A Key to Creativity (You don't have to finish projects)
This episode is aimed to help boost your creative ideas, and give you permission to not have to finish every project. I share how this came up with a client and what happened when she shifted her perspective.
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Music Credit: Nova by River Roots - https://www.youtube.com/riverroots
Podcast Transcript
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Art and Business of Meditation podcast. I am your host, Lou Redman. I'm a meditation creator, artist, teacher, guide. I'm a life coach. I love helping people tap into their potential and I love helping up and coming meditation teachers find their path, share their art, and learn how to make an impact. After spending years figuring out how to make my way in this world, how to support myself, doing the work that I love, I bring this podcast to you as a gift. And hopefully things that I have found helpful or just hearing my stories even might help inspire, inspire your path forward. So today is a solo podcast episode. The past couple months I've been doing a lot of interviews and that's been super fun. Getting amazing guests, making connections, and hopefully giving some wisdom to you. And over the next few weeks, I'm going to get back to how this podcast started, which was mainly solo episodes around topics that I think might be helpful for you to think about, to give you permission to open your mind, to keep you going in different ways in your business, in your work, in your art. And today is going to do just that. And today is about giving ourselves the permission to start and then stop, to not feel like every idea that we need to see to completion, to let ourselves just create, to try something, to put ourselves out there. Maybe we finish it, maybe we don't, and maybe it leads us to whatever the next thing is. And I'm going to begin this episode by sharing. The inspiration was actually from a client and this client has given me permission to share a little bit about our session. I won't share her name, but she is a coach and she is someone who has lots of creativity, lots of enthusiasm. However, she had this block that she wasn't allowing herself to create or follow her enthusiasm because she was down that she might not finish it. She thought that she had to start something and finish it if she was going to start something. And what we uncovered from that, as often it is that underneath that energy was this part of her that feared disappointment. And a lot of that had to do with the energy around how her father always made her feel like there was the right way to do things and would be critical and she didn't do things the way that he thought they should be done. And so she developed this fear around getting hurt in that way, around disappointing others. And so her safety mechanism was, well, if I don't do something and then fail, I won't disappoint anyone. And so that has stifled her creativity and what we Uncovered through our coaching session was this resource that was such innate to her. That was who she was before she felt the constriction of her father and his criticism. And what that was was this enthusiasm that she had, this enthusiasm about her that she has kind of put in a box that it hasn't fit in corporate world or creative world. And so the work for her right now is really letting that enthusiasm lead wherever it wants to lead. And that might mean trying something and putting it away. And so think about this for you in your life, where might you be blocking yourself? Where might you have an idea? And you're not even starting because there's this idea that if you start, then you have to finish. And that's not always the case. That's really not always the case. I want you to start to think of creativity like a bank that we are depositing energy into. And no matter what the creative act is that if you spend an hour working on something, that you're depositing energy into your bank of creativity, and even if that thing doesn't actually come to fruition or yield any tangible results, then that even though that you spending that time is still adding to your overall bank of creative energy, it's compounding in ways that you can't see. This is how I think of meditation. This is how I think of sitting down. Sometimes meditation feels really great. And it's like, wow, I feel this really energy buzzing. I might be raising my vibration, if you want to use that language. Like it really feels like that. And sometimes it just feels like crap. And I'm in my head and it's a struggle. And it's easy to think that, well, well, you know, the good meditation is actually better for me. But I see it all as depositing energy into a bank that over time is compounding regardless of the outcome. I've been running a lot. I ran a marathon recently, so I've been using running as an analogy for so many things, but I'll use it here too. So, you know, running a race, you're continually training, you're continually showing up each day. It'll put in your miles and you might not see the light of day. You might not even get to the race necessarily. Regardless of the outcome, you, you are training, you are putting in energy. Now, maybe you would get to the race because that's the whole point of your doing it, but just hang with me here. So to help, to help you step into your creativity, to get away, thinking that it has to be a certain way or it has to get finished. I want to invite you to see it all as a practice. To see it. I've given this advice, I guess you could say, or intention in so many different areas. But to see this as a practice that no matter what you're doing, even if you don't finish it, you're practicing, that you're showing up for your craft and there's not time wasted, that that energy is going into your bank, it's getting deposited and it's investing, it's growing over time. And if you just keep showing up and depositing that energy, I promise you that things will start to grow. A great book on this is called the Practice by Seth Godin. I plan to do an episode about some books to read around this, but maybe I've already mentioned the Practice, I don't know. But great book around developing habits of creativity and letting yourself just play. And this was the big lesson for my coaching client, was to follow her enthusiasm. And so I want to invite you to do the same, to follow your enthusiasm, even if it's a little spark, to try it, see if doors open, see if it leads you down another road, let yourself pivot. That's another thing. It's sometimes we need to allow an idea to change form. We need to let it take a completely new form or a new brand or a new thing if we're feeling called in that direction. And sometimes we won't know until we just start. This podcast is an example of this. I started with this podcast, very broad. It was called Awakening to Purpose. And I'm glad I started because without that initial start, I never would have gotten to the point of, oh, you know what? My heart's really not in the Awakening to Purpose podcast. And then I had this insight around, oh, but what if I spoke to meditation teachers and creators and coaches? That really lit me up because I know exactly who I'm speaking to. And I just had all of these ideas and it's like, okay, now this podcast is pivoting to this next iteration, and I want to invite you to start and let yourself change, let yourself make mistakes, and let yourself let projects be without needing to completion. Now, of course, there's always a balance here, right? If you're someone who never completes anything, maybe you have 10,000 things started, then it might be just for your own awareness so your mind knows that you're able to complete something, right? You might get some accountability to really complete one thing. Like that might be really helpful for you to really focus on completing one thing. And so obviously this is depending where you're at. But this person I'm speaking with, right, she. She completes things, but she's not letting her start other things because she thinks that she needs to complete it. So I want to just put a bow on this, tell you to follow your enthusiasm, to not feel like you need to get it right. You make the rules. When you start a business, you are the creator of that business and it doesn't have to look like anything that you think success looks like. You get to do things exactly how you are called and inspired to do things. And that's really the beauty. That's what makes it your art, how amazing. You get to do it in the way that is most aligned to you and that doesn't have to fit into others narratives around what perfect is, not how you did them in your corporate job, not how you learn to do them in school. That you get to play and make the rules. So make it fun. It doesn't have to be long, doesn't have to be a lot. Just get on a mic, let yourself ramble like I am and maybe you, even if someone doesn't find it valuable, it's fun for you. This is fun for me to just come on here and talk about these things. So I hope you get some value out of it. That's it. I will let you go for this little mini episode around starting around, giving yourself permission to not finish and pivoting if the idea is taking a new shape. Let me know how this landed for you. Leave a review. I appreciate hearing from you knowing that you're out there. Let me know what you're working on. Send me an email. I'm giving way too many call to actions right now, so take note that oh this is what I shouldn't do if I have a podcast. Don't give 10 call to actions because that's going to confuse everyone. Alas, sometimes you listen to learn what not to do. So that's all I got to say for you. Sending you so much love and I will see you on another episode of the Art and Business of Meditation podcast. Hold on, quick note before you jump off. Maybe you already jumped off, but if you didn't, you would still be hearing my voice. In January, I have the reopening of the Meraki Meditation Creators and Coaches Mastermind. We'll have some spaces open for new members who want to to join. I have a podcast episode where we talk about this Mastermind, so go check that out if you haven't heard it and I want to invite you if it calls to you to reach out. And if you're looking for accountability, to really have the space to grow, to get the work done that you want to get done, it's going to be a great place to explore. So send me a message and, yeah, we'll see if it's a good fit and. And everything aligns. So take care and talk soon.