[In this series of posts that I’m calling “Your Creative Life,” I want to paint a picture of how you can become more everyday creative and how you can sustain a creative life. If this series intrigues you, you might think about becoming a creativity coach. If you’re interested in that, please visit my new certificate and diploma program or read my latest book The Coach’s Way.]
You may have never thought about the possibility of getting a grip on your own mind. I hope that you’ll seriously consider that possibility now. Here, for example, are some features of your mind that you probably always believed weren’t in your control that largely are. Want to wrest control of them back?
Are you easily distracted? Probably you think that the things that distract you simply are distractions. But “distraction” is just a word you yourself have invented for the something that has happened or that is happening. Yes, a truck has rumbled by – but that is only a distraction if you feel inclined to be distracted. Otherwise you just look up and then you return to your creative work. The fact is that, because creating is hard and because we are often secretly looking for reasons to stop, we turn our cat walking by into a “distraction” and decide that we really have to stop everything and watch her. You can change your mind about doing that.
Do you lose focus a lot and mentally wander off? Losing focus or mentally wandering off most often occurs because we don’t know what comes next in the work and as a result we get anxious. It is largely in your power to regain your focus by recognizing that you’ve gotten a little anxious and by employing some technique to reduce that experience of anxiety and talk yourself back to work. Managing creative anxiety of this sort is one of your most important tasks and I recommend that you begin to employ one or two anxiety management techniques from the more than twenty I provide in Mastering Creative Anxiety. Manage your anxiety and you will do a better job of getting a grip on your mind.
Do you feel mentally fatigued a lot? Feeling mentally fatigued isn’t exactly the same thing as feeling physically fatigued. Sometimes we’re mentally fatigued because we’ve been using our brain all day and we’ve so-to-speak used up our neurons – that’s pretty analogous to getting physically tired. But more often we get mentally fatigued as a result of feeling taxed by the work directly in front of us. That is, the work directly in front of us daunts us and its daunting nature tires us. The simple solution is to take a micro-break. Rather than straining some more and getting more mentally tired, leave the work with the intention of returning.
Do you tell yourself things like “I can’t paint today because the plumber is coming”? This is just a thought and as “just a thought” it can be disputed and dismissed. It is completely within your power to hear yourself say “I can’t paint today because the plumber is coming,” laugh out loud, and dismiss that thought with a new thought — for instance, “How ridiculous! The plumber isn’t coming for four hours! Off I go to paint!”
Do you leave your work too easily and too soon? Usually this happens because you’ve had a small, anxious feeling or a thought that doesn’t serve you, a thought like, “Gee, I don’t know what comes next.” Maybe you’ve gotten a little anxious because you’ve come to a spot in your novel where you don’t know what happens next and you don’t want to do the wrong thing. That’s a place where writers typically find a reason to leave the writing. Instead of finding such a reason, you can say to yourself, “I’m going to walk around the house ten times and then come right back here.” That’s the essence of getting a grip on your own mind.
Maybe you think that true thoughts can’t be dismissed? Or even that they shouldn’t be dismissed? Well, often they can and they should. Just because you’ve had a thought that is objectively true doesn’t mean you have to give it a second thought. You might have a thought like, “Wow, it’s hard to get a literary agent!”, which is a true enough thought – but if you give that thought a second thought and a third thought you’re likely to stop writing. If a thought like that flits through your mind, you must instantly dismiss it as not serving you, replace it with your “substitute thought” (which might be “Back to writing!” or “I’m perfectly fine!”), and get back to work.
Many other challenges that you’ve decided aren’t really in your power to fix, say for example general mental confusion, are likely much more in your control than you might imagine. Usually what is going on is that you are feeling anxious, which you must deal with using one or another anxiety management technique. You can become a much smarter, calmer thinker and a much better self-advocate if you switch your head right now and make the decision to get a grip on your own mind.
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“The Coach’s Way is possibly the finest resource available for anyone who wants to develop or enrich their coaching abilities. This new book is designed to give coaches the confidence and structure in their practice that will generate real results for their clients. Any- one who makes a living in the coaching arena will benefit from Dr. Maisel’s tremendous experience and training as a therapist, coach, and human. I’m so glad to have this book as a guide for my own coaching work and will recommend it to many others in the helping professions.”— Jacob Nordby, author of The Creative Cure: How Finding and Freeing Your Inner Artist Can Heal Your Life
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
