Coaching Creativity by Jill Badonsky, M.Ed. Creative Mentor, Humorist, Artist, Motivational Speaker, International Author of The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard): 10 Guides to Creative Inspiration for Artists, Poets, Lovers and Other Mortals Wanting to Live a Dazzling Existence. Flying Monkey #1: Resistance to Starting (A follow up on Flying Monkeys) copyright 2004 Jill Badonsky All rights reserved

As I travel across the country facilitating workshops to the creatively eager, I ask people to share what flying monkeys stand in the way of their creative progress. This resulted in an unplanned trend analysis about what makes creative consciousness stubborn. The most common obstacles we encounter in our attempts to brilliantly wax creatively seem to be:

1. Heavy resistance to starting.

2. Creativity, ingenuity and innovation applied to procrastination and avoidance techniques rather than to writing.

3. Abandonment of ideas, thus leaving unfinished projects laying neglected and strewn about in scorned computer files, one of many notebooks or on random napkins with vague intentions to return but no concrete evidence in that direction.

4. Lack of self-confidence, low on necessary audacity.

5. "I have so many ideas that I have a hard time focusing on just one."

6. "I have a hard time focusing … period."

7. Allergies, aversions, devastation, drastic disillusionment, deep discouragement, immobilization in the face of rejection.

8. The petrifying path of perfectionism.

9. Not getting that the creative process isn’t always quick and easy and therefore giving up quickly.

As M. Scott Peck taught us in A Road Less Traveled, once we get that life is difficult, for some reason it is not so difficult. The argument that life is supposed to be easy is surrendered and acceptance follows.

Well, the same thing happens in the creative process. It seems that when creative individuals hear that they are not the only ones facing these struggles and that these obstacles do not point to some character defect, it can shift our attention from "I’m just not cut out to be a writer" to "time to activate my arsenal of solutions."

So let’s begin to build your toolbox of solutions.

This month we shall address Flying Monkey Number One:

Heavy resistance to starting.

"Between the idea and the reality falls the shadow. " TS Eliot

Almost every writer has resistance when attempting to start. An idea may come easy but the job of putting it on the page and developing it into something viable can be grueling. Even best-selling authors have a hard time working through the resistance that comes with each new project. In fact, having a record of successes with the subsequent pressure of expectations can make starting even more difficult.

The creative are a rebellious lot. When someone tells us to do something, often we don’t want to do it just because we were told to do it even if it is EXACTLY what we should do. This includes goals we set for ourselves. On the one hand, this is a necessary trait. If we were conformers we would be less likely to come up with new ideas. On the other hand, it is a nuisance because it makes starting difficult.

Additionally, creativity is intuitively based. A logical request to begin in a certain manner at a certain time can be repulsive to the part of us that loves the process of following signals from an inner direction making creativity feel so natural, flowing, and desirable. But the truth is, if we wait for that intuitive nudge every time we want to start.. we will not get much done. Often it comes when we set ourselves in motion.

Twyla Tharp in her book, The Creative Habit, describes a ritual that is unrelated to the creative process but results in creativity. It consists of waking up at five a.m., putting on her work-out clothes, and hailing a taxi to take her to where she works out. That’s where the ritual ends. Working out leads to practice and invention. A routine is easier to begin than the more abstract process of coming up with ideas. Once in motion the conditions for creativity come easier. Writers can do the same. Make a habit where the conditions are set up for creativity, then you can mindlessly fall into it and find yourself in the motion needed for creativity to flower. Ritual suggestions:

1. A walk with the idea (movement stimulates creative thought)

2. Show up at your writing station at the same time daily, write randomly with no expectation of quality .. just play. Give yourself permission to write badly … you will be surprised with what happens.

3. Break your writing time down to 15 minutes. Go longer if you want but only expect 15 minutes. Unrealistic expectations that lead to subconscious overwhelm are responsible for a majority of our creative struggles.

4. Make it fun. Start the day by having your work write to you which direction it wants to take. You must stretch your imagination to get into that frame of mind and ingenuity follows.

5. Ruthlessly commit to writing.

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