Hi Friend,
This is a long one. If you hate reading, you can skip it and download this free one-sheet that will help you see what you need to do next in your creative process.
I love my team at the Unleash Creativity Club. They ask me powerful questions, challenge my assumptions, and push me to be a better me and focus on what I want to create. If that sounds awesome, it’s because it is. I really appreciate the hell out of them.
QUESTIONS ARE MORE POWERFUL IN SAFE SPACES
On our last team call, our incredible Community Manager (Christine Rhee) asked me (paraphrased) “Are you staying busy creating to avoid X, Y, and Z marketing tasks?” We identified what I was avoiding, and I hired someone the next day. What a relief!
And our Tech Jedi (Erika Taguchi) asked me, “Are you doing what you want to be doing?” The answer fell out of my mouth… “No.” And she held a great space for me to reflect on what was behind that answer. Always room for more clarity on direction.
Finally, the Course Magician (Sally Khoury) did a full breakdown of where I’m telling myself a story of my own self-worth related to sharing online and why it’s worth changing. Sometimes you need someone to tell you why your own self-belief is worth it.
THE RESULT? CLARITY.
With all of the above, I realized I hadn’t really been moving forward, just moving around. I was doing a lot of things and very “busy” but more or less constantly struggled with disappointment in my own efforts and results.
If you’re familiar with the Make a Mess framework, you know that I was stuck in the CREATE phase, not emerging. I invented this framework and it STILL works for me because it’s a cycle. It can work for you too!
Clarity, and moving through this cycle, comes through action. You probably get that, but are you taking the right actions? Today I’m going to get specific so you can start to find yours.
THE PROCESS
I had all the tools for marketing myself and getting past stuck. I had years of this growth work under my belt, years in the art world (a few awards #humblebrag), years of teaching art business, and accredited coaching training, certificates, all that. I have tools, hell, I teach them.
But in reality, I was creating to keep busy and avoid certain tasks that needed to happen. I was waiting, and let’s not pretend like waiting works. I was waiting to feel ready, waiting for a “less crazy time” (parents, I see you and do understand this convenient fiction we must tell ourselves), waiting until I could really “commit some time.” All that in quotes because it’s all bullshit.
Take this newsletter as an example of a thing someone might consider creating. It’s the kind of thing you can spin your wheels on and not hit send until it’s “ready.” I didn’t use to publish weekly. I’d hit send when inspiration hit AND when I had time AND mindspace. Those stars aligned only occasionally and resulted in very few newsletters 🙂 I was writing a lot, creating is good! For a time I wrote every day! I kept a digital notebook and in the morning would just write down ideas, partial stories, even full newsletters.
But I rarely sent them. → I was in action AND wheel spinning.
Then three frameworks came together and a switch flipped. They are:
- A Theory of Change
6 levels where change is activated
You decide where you start. - The Formula for Change
3 ingredients to overcome resistance.
You determine which you have and which you need. - The Make a Mess Framework
The creative process.
How to see where you are and decide clearly the next move.
It applies here because I knew what I wanted to do and was “doing it” but not stepping into the uncomfortable space of actually completing it.
THE RESULT
Once I saw how these frameworks activate and support each other, well, since the end of last year I have hit send every week or more and can #humblebrag an average open rate of 49.5%. Thank YOU to everyone who reads, it does feel good.
HOW DOES THIS HELP YOU, TODAY?
- YOU can use these frameworks to create anything, anywhere in your life.
- There’s a worksheet at the bottom of this email to get you started.
- And I’m teaching these frameworks in a self-paced course coming out later this month.
I promise I’ll let you know when 😉
With these three frameworks, you can have
- CLARITY on your next meaningful action
- CLARITY on what you need to get past resistance
- CLARITY on how to move to the next stage of the creative process
- Oh, and a whole lot of CONFIDENCE. Knowing things can do that.
Clarity and confidence doesn’t roll out the red carpet for you. You have to show up, and step inside. Showing up IS a strong start. For me, showing up meant hitting send. I bet you can imagine how many times I did NOT want to do this, and did anyway. (Narrator: almost every time)
What can you get from understanding these frameworks?
The results for me include more success for my business, more confidence, better writing, more conversations and connections with many of you on this list, more understanding of how my creativity works.
If you want more direction and meaningful action, it’s easier when you know which level of change to work on, which ingredient to fit in there, and which stage you are in the Make a Mess framework.
All of that is why I made Make a Mess, Make it Matter — a self-paced 6-day training for anyone who’s tired of circling the runway and ready to take off.
In the training there are
- A deep look at each of the three key frameworks, and how to fit them together
- Videos that meet you where you are and take you further
- Identity work that pulls you forward
- Tiny actions, big energy
- No pressure, just movement
We are building the course pages now, but if you want a quick taste, this is a worksheet to help you understand which phase of the Make a mess framework you are in. It included a fun exercise to see how your activities map onto the framework.
This is a direct download link, no forms.