re able to muster.

What greater luxury is there in these occasions than a long soak in a hot bath, up to your ears in soft fragrant bubbles, a chilled glass of your favourite wine and soothing music playing in the background?

Throw in some scented candles, indulgent chocolates and the lover of your dreams massaging your feet and you’d probably never leave the bathroom again..!

By immersing ourselves in such an experience, taking care of all the fine details and ensuring that each element combines and contribute to that overall aim of relaxing and letting go of the stress and tensions of the day, we’re able to give ourselves the chance to be fully involved, and so enjoy it as much as possible.

Now imagine the same scene, but instead of gentle music there’s relentless rock or dance music pumping away. Or instead of being lit by candles, the room is lit by fluorescent strip lighting. Or that delicious wine is replaced by flat lukewarm cola.

Wouldn’t be the same would it? In fact if just one of the key elements in this idyllic scene is completely wrong, it spoils the whole experience.

From time to time, it’s important to treat ourselves and our creativity and give it the same kind of luxurious indulgence and pampering as above.

To totally immerse ourselves in a creative project without distraction, even for just an hour or two, and to get back in touch with what it feels like to be totally connected and in the flow of our creative energy, can rejuvenate us in a way that lasts long after the experience itself is over.

So here are some of the elements to consider to help you set up some of these invaluable Creative Immersion Sessions for yourself:

Physical environment – Where is your favourite place for creating? It may be a studio or study, it may be outdoors, in your garden or a forest glade, or it may be curled up in bed with cosy duvet.

Sound – Do you enjoy creating with particular music playing? Does a different type of music aid different creative activities? Do you prefer complete silence? Maybe you enjoy the trickle of a brook in the background (either real or recorded)?

Isolation/ Company – Do you prefer to be locked away on your own with no-one else around to produce your best creative work? Or do you enjoy hearing the bustle of people moving around nearby? Maybe your creativity peaks in particular when you’re working with other creative people?

Refreshments and energy – Do you like to have food and drink close by to keep your energy levels topped up or would you rather refresh yourself beforehand then focus entirely on creating?

Mental preparation – Do you like to throw yourself straight into creating or go through a ritual or meditation before hand, to prepare yourself and your mind to be in the best state for creativity?

Tools and Resources – Would you rather have all the tools and resources you may need close to hand at all times or just begin with something simple and seek out the necessary extra tools or resources if and when you need them?

Consider all of these elements and any others that are important to you before having your Creative Immersion Session. Then throw yourself into it and enjoy the experience and results.

These sessions taken periodically can refresh your creative energy no end, and combined with creating a little each and every day, can ensure your creativity stays nourished and open and gets the opportunities and outlets it deserves.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Don't Debate, Just Create! How To Stop Hitting The Snooze Button in Your Creative Work

James struggled to get up in the morning. He’d set his alarm the night before for 6.45am, knowing that the very latest he could stay in bed until was 7.00, if he wasn’t to be late for work.

So, each morning, the scenes in James’s world played something like this:

6.45: Alarm goes off for the first time. James groans, summons up a mighty effort to hit the snooze button, then rolls over and sleeps again.

6.50: Alarm goes off for the second time. Another moan from James as he throws a nearby arm in the direction of his alarm clock and hits snooze again. Returns to sleep.

6.55: Third time the alarm goes off. James, no more ready to get up than last time, and starting to seriously dislike his electronic companion, hits its snooze button for the third time.

7.00: Fourth Alarm. A squint at the clock shows 7.00am, James has a 3 second debate in his mind about whether to have just five minutes more in bed. His sleepy side wins out.

7.05: Alarm number five. James swears the tone of his alarm clock is sounding remarkably more like his boss’s voice each time it goes off. Another short debate. Another win for Team Sleepy.

7.10: Alarm six. Realising he’ll now be late for work anyway, James debates the consequences, and weighs up whether it’s worth having another 5 minutes. Yep I reckon it is, he concludes in 2.7 seconds.

7.15: The seventh alarm, and James finally drags himself out of bed, late for work, not having had any meaningful rest for the last half hour, and in a bad mood. He glares at the alarm clock’s red digital gaze and is sure it’s smirking back at him.

Meanwhile, across the other side of the city, Martha’s been up for half an hour already. She’s had a refreshing shower, done her morning meditation and is now writing a few notes in her journal while she enjoys a delicious breakfast.

Martha’s alarm also went off at 6.45. Soon as she heard it, she got up, without getting caught up endless debates about how much longer she could get away with staying in bed and chasing the empty satisfaction of “just five minutes more”.

Martha heads off to work, feeling alive and alert and ready for the day ahead.

15 minutes after Martha’s arrival, James staggers into the office, looking somewhat less alive, alert and ready.

“Morning James, still having trouble with that alarm clock?” enquires Martha.

“Yeh it’s totally useless”, James growls back, “It never gets me up on time...”

When it comes to creating, to setting time aside to just create the projects that matter to you, who are you more like?

James with his constant avoidance of facing the task, and the “five minutes more” procrastination technique?

Or like Martha, setting a time to begin then hitting the ground running with a positive and energised frame of mind, without spending time and effort debating whether it’s the right time to start, or how much longer you can get away with avoiding it?

If we stop to analyse and debate, weigh up the options, wonder what else we could do, whether there's something good on TV or the bathroom needs cleaning or our bookshelf needs reorganising, we will ALWAYS find a host of reasons NOT to create.

So instead, set a time each day to create, then commit to it vigorously. Sit down at that time, don't question, don’t engage your mind in debate, just begin to create.

Try it for a week and see what a difference it makes in your creative life...

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creatively Stuck? Try Sitting With The Silence

Getting stuck, or being blocked in some way is something that all of us who are creative come up against from time to time in our creative efforts.

Whatever you wish to call it, there are many different variations of feeling we’re unable to create what we wish to create, and these manifest themselves in a variety of ways.

What we’re focusing on for the purpose of this article is being stuck with a particular creative project, having reached a certain point, or a critical stage, and feeling like we just don’t know where to go next with it.

It could be that the menu in your restaurant is looking tired and uninspiring, without having had a new dish or course for ages. You don’t know whether to just add one or two new dishes here and there, or radically redesign the whole menu with a new regional theme.

Or, maybe you’re partway through a new novel and realise you’re not sure if the characters you originally intended to be the lead players are actually strong enough to carry the novel. Do you develop some of the minor characters and hope they become deep enough to take the novel forward, or focus all your attention on making the lead characters more colourful. Or do you bring in completely new characters?

In another scenario, your hand crafted jewellery, which began as an exclusive range with each piece being highly unique, now more resembles a factory line of identical products. Do you design fewer, yet completely individual pieces and sell them at a higher price, continue along the higher mass production route at the expense of exclusivity, or begin work on a completely new range?

This position of being stuck for ideas and direction is unavoidable, and one that we’re all faced with now and again, for however short a time it lasts.

So what’s the solution, what are the approaches we can take to gain the insight or the vision we need to move forward?

We could have a major brainstorming session, call in our key creative allies and collaborators and throw down as many possible ideas and options as possible as to how we can go forward. This can be a fantastic way to get fresh impetus and motivation.

But then we still have to make a decision on how to proceed, then take the appropriate action. At this point, another approach, one that can be highly effective but that’s rarely used, can be called upon.

By “Sitting With The Silence”, the aim is to just sit with the project and the problem, ask what it needs next, and see how it guides you.

Sounds a bit vague doesn’t it! But if we can let go enough of the maelstrom of fears and ideas in our thoughts and truly listen to what the creative project is asking for, we’ll find the answer often leaps out and becomes quite obvious.

The key is to cut through the interference and the clutter around the project and find a way of connecting to its core. As if you’re literally reaching in through its chest with your hands, touching its heart with your fingertips and letting the message of how best to go forward flow into you.

Here are some extra tips you can try, individually or in combination, to help make “Sitting With The Silence” as easy as possible:

• Find a place where you can be still, away from interruptions, clutter and distractions. Use a Do Not Disturb sign if necessary!
• Adopt the belief that you know what’s best for this project, you always have known and always will know what the next step is, and by sitting with the silence you’re allowing yourself to connect more strongly with this belief.
• While you’re sitting with the silence, use a simple manual activity to occupy your hands, like washing up, sewing or reorganising your record collection, and do it with care and attentiveness.
• Take some physical representation of the project, and literally hold it in your hands, then close your eyes, be as still as possible and focus on listening. From the earlier examples this could be a menu, a sheet from the manuscript of your novel or a necklace you designed.
• Imagine the project communicating you from a point in the future when it’s evolved and even greater than it is now. What does it look like and what does it tell you about how it got there?

Experiment with other ways of sitting with the silence and letting the natural evolution of your project make itself obvious to you.

Sometimes it’s not about how many new ideas we can fill our heads with, but how clearly we listen to what we already know.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creatively Run Down or Unwell? Call Your Creativity Doctor!

Most of use when we feel unwell or out of sorts in some way, will seek some kind of medical help, traditionally from our local doctor or General Practitioner.

But who do we turn to when our creativity feels sick or unwell? Whether we feel just a bit off our best or that the illness is terminal and the decline of our creativity inevitable, what can we do?

Where can we go for help when we can’t function creatively in the way we know we can? There’s no “Creativity Doctor” for us to make an appointment with. Or is there..?

What we CAN do is take on the role of being our OWN Creativity Doctor. What’s a Creativity Doctor? Well, they’re just like a regular doctor, only they deal specifically with your creative health.

The bonus when you choose to be your own Creativity Doctor is that you’ve lived with yourself and your various stages of creativity all your life, so you know yourself better than any doctor could.

So here are some simple steps you can take to help raise your creativity from feeling fragile to fighting fit again:

Symptoms

How do you know you’re not at full health creatively? What are the tell-tale signs, what readings can you take, where’s the evidence, what’s the current reality of the situation?

Gather together as much as you can. Look at all the creative areas of your life and work out how well they are right now relative to how good they’ve been in the past and how great they can be in the future.

You may find that your creativity is already in much better shape than you realised, just you weren’t giving yourself enough acknowledgment and credit for all the ways your creativity is being used.

Diagnosis

Make an honest assessment of how your creativity is right now, taking into account all the evidence and symptoms. Again look at the parts of your creative life you feel aren’t as well as you’d like them to be and consider the factors around them. What’s changed recently in your life that’s had a negative impact on your creativity?

What are you doing, or not doing, now that you weren’t in the past when your creativity was in what you considered to be better shape? What’s the difference that makes the difference to your creativity? What makes you most happy creatively?

Often it’s tiny actions repeated over a sustained period that bring most change in our lives and because they appear to be so small and almost insignificant, their effects can creep up almost unnoticed.

Possible Course of Treatment

Now you’ve got as accurate a picture as possible of your creativity as it is right now, and the factors that have an effect on it positively and negatively, you can start to form a solution.

Put simply, what can you do to improve your creative health? If there was absolutely nothing holding you back, what’s the first thing you would do to begin to improve your creative health?

Consider all the options available to you. Think about the things you’ve done before that have been positive and produced favourable results. Also look at new ideas and activities you can get involved with that you expect to have the desired result, an increase in your creative health.

As well as creative actions, consider also your mentality and your belief system around your creativity. Whatever we do, we are all ultimately limited by the beliefs we hold about ourselves. Steadily improving and developing these can bring amazing benefits in the long term.

Put the Treatment into Action

Enough planning, now we get to the action part. Taking into account all the information you’ve gathered, what’s your course of action going to be, to get your creativity back on track?

What’s your first step going to be? When are you going to take it? What specific actions can you put into place and repeat regularly to restore your creativity to optimum health?

Think also about support systems. Who can help you in your course of action? What books can you read, what groups could you join, what websites and forums could help you? What other resources are available to you?

We all feel a little under the weather from time to time. But by being your own Creativity Doctor, with some honest questioning, regular focused action and a bit of support and encouragement, we can all start to get back to our creative best in virtually no time at all.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Sunshine and Showers? Why Your Creative Life Needn't be as Unpredictable as the Weather

This summer in the UK we experienced a minor heatwave for a few weeks, and the general weather conversation significantly changed.

Comments just a few a weeks previously such as “I’m fed up with wearing jumpers” and “Is summer EVER going to arrive this year?” gave way to “I don’t like this heat!” and “It goes from one extreme to the other in this country!”.

Whatever the weather, it seems we’re never happy with it...

The fact is, wherever we currently are in the world, there’s very little we can do to change the weather conditions we’re experiencing. To a degree (no pun intended) we can change what we wear and what we do - shorts and shades and eating ice cream when it’s hot and sunny, snuggling up in coats and scarves when it’s freezing cold - but we can’t actually change the weather itself, it’s outside of our influence and control.

Stop for a moment and think about how you might describe your creativity right now if it was a type of weather. Would it be sunny clear blue skies? Scattered showers? Constantly murky cold and overcast? Blizzard conditions?!

Also, what’s the weather forecast for your immediate future in your creative life? Mostly sunny? Partially cloudy? Thunder storms approaching?!

Whatever the current “weather conditions” in your creative life, they needn’t be permanent. We all have the ability to change how we react and the direction we’re heading in at any time.

Whatever we create, or have created, in our lives, we are free to change or to re-create in a different way.

What's in Your Circle of Control?

One useful model to help us with this is called the “Circle of Control”. Within our Circle of Control are the things we CAN change in our creative lives – our attitudes, our reactions, the choices we make, our responses to what happens around us.

Outside of our Circle of Control is a larger circle, called the “Circle of No Control”. This contains everything we have no influence over on a daily basis – the weather, where we were born, who our parents are, who will win the World Cup...

If we focus our time and energy on the Circle of No Control, it will grow in our perceptions (and therefore cause our Circle of Control to shrink) and we will feel increasingly frustrated and powerless. The negative energy and feelings generated will lead us further away from where we want to be.

But, if we instead concentrate our efforts and focus on our Circle of Control, and start to change the things we CAN do something about, our Circle of Control will expand in our perceptions and the positive energy generated will move us closer towards where we wish to be.

A simple shift in perception can have literally life-changing effects on the way we create.

So put away your umbrella and raincoat and think about the ideal weather you’d like your creative life to represent. Think also about the simple steps you can put into place TODAY – those that are inside your Circle of Control - that will move you forwards towards this ideal.

Then, pick the three that you’re most excited about and start taking action on them right away!

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creativity in Crisis? 5 Gentle Ways to Get Your Creativity Flowing Again

All of us who create go through phases of feeling blocked, stuck or uninspired. If we don’t create for a while, whether it’s 10 hours or 10 years, it’s easy to soon get caught up in negative mental cycles and paralyse our creativity further.

We’ve no doubt all experienced the paradox of knowing that the solution is just to create and yet creating is also the problem!

So here are 5 gentle steps you could take to get your creativity flowing again:

1. Write spontaneously for an hour. Whether writing is your major creative outlet or not, sit down somewhere you won’t be disturbed for at least an hour with a pen and paper and just write.

“I couldn’t think what to write” I can hear you cry! Just write and ideas will flow, even if you start by writing a page of lines saying “I can’t think what to write!”, the process will at some level unlock your creativity and give you permission to be more creative and imaginative. Write without stopping for an hour if you can. Make it 30 minutes as an absolute minimum.

2. Visit somewhere completely different. Somewhere you’ve never been to before. It could be somewhere connected with the arts and creativity like a gallery or exhibition. It could be a building or monument you’ve always wanted to go to. It could be somewhere deep in nature, such as in a forest or up in the mountains, or simply your local park or nature reserve.

Wherever you choose, make it somewhere that will give you a major change of scenery from where you are right now. Somewhere that will stimulate and energise you and give you, even for a few moments, a completely fresh outlook on the world.

3. List all your positive achievements. It can be easy to forget and overlook all that we achieve in our lives, or dismiss them saying “ah it’s nothing, anyone could’ve done that.” Yet each of us are unique and have our own combination of creative abilities.

Make a list of every possible thing you can think of that you’ve done that’s creative. Start with the bigger events that instantly come to mind, or alternatively start by listing everything you did yesterday that was creative, from the simplest things - like making a meal, the way you dressed or an idea you had - upwards.

4. Be a camera. Go somewhere where there’s plenty to see and use your eyes as if you were a camera taking pictures all around you. Adopt the attitude that inspiration is in the tiny details. Imagine you have to document a scene in pictures as thoroughly as possible, catching every last subtle feature and element.

Spend at least an hour gathering pictures in your mind. Then, remove yourself from the scene and write and/or draw as much as you can remember.

5. Create a powerful future vision. Either through writing, drawing, painting or any other medium you choose, create a vision of how your creative life is going to be in your wildest dreams in 3, 5 or 10 years time.

Pick a future date and write from then in the present tense as if you’re there already. Be bold, daring and imaginative, cram in as much detail as you can. Describe where you’ll live, who you’ll be with, what you’re days will be spent doing, what you’re creative achievements have been and connect yourself with it as fully as you can.

Any of these techniques can help to get your creativity flowing again, try them all and see which works best for you. The one thing they all have in common is they’re about taking action and doing something different. So next time you’re feeling your creativity is in crisis, be brave, take a positive new action and see how soon your creativity flows again...

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Enjoying the Creative Journey: Are Your Dreams Already Around You?

A significant part of coaching is about helping people identify and set goals that really matter to them, and that they’re motivated to achieve, and then supporting their progress towards these goals.

Often though, we can have our sights so firmly set on the goals in the long term future that we overlook what we’re currently experiencing, and all the situations, opportunities and potential happiness that we’re actually right in the midst of.

When our eyeline is blinkered like this and set so firmly on the distant horizon, we never pause to see and appreciate the view around us.

Make no mistake, long term goals are important. They are the constant light in the distance that call us forward, urge us ever closer to being all we can be. Without them we’re in danger of drifting aimlessly in the dark.

Yet there is a balance. Some of the most rewarding moments in life come when we stop and look back for a moment and realise how far we’ve come since we last took the time to look.

Are your dreams already here?

So think about your own creative life. How are your dreams already amongst you?

What parts of your life right now actually are much better than you realise, or give yourself credit for achieving?

Sometimes our dreams don’t manifest themselves as literally as we imagine they will. If your dream is to perform at the Royal Albert Hall or Carnegie Hall, then don’t write off or discount any experience you have on the way.

Your first public appearance, the first time you play to a paying audience, and the first gig outside your home town, are all major steps along your journey. So acknowledge each of them and use the enjoyment of each experience to motivate you even further.

Creative Landmarks

One way of doing this practically is by mapping out your own “Creative Landmarks”. Using a large sheet of paper, or a diary, mark each landmark in your creative life as they appear or develop.

Be kind to yourself and notice everything you achieve. You might start with what to you might seem small things like writing a poem or making your first wood carving, or that first public appearance we mentioned earlier.

Each of these are vital steps on your creative journey, and by noticing and appreciating each of them as they come – and acknowledging that YOU’VE achieved them – you’ll not only enjoy each landmark more, but you’ll be giving yourself permission to create more and reach further towards your end goals.

Your night at the Oscars

Another idea is to routinely give yourself “End of the Year” awards like the Oscars in Hollywood, or end of the season/month/week etc, whichever period fits you best.

Invent your own categories and awards like - “Most Challenging Situation I've Overcome”, “Biggest Creative Achievement” or “Special Recognition for Development in a New Field”.

It sounds light-hearted and it’s meant to be fun. But underneath is a serious message: by creating specific awards like these you actually challenge yourself to think about what you have done in these areas of your creative life that you can be proud of.

So remember as you move towards those long term goals to not get so blinkered that you lose touch with all around you that’s good. Recognise, absorb and take pleasure in the parts of your dreams that have already become a part of your reality, and notice how your enjoyment of your life increases.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com.

Increase Creativity With Simple Techniques: Creatively Stuck? Use the BoxBreaker!

Being “Creatively Stuck” is a common issue for many of my Creativity Coaching clients, that feeling that you’ve tried everything possible to move yourself forward and make progress but still you remain in the same place.

The finer details of each person’s situation are different, but the overall issue, and the feelings of frustration and helplessness, are shared by all, and something each of us have experienced to some extent in our creative lives.

Often the cause of being “stuck” is remedied by a simple and subtle change in perspective, just looking at the situation in a slightly different way, with new eyes and a fresh perspective.

This is easy to say on the outside looking in, but when we’re in the midst of being stuck it seems like we’ve tried every option possible and there ARE no fresh perspectives.

So next time you feel stuck in your creative life, try using this simple technique:

The BoxBreaker Technique

Choose an issue you’re stuck on, then imagine you have a box in which you put all your assumptions and preconceptions about that issue.

Include every detail, from every aspect, from the more general such as “I don’t have the resources to do this” to “There is no other way”, to more specific assumptions and perceptions about your issue, like “A novel has to be at least 100000 words, be broken into equal chapters, have dialogue and one lead character”.

Once you’ve written these all out and gathered them into your box, it’s time to be a BoxBreaker! The overall aim here is to smash every assumption and preconception you have that limits your thinking and your creative progress in this area.

A great way to start doing this is just to state the opposite(s) for each assumption or preconception you have and then consider how these can be true.

For example, to use the assumption about the novel above, instead of “A novel has to be at least 100000 words, be broken into chapters and have a lead character” you might write as a starting point: “A novel must be less than 100000 words, have no chapters, no dialogue and no lead character.”

This is the most literal opposite of the original statement, but then think about more radical variations.

For example: “A novel must be less than 5000 words, have unequal chapters, 12 lead characters, only 3 of which engage in dialogue.”

Or: “A novel should have 13 chapters, be written entirely as dialogue, be at least 100 words and feature no characters.”

Use your creativity to be inventive and write as many different opposite variations of each of assumption as you can. Be as wild and extreme and even as ridiculous as you can, and see how your creative mind responds.

One of the most powerful features of the human mind is when it sees a statement written down as true, it instantly looks for way that this could be true, even if at first it seems false, unlikely or even impossible.

So take each new statement you have and write some ideas around how you would approach the issue if it were true. The more you do this, the more easily it’ll flow.

Finally you’ll have a huge list of different ways of approaching your original issue you were stuck on. Pick one or two that really appeal to you, and use them as a starting point to progress.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity With Simple Techniques: Positive Thought Blast

One of the most challenging aspects of maintaining a consistent creative output is to remain positive and to keep moving forward even in the face of creative resistance.

This resistance comes in many guises, and most of it from within ourselves. When we let our negative thoughts go unchecked, what begin as seemingly fairly trivial and innocuous thoughts can so easily expand, multiply, and run riot in sabotaging our creativity and creative efforts.

Once negative thought patterns do take hold and become habits, they do their destructive work in a stealth-like way, and we hardly realise their presence and the damage they do, so familiar do we become with them.

An effective way of combating this is to stay in touch with the positive elements about our creativity, and in particular about ourselves. Here’s a great technique that helps you to do this in less than 10 minutes a day.

Positive Thought Blast

The secret to the effectiveness of the “Positive Thought Blast” technique is to be consistent and regular in doing it.

Once or twice a week won’t make a lot of impact.

But get into the habit of doing it 3 times a day and you’ll notice the positive effects on your creative life in a matter of weeks. Here’s how it works:

Set a timer for 3 minutes.

Take a blank sheet of paper and write out all the positive things you can think of about yourself. These can be about your personality, about your creativity, about past achievements, about projects you’re currently working on, anything you can write down as a positive part of your life right now.

Don’t worry about spelling and grammar, just blast you thoughts down on the page, and don’t stop writing until the 3 minutes is up.

Repeat the above 3 times each day, without referring to the previous lists.

After a week so you may want to review the lists you’ve written to notice the most common positive aspects you’ve noticed.

But the more you do this, the more natural and easy it will become anyway and you’ll notice and appreciate positive elements in your self and your creative life far more.

Experiment with the technique, try it more often and for longer periods of time, and see how this makes a difference.

And remember, the repetition and regularity of the technique is the key to it working. 3 minutes, 3 times a day for 3 days will be far more powerful than a one off session of 27 minutes…

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? Sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Just head over to http://www.CoachCreative.com

Overcoming Creative Resistance: The Lesson of the Dragon Slayer

Something all of us who are creative have in common is experiencing, at varying levels, some form of resistance to our creativity or creative flow.

This can be from any number of external sources, but for now let’s focus on the internal resistance that originates from our own minds and thought patterns, and the subsequent behaviour they can produce.

No doubt you’ll be familiar with your own personal variations on time-honoured creative self-doubts such as “I’m not good enough”, “I have nothing important or valuable to say” and “Who am I kidding, I don’t have the talent to be successful”.

These kind of statements revolve around the minds of ALL of us who are creative and, if we take notice of them enough and allow them to dictate our behaviour, can take almost complete control of our creative lives.

So how do we deal with them?

Most of us tend to strap on the heavy old battle-damaged armour, raise our shields, unsheathe our weapons and prepare to wage war on these mighty dragons of resistance.

Despite feeling afraid, out of our depth and overwhelmed, and with the dragon towering over us about to singe our eyebrows with a fire breathing sneer, we still think we the only way we’ll have a chance to defeat our resistance is to attack it head on.

So we try all we can to eliminate the dragon – those negative thoughts and doubts of resistance - from our minds, which usually results in much anguished and exhausting mental gymnastics.

Unfortunately though, even after all that, we soon realise that dragon’s got a mighty big family. Even if you manage to slay him, his brother/ mother/ Great Uncle Draco is going to come looking for you!

In effect our resistance to creating simply regathers itself and returns more fearsome than ever.

And so we take up this internal struggle time and time and again, until we have no energy left to fight and slump defeated, more often than not giving up on our creative efforts altogether.

But, there is hope. You see we don’t have to try to be dragon slayers, there is another way.

What if we accept that internal resistance of some kind has a constant place in our thoughts and lives, and WILL always regenerate and reappear?

As long as we’re capable of having thoughts, we’re capable of having negative thoughts. It’s just part of how our minds work.

And after all, we’re creative people, even if we overcome one negative thought, we’ll soon conjure up another that’s equally powerful and debilitating.

So instead of seeing this resistance as our deadly enemy, something we must fight with all our strength each time it rears its (fire breathing) head, what if we changed our viewpoint and approach?

What if, next time one of those dragons appeared, we sought to understand its motives and needs? What’s the real purpose of these dragons of resistance? What drives them, what are they seeking to do for you, how do they want you to be, and why?

Maybe it’s to keep you safe, to protect you. Maybe it’s to stop you suffering disappointment, rejection or being hurt?

Once we adopt this change of perspective, we’re in a much stronger position to begin dealing with our resistance. We’ll also see that behind this apparently completely negative resistance, there is a positive motive of some kind behind it.

So write out some of your resistant negative thoughts, ask these kind of challenging questions about them and start to see them in a different light.

Once you start seeing just one or two in a new way, it’ll automatically lead you to inquiring further into all the others.

After all, acceptance and understanding tends to give us better results than panic and blind fear almost every time.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com.

Creative Support - How Supporting Others' Creativity Naturally Supports Our Own

All of us who are creative need support from time to time. Kind words of encouragement from a friend, a favourable review from a mentor, a motivating chat with a coach, or a letter from a stranger thanking us for the inspiring effect our creative work had had on them, all help us to feel we’re on the right track and can be proud of being the creative person we are.

But what about those times when we feel less supported? Times when we feel alone, isolated, trudging along an untrodden path, unsure where we’re heading, and believing no-one else quite “gets” what we’re trying to achieve with our creative ideas?

Often it’s precisely during these periods when we don’t feel as supported ourselves that we’re most sensitive to, and aware of, what's missing, and we’re able to provide this for others. Somehow our compassion and empathy is heightened and we give more spontaneously and willingly the type of support we crave ourselves.

As creative people, the kind of unconditional love and support provided by family and friends is incredibly valuable. Yet there’s a difference between this, and support from someone else creative who truly empathises, through having felt similar doubts, anxieties and struggles.

There is somehow a deeper connection, even in the early stages of a relationship with another creative person, just because you both know you have the common urge (and usually NECESSITY) to create.

Anyone who's creative is in their own way on a kind of heroic journey to finding ways of expressing themselves that are unique and valuable to them, discovering the things and people in their lives that are truly important, and the ways their creative work can touch others and make a difference.

We all have successes and victories, doubts and failings, moments of inspiration and exuberance, days of apparent isolation, and desertion of thoughts and ideas. Just being in touch with other creative people, knowing that they’re going through similar experiences that we are, is a very powerful, almost unspoken, invisible connection.

Sometimes too, it's by reaching out and supporting others that we can quickly feel better ourselves. In some ways, being supportive to another is a partly selfish act. By helping other people improve their lives for the good, we also feel good. It's a simple equation.

So consider how supportive you are to other creative people you’re in touch with. In what ways do you receive support, and what’s most valuable to you? Consider how you can begin providing this more for others, however supportive you feel you are already.

This can be anything from dropping a note or short email to someone whose creative efforts you admire, just to let them know, to forming your own creative support group to regularly meet and help each other on your creative journeys.

There are dozens of way we can help others be more creative and feel they’re work is important and worthwhile. Write a list of 10 things you could do TODAY to offer support to someone else creative. Then pick at least 3 and put them into action.

One final thought. By being supportive to others, you’re also acknowledging the importance and value of creativity in the world today, and therefore validating your own creative identity and work.

And, if nothing else, remember that simple equation - Helping someone else feel good makes us feel good too.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Increase Creativity: By Developing The Curiosity Habit

As creative people, one of the simplest and most powerful things we can do to develop and maintain fulfilling creative lives is to develop positive habits.

A habit is a behaviour or pattern of actions, often done unconsciously, that we’ve developed through frequent repetition.

You may already have in your creative life a number of habits that serve you well, for example writing a journal entry each day, using positive affirmations, visiting a new place of interest once a week, or reading more about creativity each night.

The “Curiosity Habit” is one of the most useful and productive habits we can acquire to increase and support our creativity.

Being curious and having an active attitude of curiosity means we are constantly inquisitive about the world and how it works. We’re keen to question, to learn and develop and absorb all we can to help us further our knowledge.

This in turn adds to the breadth and depth of our understanding and experience, and the richness of our lives and our creative output.

Here are just some of the ways the “Curiosity Habit” can be adapted and used most effectively –

Be curious about how things work

This can be anything from mechanical objects from clocks to catapults, electronic devices like phones or speakers, parts of civilisation like road networks or community groups, to naturally occurring phenomena like how plants grow, the water cycle, or how our bodies digest food.

Develop an attitude like that of a young child, a sense of wonder of how things work and why they do the things they do. It’s all too easy to forget how many intricately detailed systems and processes, both natural and man-made, we’re surrounded by at any one time.

Be being more curious about just a few of these, we start to build the Curiosity Habit and see and appreciate everything in so much more depth, detail and richness.

Be curious about people

When you meet someone new, be curious and interested in them and what they do. Show a genuine interest by asking questions such as “What do you most enjoy about your (creative) work?”, “What are you most proud of in your life” and “What advice would you give to others about (the things they’re proud of/ successful at)?”.

As well as making the other person feel genuinely valued and important, you also gain insight into how their lives work and what matters to them. There’s no better way of learning about other people than meeting and talking with them, with an attitude of genuine curiosity and interest.

This in turn will feed your own creativity and give you no end of ideas and material for your creative projects.

Be curious about creativity itself

Look at your own creativity and notice the times when you’re most inspired and productive, and those when you feel more stuck. Be curious about the tiny nuances and details that make difference and why they do.

Learn about other people’s creativity, by talking with those you already know. Enquire about their methods, techniques and habits, be curious about what they find effective and useful in their creative lives, and why.

Find out more about some of the creative people whose work you admire, by researching their lives and their art. Visit their work wherever possible, and be curious about what it was in their lives and personalities and methods that enabled them to produce the work they did.

All of these are slightly different approaches to what is essentially the same habit, and there are many other variations to explore and discover.

Remember to be curious, ask questions, and adopt an insatiable attitude of wanting to know more, to understand and to learn.

The more you do, the more your sources of inspiration and ideas will expand, and the more enriched your own creative life and work will become.

Adopt the Curiosity Habit today and start to notice the powerful and positive impact it has on YOUR creativity.

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? Sign up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Just head over to http://www.CoachCreative.com

How Much Is Enough? Becoming At Peace With Our Creative Output

Creativity can be elusive and complex to describe, and we all have slightly different ideas of exactly what it means to us.

However, when we talk of creative people, the images that usually come to mind are those in one of the established creative professions, like a painter, writer or designer.

Anyone who is, or desires to be, creative in one of these disciplines, has a way of monitoring their productivity, measuring how much they create, and how much of this they consider worthwhile or good enough.

And guess what? Yep, virtually everyone who’s creative in this way is unhappy with the amount they create, and the level and quality of creative work they produce!

So how much IS enough? And how do we reach a point where we’re content with what we produce?

Of course this varies from person to person. One writer may be content to produce a novel over a period of three years. Another may feel they’re underperforming if they write anything less than a novel every three months.

It’s likely too that the writer producing the greater volume of work will be more content with the quality of it. The longer we spend on each creative project, the more time we have to build up pressure on ourselves to achieve “perfection”, and the more we increase the expectation of coming up with some great masterwork that will stand up alongside the work of our heroes and role models.

It’s the same in other areas of creativity, from the research scientist to the interior designer, the ballet dancer to the basket weaver, the poet to the graphic novelist.

Each strives to improve, to evolve, and each has a determined level, of both quality and quantity, that if they fall below, brings frustration and discontent and triggers a cycle of negative thinking.

To help us become more at ease with this issue of justifying our creativity, and to be gentler on ourselves as we create, remember these following tips:

1. Creativity comes in many guises

As we talked about earlier, when we mention creative people, we usually bring to mind the more obvious creative professions. Maybe too, if we’re not in one of those professions, we don’t consider ourselves genuinely creative or authentic creators?

But remember creativity starts with the way we think, and the way we subsequently act, in our day to day lives. The more we practice creativity in everything we do, the more we reinforce the idea that we are creative and then the easier it becomes to have new ideas, and to see things in new ways.

2. The immeasurable value of “groundwork” creativity

A poet may write 50 poems before she comes up with one she’s truly happy with. She may berate herself for “wasting time” on the previous 49 poems, but without writing them, she would not have reached the standard she reached with number 50.

There are many ways we can improve ourselves - reading books, taking classes, studying our idols - but ultimately the only way to become better at any creative discipline is simple to do more of it. Experiment, play, find what works for you, what excites you and what motivates to create more.

3. We choose how happy we are with our levels of creativity

Whatever you create and however much you create, ultimately, there’s only one person you have to satisfy, only one person you have to live with each day and “justify” your creativity to. And that person is you.

Until you choose to make peace with your creativity and choose to be kindly, supportive and understanding with yourself and what you create – both in terms of quality and quantity – you will always be dissatisfied. Celebrate each tiny act of creativity and remind yourself that with each one you are honouring your creativity and genuinely living a creative life.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com

Creative Day Jobs: 7 Key Reasons Why A Creative Day Job Can Be Great For YOUR Creativity

Whatever your creative talents, and however much you nurture them, the chances are, like the majority of creative people, you’re not able to make a full time living through them.

Maybe this is through not yet being in a place where you have enough exposure and opportunity to earn money from your creative work.

Maybe it’s because the work you create is not something that could be easily marketed in large enough volumes or at a high enough monetary value to enable you to live off solely.

Or maybe you’ve made the choice that your creative work is not something you wish to do for profit at all, and the experience and pleasure of creating is what’s important to you.

Whichever of these applies to you, we all have some basic needs in our lives and many of these require us to earn money.

So working in a day job that you can enjoy, is not too stressful, pays your bills each month, and gives you time to create the work that is important to you, makes a lot of sense.

Here are 7 of the top reasons why a creative day job can, more than being a financial necessity, actually be fantastic for your creativity in a variety of different ways -

1. You can generate extra funds to invest in your creativity. Whether it’s to buy materials, equipment, books, or courses, having extra income to put aside to invest in your creative efforts can make a huge difference to your development as an artist. At the simplest level, if you don’t have the equipment you need to create, you’re not going to be able to create!

2. It can be a constant source of inspiration. Working somewhere that’s busy and stimulating, such as a café, shop or school, can provide an endless source of inspiration. Once you begin to form the habit of absorbing your environment with senses hungry for creative ideas, you’ll notice your creativity is continually fed and stimulated.

3. It relieves the pressure of having to be constantly creative. However great our talents, none of us can be creative every waking hour of every day! By committing time each day/week to working in a day job, we give our creativity some time off to recuperate, and ease the expectation (mainly from ourselves) of having to produce amazing works of creativity in every single act we do.

4. You can meet a wide variety of new people. People are as interesting as you want them to be. By having a strong sense of curiosity and a desire to be genuinely interested in the lives of others, you’ll not only make friends quickly, you’ll also find life so much more interesting and stimulating yourself.

5. It increases your confidence and self-esteem. Choosing to take responsibility for yourself and your life shows strength, independence and that you care about yourself. This naturally builds up your self-esteem and leads to greater confidence in all things you do, including the creative projects you undertake.

6. You make new contacts and build networks. Depending on the creative day job you have, there are a number of opportunities to talk with people about your own creative work and share similar experiences, joys and struggles. For example if you’re a budding painter, and work in an art supplies store, it’s fairly easy to break the ice and start chatting to other artists who come in to buy similar materials to those you use.

7. You retain greater creative authenticity. Some people may see working a day job to support their creativity as a compromise in integrity or selling out in some way on the true purpose of their creative work. In fact, quite the opposite can happen. By relieving the pressure of having to make money from your creative projects, you can be freed to create the work you’re truly passionate about, without having to make any compromises.

If you have a creative day job already, which of the above do you relate to? Are there any other advantages you can add to the list?

If you’re considering finding a creative day job, maybe these reasons will help you decide whether it’s the right choice for you, and what kind of job may best suit your creative life.

Remember there’s no shame in supporting your creativity, and, as you can see from the evidence above, there’s an abundance of great benefits to be enjoyed.

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin publishes “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. To Sign up today and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, visit http://www.CoachCreative.com

Supercharge Your Creativity: The 5 Power Questions to Ask Yourself

Questions are one of the most powerful tools we have available to us. A great open-ended question can be the key to unlocking a whole undiscovered thread of ideas, reaching a fresh new insight on an old familiar issue, and understanding some part of ourselves and our creativity in a different way.

Here are 5 “Power Questions” to ask yourself to illuminate the inner workings of your creativity, and as a result give you a new level of awareness and surge of motivation.

Each question is followed by some further similar questions you can use around the same area to gain even more insight.

First, find some time and a quiet place to yourself, where you won’t be interrupted.

Before you start, pick a particular creative medium or form that really love working in and be specific in describing it. For example you might use “writing short romantic stories” rather than just “writing” or “photographing woodland wildlife” rather than simply “photography”.

Get a pencil and paper and write out the answers and ideas that come to you, prompted by the questions below.

To get the most from this exercise, be open and honest with yourself throughout. Also don’t worry about writing grammatically perfect logical sentences, just go with the thoughts that are presented and see what new insights you discover...

The 5 Power Questions

1. What do you really enjoy about creating? What in particular makes it such a pleasure? Is it the way it makes you feel, the environment you work in, the materials you use, the physical aspect, the mental aspect, the way you’re seeking to communicate with others, the sense of freedom and release? Write as descriptively as you can and get to the fine detail of what exactly it is you love about creating in this way.

2. What would you tell other people was the greatest benefit about creating? What does it do for you more than anything else, how does it enhance your life? What does creating and being creative give you that nothing else in the world can fulfil or replace?

3. Who would you be if you didn't create? How would your life be different? How would your personality be different? As a percentage, how large a part of everything you do is directly connected with your using your creativity? This questions really gets to the crux of how fundamental a part of your identity and make-up is about being an actively creative person.

4. How would you feel if you were never able to create in this way again? If you were to suddenly lose all ability and opportunity to create in the ways you love, what effect would it have on your life, your outlook, and your personality? Ask this as you are now, knowing all the benefits creativity brings you, and then it being taken away, rather than try to imagine you’d never known at all what it’s like to be creative.

5. What's your biggest motivational secret? What compels you to reach for the pen, the paints, the camera? What’s the one thing that always inspires you to create? If you could sum up why you create in one sentence what would it be? We all have deep motivations to create and recognising and tapping into them helps us create more freely and easily.

These power questions can be used for different parts of your creativity or different media you create in. We can have different attitudes and relations to different forms we work in.

Experiment with them, get to know which really push a button or unlock a vital new awareness. Then ask yourself you can use this to enhance and increase your creativity even further.

© Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin

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When I Was A Child – How The Creative Freedom of Childhood Can Help Us Increase Our Creativity Today

As creative adults, for many of us one of the most difficult aspects of creativity is allowing ourselves the freedom to experiment and to be pioneering in our own way as artists.

All too often, whether we attempt to create a new language to write in, paint new forms with different materials, invent a new genre of electronic music or just sign our signature in a different colour pen, we on some level fight against the various rules and accepted disciplines and behaviours of sensible adult life.

Sometimes even something apparently as simple as colouring over the lines in a drawing book or playing a guitar like a percussion instrument can feel distinctly uncomfortable, almost like some parental figure is watching over from above, shaking their head, furrowing their brow and sighing disapprovingly.

But surely this wasn’t always the case?

Why is it that up to a certain age, as children we’re generally encouraged to be freely expressive and creative, then when we became adults (which depending on your background was anywhere from the age of about 10 to, well, it still hasn’t happened yet…) we lost this freedom.

Worse than not creating as we wish to, we somehow feel a collective disapproval if we do ANYTHING that’s too revolutionary, radical or different from the mainstream.

And yet we know deep down that to be truly creative and indeed to be true to our creative selves, means to push our capabilities beyond what we already know, what we’ve already done and to reach beyond this towards the undiscovered and the unchartered.

So how can we break free from this stranglehold and begin to nurture once again that pure unhindered sense of creative adventure we all have at a young age?

To get you started, try this exercise –

Firstly, think back to when you were very young, around 5 years old or as early as you can remember. What did you enjoy doing most? What could you sit doing for hours on end? Notice what you did and how it made you happy, and how creative and imaginative you were when doing these things. Write them down in detail.

Now take yourself gradually forward in time to around 10 years old. As you do so, what other creative and enjoyable things come to mind? Again notice what you did and the creative elements of yourself you put to use, and write down the details.

Again now take yourself forward, to your early teens, maybe 14 or 15 years old. What sort of activities did you enjoy then? What did you love to do, what made time disappear?

At some point during this exercise, you’ll probably reach a point in time where your creativity just seemed to dry up. Something changed, somehow you didn’t feel the same kind of freedom. At whatever age this occurred, concentrate on the times before then, when you were creative and imaginative without restriction, when you created your own stories, characters and worlds without a care in the world.

Look back at what you’ve written and notice any common themes, both in what made you most happy, and the various ways that your creativity shone through.

The things you remember most vividly and most fondly, what did they bring you, what did they give you, what was important to you about them?

Finally, apply what you’ve learnt to your creative life today. How can you bring more of these things that were important to you as a child into your life now? List as many ways you can think of, however small they may be.

Now, choose THREE things from this list and put them into action TODAY...

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