Next week Cynthia and I are going to record the call, probably about 45 minutes long, and make it available for free download here and over at Cynthia’s Original Impulse blog. We’re also preparing a worksheet full of coaching questions to help you take action on the challenges Seth describes in the book – again, this will be a free download.

We want to make the call and worksheet as useful as possible for you, so if you have any questions about the book or the challenges of pursuing a creative career path, please leave a comment below or zip me an e-mail and we’ll do our best to offer some useful suggestions – and questions.

If you’ve not read the book yet, here’s the basic premise:

In the linchpin economy, the winners are … the artists who give gifts. Giving a gift makes you indispensable. Inventing a gift, creating art – that is what the market seeks out, and they give us are the ones who earn our respect and attention.

(Seth Godin, Linchpin)

If you want to achieve remarkable things in your career, this is one book you won’t want to miss. To get a flavour of Linchpin, check out my piece Can Anyone Be an Artist? and the great articles Cynthia’s linked to in her post about the Linchpin call.

Here are some of the issues we’ve got pencilled in for the call — let us know if there’s something you’d like us to add to the list:

• Are you (ready to be) an artist?
• Are you indispensable? If not, what are you going to do about it?
• What’s your gift to the world?
• Are you prepared for emotional labor?
• How can you overcome the Resistance to doing your best work?

Image by digicla

This article is part two in Cynthia’s series on making feedback a positive and empowering part of the creative process, following on from How to Ask for Feedback (without it Blowing up in Your Face).

“You’re not always funny. Sometimes you go on and on and on and I just fast forward.”

This was only some of the feedback I received from a close friend. The rest of her comments about my web TV show felt like a physical blow. Her words stung me and I was no longer able to think, speak or interact properly. Our pleasant picnic was ruined and I left feeling shattered.

But I’ve been writing and making art for nearly twenty years now, and this wasn’t the first time I’ve received criticism that wasn’t kind. You’ve probably faced inept feedback as well. If you’re putting your work into the world, chances are someone has shared comments that may be well-intentioned but come across as an attack.

How to cope with feedback that is harsh, negative, or even mean? It may be difficult to unearth useful criticism when you feel that you’ve been attacked. Follow these six steps to work through it and extract something useful from the sting.

1. Set the Feedback Aside

Give yourself time to let the emotions settle. A perspective clouded by anger or disappointment will not allow for your best work. Don’t do anything right away. If I had gone and looked at my videos while I felt such a blow, it would have been an opportunity for my inner critic to unleash in a way that could have stopped me from producing my show.

2. Consider the Source

Whenever you receive feedback, consider the source. What are the person’s credentials? What beliefs or attitudes is she operating from? What’s her intention or agenda for you?

Decide whether the person giving feedback has expertise or knowledge of your field and whether you can set aside the manner of delivery to find critique that will improve your work. The friend who gave me feedback is a filmmaker so she her perspective could be useful. On the other hand, she could be judging my amateur video making from a professional perspective, holding it to a standard that I cannot achieve at this stage.

3. Process the Emotions

When you get news that your writing is wordy, or that your art is trite, or that your business idea is stupid and downright pathetic, you’re likely to slip into a downward spiral of emotions. You’ll cycle through anger, grief, remorse and despair. It will be a party for your inner critic who loves to say “I told you so. You’re not that great.” This critic will take the feedback and balloon it into something worse. A need for editing becomes the fear that I’m hopelessly boring and that the show is pathetic.

Do not bury these emotions. Give them a chance to breathe so they don’t fester and turn you bitter. Try these tactics to work through your feelings: vent to a sympathetic friend, beat a pillow, exercise to sweat it out, dance. Write it all in your journal or in a letter to the feedback giver. Writing helps to release the feelings and prevents them from circling around and around in your head. Clear your mind so you can discern what’s useful.

Connect with a trusted friend and ask to be reminded of the truth of you and your work. There’s nothing like the salve of our loved ones to soothe a bruised ego. Be sure to speak with one of your biggest fans, and let them tell you how great you are. Soak it in.

I asked another friend if it was true that my show desperately needs editing. He reminded me that not everyone will be drawn to the segments in my show. He also reminded me that even if I could improve, what I was doing already – producing a weekly video show that I taught myself how to do – was still pretty impressive. With that boost, I was able to unplug from the fear that my show was terrible.

4. Look for What’s Useful

Once you feel less emotionally charged, ask yourself these questions: What’s true about the feedback? What can I learn? You’ll know that the emotions have cleared when you are able to answer these questions without getting defensive or focusing on how angry you are at the feedback giver.

Now, when I edit my videos, I hear my friend’s voice. But I’ve deleted the loop that had the negative voice and have kept the part that makes me be more ruthless and sharp with editing. It’s a challenge, and one that I have accepted.

5. Respond to the Feedback Giver

You may want to respond to the person who let you have the brunt of her opinion. Before you do, ask yourself this question. For the sake of what do I need to respond? You may find that you simply want to attack back. You may want to let the person know that she needs to work on her feedback style. Responding may be part of helping you accept the feedback and use it.

Whether you respond is up to you. Be careful in your choice of words. Don’t continue the loop of negativity. My mom always told me, “Rise above it.” This is good advice when you feel like attacking back.

6. Keep Going

We are given feedback to further our creative work. Sometimes it may be harsh or inept. Sometimes we get glowing praise. In either case, do not let any feedback stop you. Use it to fuel your commitment to your projects. Take the feedback and use it to make your work better.

Feedback is a part of life, and an essential element of becoming an actualized creative person. You must learn to process all kinds of feedback and use it to continue on. Make use of my suggestions and let the feedback process – however stinging – become a powerful part of your creative fulfillment.

How Do You Handle Criticism?

Which of these steps work for you when you receive harsh feedback?

What steps would you add to the list?

About the Author: Certified coach Cynthia Morris provides e-books, seminars, coaching and free articles to facilitate the challenging work of creating. Juju Infusion, her web TV show about creative exuberance, can be seen on her Original Impulse Blog. Follow Cynthia on Twitter @originalimpulse.

Drawing by Hugh MacLeod

Last month I wrote a piece at Wishful Thinking called Why Artists and Creatives Have an Unfair Advantage at Internet Marketing, which generated a fair amount of buzz. So when it was my turn to be interviewed by John T. Unger for his Art Heroes Radio podcast, we took that as our cue.

Pop over to John’s place to listen to Why Artists Have an Unfair Advantage at Internet Marketing: a Conversation with Mark McGuinness. John was his usual laid-back and charming self, and we had a lot of fun talking about the opportunities for artists and creatives on the web right now – as well as the pitfalls and how to avoid them.

If you have any thoughts on the issues we discuss, please leave a comment over at Art Heroes Radio.

Image by treehouse1977

Once upon a time there was a boy named Milton H. Erickson, who lived on a farm in Wisconsin. Walking home from school one day, he and his friends were overtaken by a runaway horse with a bridle on, covered in sweat, that bolted into a farmer’s yard.

The farmer didn’t recognise the horse, and there was nothing on the saddle and bridle to identify it. The others were at a loss for what to do, but Milton took the lead, asking them to corner the horse so that he could mount it. Once in the saddle he shouted “Giddy up!” but held the reins loosely, so that the horse, not the rider, decided which way to go.

The horse trotted and galloped along, only pausing from time to time when it was distracted by a new farmyard or field. Each time, Milton pulled on the reins and encouraged him to keep moving. They took several turnings, all decided by the horse.

After about four miles, the horse turned into a farmyard and stopped. The farmer came out and stared in amazement.

“So that’s how that critter came back. Where did you find him?” I said, “About four miles from here.” “How did you know you should come here?” I said, “I didn’t know. The horse knew. All I did was keep his attention on the road.”

(Phoenix: Therapeutic Patterns of Milton H. Erickson, by David Gordon)

Years later, when Milton Erickson had achieved fame as a psychotherapist, he liked to tell this story to his students, telling them that doing therapy was a lot like riding that horse. Whatever ideas you might have about the best path for the client to follow, you stood more chance of success by tapping into the wisdom of the unconscious mind – both yours and the client’s. “You can trust the unconscious,” he used to say.

Erickson’s faith in the power of the unconscious mind led him to make extensive use of hypnosis in psychotherapy. He was also very alert to subtleties of body language and to the strange logic behind his clients’ symptoms. He saw the unconscious not as a storehouse of repressed memories and negative emotions, but a treasure-house of creativity and potential waiting to be released.

Over and over again, he encouraged his students to let go of their preconceptions – about clients, about therapy, about human nature – and to trust their unconscious mind to help clients come up with creative solutions to their problems. In this, he resembles a long line of teachers and mentors, from ancient yogis and Zen masters to the gurus of modern popular culture, such as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, Yoda in Star Wars and Tyler Durden in Fight Club.

The Buddha compared our situation to a puny rider (the conscious mind) perched on a mighty elephant (the unconscious mind); an inexperienced rider can coax and cajole, but if the elephant decides he wants to go in a different direction, there’s only going to be one winner.

I’m sure you’ve already started to connect the dots with the creative process – so often, we start off with certain ideas about how a piece of work is going to turn out. But if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves ignoring the promptings of our unconscious mind – or inspiration, instinct, Muse, bodymind or whatever else you call it – and the work suffers as a result.

If you’re too wedded to your original plotline, you may miss the dramatic opportunities that emerge as the story unfolds.

If you keep plugging away at a realistic portrait of your subject, you may not spot the dynamic patterns of colour and form you are creating, glimpses of the abstract masterpiece struggling to appear.

If you keep trying to play the character the way you’ve seen her played in other productions, you may not realise that all those ‘mistakes’ are actually nudging you towards a startlingly original interpretation of the part.

And it’s not only artists who are susceptible to this kind of ‘creative blindness’.

If you’re a business owner, you may be so convinced of the value of your current product that you fail to spot the market opportunity in the objections raised by your prospects.

If you’re a teacher, you may not realise that that ‘difficult’ student isn’t failing on purpose, she just has a different learning style to the others in your class.

If you’re an athlete, you can try so hard overcome your limitations at one sport, that you don’t see the killer advantage these very limitations could give you at a different sport.

I’m not saying there’s no value in making plans and applying what you know. You have to start somewhere.

But whenever you set out to do something extraordinary, there comes a point where, like Erickson on the horse, you have to choose between trying to control everything – or letting go and getting carried away by something bigger and more powerful than yourself.

Over to You

Have you ever succeeded by letting go of your preconceptions and allowing your instincts to take over? What happened?

Have you ever screwed something up by clinging too tightly to your original ideas?

Any tips for letting go of your conscious mind and allowing your creative instincts to take over?

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a poet, creative coach and co-founder of Lateral Action. Subscribe today to get free updates by email or RSS.

If you have a creative block you’d like some help with, tell us about it – details in the first article in the series.

There’s a moment in the movie Lost In Translation where Bob (Bill Murray) is explaining to Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) how his relationship with his wife changed after they had children. “The day they arrive,” he says, “your life, as you know it, is gone, never to return.” Whether or not that’s true of life in general, it can sometimes feel as though it applies to your creativity.

The magic ingredients of the creative process are things like focus, concentration and plenty of time to daydream, read books, watch movies, go out to theatres, galleries and other inspiring places. And these are precisely the things that are in short supply the moment you become a parent. Your little bundles of joy become the most important thing in your life, shunting everything else into second place. Once you get on the seemingly endless treadmill of feeding, changing nappies, washing clothes, shopping, school runs, helping with homework and a thousand other things, it can feel like you will never have enough focused time and energy (let alone sleep!) to create outstanding work ever again.

Here’s Shane Arthur’s response to our invitation to tell us about your creative blocks.

I have two kids. I can’t seem to get much work done anymore. I need GTD for kids creative help. Time is my block right now. I need help stealing some back for creative work. I have not done a video tutorial in about a year.

Shane Arthur, Creative Copy Challenge

I know how you feel Shane. Last night we went to bed a couple of hours later than usual (Mad Men on DVD can be pretty addictive) which inevitably meant my kids would wake up and demand their breakfast an hour early this morning. So I’m sitting here minus three hours of sleep, and somehow I need to come up with the goods for you in this article.

I’m feeling slightly hesitant about writing this piece, as I’ve been a parent for just under a year, and I know you’ve been at it a lot longer than me, so compared to you and many other Lateral Action readers, I’m a mere beginner!

I’m also aware that everyone’s circumstances are different, which makes me wary of generalising from my own limited experience. My wife and I hit the jackpot and had twins last year, which feels like being thrown in at the deep end. But when I consider the challenges faced by the single parents out there, I’m tempted to conclude we have it easy.

However, I have picked up a thing or two in the past year, from my own experience and talking to other parents, so I’ll share what I’ve learned so far with you — and I invite all the parents in our audience to please leave a comment with a tip or piece of advice based on your own experience of juggling childcare and creativity.

Stop Harking Back

Parenthood brings plenty of external obstacles to focused work, but one of the biggest barriers is in your mind. It’s frustrating enough when you can’t devote the entire day to work, but you make it much worse for yourself if you keep comparing life now with the way things used to be.

Another common pitfall is to put too much pressure on yourself to perform to the same standards under radically different conditions. If you’re responsible for childcare, even for part of the day, it’s simply not realistic to expect yourself to churn out the same quantity and quality of work as you used to. So don’t use it as a stick to beat yourself with!

As Bob said, the past is gone, never to return. You can only deal with what’s happening now. So stop comparing and pining for your old routine, and start focusing on what’s realistic and possible for you today.

And go easy on yourself — instead of berating yourself for not achieving as much as you used to, give yourself credit for being a committed parent, and see whatever work you manage to produce as a positive achievement. Paradoxically, your productivity is likely to increase when you stop putting pressure on yourself.

Find the Gaps

A few months ago I was on a panel of writers, and heard an amazing story from one of my fellow panellists, a very successful novelist. She shared her experience of being a single mother to a child with special needs, which meant she only had one hour a day to herself, while her little boy was receiving a one-to-one tutorial. The moment the tutor sat down to work with her son, she dashed upstairs and started typing furiously away at her first novel. It took her many months, but she succeeded in completing the book in an hour a day — and the book’s success launched her career as a writer.

I live just outside London, which isn’t exactly renowned for its transport infrastructure. I know lots of people who complain about commuting into town and the inefficiencies of the tube system. Not me. I hardly ever get on a train without a book or notebook, or a podcast loaded onto my iPhone. To me, travelling time is a little oasis in the day, which I can happily devote to learning or writing. I must be one of the few people in the country who sometimes takes the slow train out of choice!

However constrained your daily routine, look closely and you’ll find pockets of dead time that you can bring to life with bursts of focused work. It’s no substitute for having the whole day to yourself, but it’s amazing how much better it you’ll feel if you spend even a few minutes a day working towards your goals.

Cut the Fluff

All kinds of unnecessary fluff finds its way into our working day — frittering away time on irrelevant websites, checking e-mail, unproductive conversations and pottering about your home or office instead of knuckling down to work. Once you have kids, you realise you just don’t have time for that stuff.

Remember the novelist dashing upstairs and typing furiously the moment she got the laptop booted. I’m not quite that quick off the mark, but my morning ‘warm-up routine’ — coffee, Google reader, checking in on Twitter and my web stats — has got considerably shorter since I’ve been responsible for getting the kids up and making their breakfast before work.

Have a good look at your working day, and see how many minutes you can shave off by giving up a few digital distractions and cutting down on ‘busywork’.

Get Help

You’re probably doing this already, but I want to emphasise the point, particularly for the new parents out there. Unless you’re superhuman, you’re not going to be able to do all of this yourself. Swallow your pride and accept any offer of help you can get! And don’t be afraid to ask either.

My wife and I have established a daily childcare routine, so I know the times when I’m ‘on duty’, and can therefore focus on work the rest of the time. None of our parents live nearby, but we’ve been very grateful when they’ve come to stay for ‘working holidays’, helping out with the kids and household to give us some time off. And friends who offer to babysit are instantly canonised.

Another more subtle form of help comes from spending time with others in a similar situation. I’ll never forget going to a first birthday party a few months after our children were born. After a few months of feeling pretty isolated in our flat with the children, it made a huge difference to talk to other parents in the same boat. And the forums of the Twins and Multiple Births Association are a fantastic source of twins-related information!

Spend time with other parents, to share experiences and solutions, and offer mutual support and encouragement. Even better if you can find parents in the same line of work as you. And complement real-life meet ups with online parenting communities.

Savour Your Work

I have a friend who is a single parent working in a high-powered job. He tells me it feels like light relief to go to work on a Monday morning. I know how he feels. I love spending time with my kids and I certainly don’t have my challenges to seek at work. But it always feels like a relief — even a treat — when I close my office door, or take the stage in front of an audience, and start work.

Make the most of whatever time you get to spend on your work. And if you do find yourself harking back to the past, maybe you could remind yourself of the times you used to procrastinate, complain or waste time during your working day. Compare that to now, when you see how precious your work is. Enjoy it!

Learn from Your Kids

Children are exciting, unpredictable, full of energy, frustrating, contradictory, hilarious, fascinating, perplexing, mysterious and utterly priceless.

Does that remind you of anything?

Surely we could easily replace the words “children are” with “creativity is” and that sentence would ring just as true?

No wonder the Romantic poets believed children were the embodiment of the imagination. Maybe we should take a leaf out of the Romantics’ book and welcome the disruptive, unsettling and unforgettable intrusion of children into our neatly ordered lives, and learn to be grateful for the creative chaos and disruption they bring?

Well, I hope that’s been some help. You might also like to revisit an earlier article from the creative blocks series, How to Find Time for Creative Work, and a piece I wrote last summer called 9 Productivity Lessons from the First 2 Months of Parenthood.

And Tony Clark of the Lateral Action team has a lot more experience of parenting than I do, so I can highly recommend you check out two of his articles, Balancing Work and Family as a Home-Based Entrepreneur and The Myth of the Sleeping Baby and other Fallacies for the Work at Home Parent.

Let’s Hear from the Parents!

This is a huge challenge with no simple solutions. So if you’re a parent who has never left a comment on Lateral Action before, I’d suggest today is the perfect time for you to step out of the shadows and share some of your hard earned wisdom about getting creative things done in the midst of looking after the kids.

How do you find time for creative work as well as looking after the kids?

What creative lessons have you learned from your children?

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a poet, creative coach and co-founder of Lateral Action. Subscribe today to get free updates by email or RSS.

If you have a creative block you’d like some help with, tell us about it – details in the first article in the series.

The internet is a wonderful thing, especially for creative people looking for entertainment and new ideas. Never before have so many different sources of inspiration been so freely available. But as many of us have discovered to our cost, you can have too much of a good thing. Too many websites to visit, too many blogs to read, too many videos to watch, too much music to listen to, too many links to click on Twitter, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg… And that’s before you’ve even opened your e-mail!

Some days, it feels like your laptop is a Pandora’s Box – open it and you unleash all kinds of digital distractions, that make creative work an impossibility. Or to change the metaphor, information overload is in danger of crushing your inspiration.

This is the situation described by João Freitas, in response to our invitation to tell us about your creative blocks.

One of my creative blocks it’s the fact that i always think i’ve got to see everthing that goes on the internet, read everything, all the news, watch all the movies, know all the new music bands that are emerging, etc…

ALL, ALL, ALL

so…..

if i try this “daily actualization” i obvious don’t get much time to STOP, THINK and WORK. but i don’t know…it’s some kinda of a a magnetic force because i’m always doing the same thing.

what do you think? Can you help me? Have you ever felt the same?

thanks for this project

João Freitas

Hi João,

I’ll start with your last question: yes, I have felt the same. And I know from talking to my coaching clients that you and I are not alone – information overload is practically an epidemic right now, and presenting many of us with a big challenge. So what you’re experiencing is pretty normal. You might even say it’s an occupational hazard for 21st century creatives.

I’m reminded of a story told by Nile Rodgers, the legendary music producer:

When it comes to dealing with women I’m a super, super romantic guy. But I probably have what they call Don Juan syndrome: which is, every time I meet a girl – every single one – on some level there’s flirtation involved. I was friends with an actor by the name of Malcolm-Jamal Warner who worked on The Cosby Show. And Bill Cosby noticed that Malcolm had a wandering eye. And he pulled him aside and said to him, ‘Son, there are many, many beautiful women in this world – but you can’t have all of them.’

Then he said, ‘Once you realise that, it will give you peace.’ And it’s true.

Guardian interview with Nile Rodgers

It’s only human nature to get over-excited when presented with an abundance, whether it’s a world full of beautiful women, an all-you-can-eat buffet, or the latest cool things on the Digg homepage.

The important thing to bear in mind though, is that it’s not the abundance that’s the problem, or even the excitement – it’s getting caught up in the excitement, to the point where it becomes an obsession. This is the “magnetic force” you describe.

And you know the solution: “STOP, THINK and WORK”. But some things are easier said than done, so here are some tips to help you reduce your information overload and boost your creativity and productivity.

Give yourself some digital downtime

Every morning I spent 20 minutes either staring at the wall (sitting meditation) or walking up and down in the garden (walking meditation). It can get pretty boring. Many days, I’m tempted to skip it and fire up the laptop, especially when I’m busy or anticipating something exciting happening in my internet business. But it’s one of the most important things I do each day .

By the end of the 20 minutes I feel much more relaxed, alert and clear headed. And when I sit down at the computer, it’s much easier to avoid distractions and get down to work.

I also have a rule that I’m not allowed to use my laptop in the evenings. This keeps the last part of the day free for family: playing with my children, enjoying a meal with my wife, pottering around in the kitchen or the garden, or watching a movie. Sometimes it’s hard to drag myself away from the computer, but it’s always a relief when I finally switch it off.

I’m not saying you need to take up meditation (although here’s a good place to start if you want to). But I suggest you schedule some regular digital downtime in your day – i.e. switch off your computer and phone (and yes, that does include an iPad!) and spend time in the ‘real world’ of people and things, socialising face-to-face, exercising or doing practical tasks like washing the dishes or tidying your home.

If you really want to break the cycle of information overload, try Tim Ferris’s low information diet for a week, as described in his book The Four Hour Work Week: seven days without any newspapers, magazines, news websites, television, books or web surfing (except for essential work tasks).

Notice what’s happening

Once upon a time, a Zen student wrote to his teacher, criticizing himself for being ‘dim and dull’. Here’s the teacher’s response:

Your letter informs me that your root nature is dim and dull, so that though you make efforts to cultivate and uphold the Dhamma [i.e. the Buddha's teachings], you’ve never gotten an instance of transcendent enlightenment. The one who can recognize dim and dull is definitely not dim and dull.

(From 365 Nirvana: Here and Now, edited by Josh Baran)

I’m not a Zen master, but I’d suggest that the same thing is true for you – the fact that you can see and describe this “magnetic force” driving you to read everything you can find on the internet, means that you are not completely caught up in it.

Try to look at things from the perspective of the part of you that sees what’s happening. Get in touch with the thought or feeling that’s prompting you to let go of the magnetic force, so that you’re not carried away by it. The more digital downtime you give yourself, the easier this will be.

Schedule time for creating and consuming

As well as scheduling digital downtime in your day, set yourself times for work and times for reading, watching videos and exploring the internet. It might sound a bit rigid to organise your time in this way, but try it as an experiment. You might be surprised how good it feels.

For example, the morning is my ‘writing time’. I know that if I’m surfing the web and watching videos during that time, I’m skiving off – which makes it easier to stop. In the afternoons, I’ve got e-mail and a to-do list to get through, but as long as I deal with that, I can give myself time to read blogs and hang out on social networks. And I like to listen to podcasts while I wash the dishes in the evening. By allotting different times to different activities, you can stop them getting out of hand.

Use filters

When I started my first blog, I read loads of blogs about blogging. In the beginning it was exciting, but after a while, I realised I was struggling to keep up and felt overwhelmed. Then I gradually realised that I was learning the most from just two or three blogs, so I carried on reading them and unsubscribed from all the rest. Big relief!

Start using the 80/20 rule to filter information: make a list of the 20% of websites, blogs, people on Twitter, and other sources that send you 80% of the most interesting media content. Carry on following them – and ditch the rest for a week. Notice what a difference that makes.

Trust your network

A few years ago I read a piece by Ryan Holiday about filtering information on the web, where he made a remark that has stayed with me:

If it’s good and you miss it, it will come back to you, I promise.

This strikes me as both funny (how can he possibly guarantee that!) and true. Think of all the times you’ve come across a great blog post recommended by someone in your network – and then seen the same piece recommended by several other people over the next few days.

If you’re connected into a network of like-minded people online, you increase your chances of finding the really good stuff. Try this for an experiment: for the next few days, only click on links the second time you see them recommended by someone in your network.

Let things go

What’s the worst that will happen if you miss something? Next time you see a link that you’re really tempted to click on, sit on your hands for five minutes. Notice the temptation and resist it.

Can you let it go, close that browser window, and get started on your real work?

Over to You

How do you stop information overload crushing your creativity?

Any tips to help João STOP, THINK and WORK?

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a poet, creative coach and co-founder of Lateral Action. Subscribe today to get free updates by email or RSS.

Image courtesy of The 99 Percent

This week I published a couple of guest articles that tackle the perennial challenge for creators:

How can you find the time, focus and resourcefulness to create something extraordinary, in the midst of daily pressures and a world that seems happy to settle for mediocrity?

The Key to Creating Remarkable Things describes the simple change I made in my working habits a few years ago, which has made the biggest difference to my creative output. It’s published at The 99 Percent, a terrific online magazine for creative professionals, where I’m a regular(ish) columnist.

And if you’d like to know what Johann Sebastian Bach can teach writers, internet marketers and entrepreneurs, head over to Copyblogger.com and read The 7 Essential Steps to Creating Your Content Masterpiece.

Passion takes inspiration and turns it into something you’re proud of.

Passion motivates you in the morning and fires you up when you are immersed in your work.

Passion is an unlikely breeding ground for a creative block.

However, as an artist, writer or musician, there is a fine line at the far end of the passionate spectrum that can lead you into the realms of ‘perfection’.

Whilst passion makes you care about your work, perfection can make you unhealthily obsessed about your work.

Striving for perfection can stop you from even starting a piece. Or make you so inflexible that you hold onto ideas with a vice-like grip and miss out on valuable opportunities.

As a creative person, you have probably experienced hints of perfectionism such as:

• Procrastinating over a project because you didn’t think you could bring the masterpiece in your head to life
• Refusing to work on any other idea until the one you have is finished
• Refusing to compromise on a collaborative project because you feel your ideas are better

Whilst it’s natural to feel passionate about your work and most of us can identify with at least one of the above, too much perfectionism can find you stuck in a rut with a growing list of people no longer wanting to work with you.

If you want to break the creative block of perfectionism, the following might help.

Image by peasap

Forget the ‘Next Big Thing’ and ‘One Shot’ Syndrome

It is easy to believe that creative stars and masterpieces arrive overnight. Suddenly the next greatest album, single, band artwork or novel is everywhere you go, launching an ‘unknown’ into the limelight. As a creative person in one of those fields it’s hard not to panic. Suddenly all the progress with your work doesn’t seem to amount to anything and you start to think…

If you could only emulate that big hit, then you too could ‘make it’.

It’s natural to feel like this. It’s difficult to fight the urge to compare yourself to another writer or artist, and it can be a healthy encouragement to keep working on your art. The danger is when instead of keeping up the momentum on all your creative projects, you become fixated on that ONE idea that you’re convinced is going to catapult you into the big time.

Initially you’re excited, but then you begin to obsessively tinker and tweak, far past the point you thought it would be ready. You convince yourself that if this idea doesn’t work, then nothing will, so best make sure it is perfect before launching into the world. After ten years of working on your project, you’re up to version 23 and still no one has seen it in case they run off with your idea.

This might seem an extreme example, but ask yourself, have you ever completed a project and then repeatedly refused to send it to a magazine or show people for feedback because “It’s not ready yet”?

You may have other reasons that prevent you from doing this, such as the fear of failure, but if it’s because you’re trying to compose the absolute perfect, ultimate version of your work that cannot be improved then you have been hit by the perfection bug.

The problem with this is that a creative piece of work is like filling a bucket with water. At some point, there is a stopping point before the more you put into it just overflows and becomes wasted. The contents might change, but it does not get infinitely better the longer you play with it.

You’re still being creative, your creative juices are still flowing, but your efforts become lost on that project, so…

Put Down Another Bucket

Creative success rarely stems from one big thing in isolation. They may appear to happen overnight, but they have usually emerged from years of hard work across many different projects, with some outright flops in there for good measure.

It might be less glamorous to work on smaller steps, but your odds of success improve if you are continue to work on a number of different avenues that act as an outlet for you passion. Working on a number of projects, as long as you’re not spreading yourself too thin, is a great way to learn more about your art, meet more people who can help you, try new media and hone your skills.

Hemingway was devastated when his wife lost the manuscript to his novel, and I’m certain there was more than an “oh dear” when she told him. But it didn’t end his career. The work was lost, but his ability and passion to write hadn’t been taken with it.

If you find yourself getting frustrated with one particular piece of work, remember the passion you have for your art and try working on something else. It might be just what you need to reinvigorate ideas for your original piece, or it might show you that there is a better project waiting for your creative input.

Learn When to Hang on and When to Let Go

Refusing to budge with your input on a creative project can make any form of collaboration a miserable experience. This might be with other artists, producers or editors. However, agreeing to go along with every suggestion even if you disagree can be just as damaging. You might be remembered as someone who is easy to get on with, but who has no stamp of identity when it comes to their work. It’s important to stand by your ideas, but recognise when to stand your ground and when to let go.

I’ve met fiction writers who would never let an editor change a single word in their story. They believe they are preserving the integrity of their work, and depending on the changes asked for, they may be. However, it’s worth remembering that fiction editors are just as passionate about the magazine and have a huge amount of respect and familiarity with their audience and what they like.

It might initially feel like a big compromise to have to change your work to have it accepted, but if it is a chance to build a relationship that could benefit your long term career, or a chance to reach a new base of people who might like your work then you may have think about what is more important: the individual piece, or the opportunities presented to you.

Nothing Is Final

It’s almost impossible to work on a piece until it is perfect. You will always see something you could have done differently, or added. So it helps to imagine a standard you want to reach which is below perfection. This might be ‘great enough to submit to a magazine’ or ‘great enough to send into the local radio’.

Once you reach that standard, just tell yourself you’re going to stop working on it for now and submit it, but if you absolutely want to, you can always come back to it at any time.

Because, unless you’re just creating for your own pleasure, the final piece of the process is getting it out there for people to enjoy.

What About You?

Has your work ever suffered from trying to make it perfect?

Do you have any other methods which help you resist the temptation for perfection?

About the Author: Amy Harrison runs Harrisonamy copywriting based in Brighton. You can find further creative contemplation and copy tips for entrepreneurs at her copywriting blog or find her on Twitter at @littleunred.

We’ve all been there. Staring down the barrel of some crazy, ambitious goal, some dream, wondering how the heck we’re ever going to pull it off.

A trend I notice in my own life is a lot of amazing artists and creatives doing awesome work dreaming of someday making a living from it. We want to get started, but we’re missing a lot of important pieces. We look at everyone that’s making it and think we need what they have just to get a foot in the door.

That’s not actually true.

There are all kinds of things we could have before we start selling our art, but the reality is that we don’t actually need most of them. They’re just barriers that we put up to keep from taking a risk and doing what’s really important – actually selling our work.

Here are the top 5 things that you absolutely, positively do not need in order to sell your art (and the top 5 things you actually do need).

Image by *eddie

1. Business Cards

What I really mean when I say “business cards” is any of those standard office items that act as a barrier to getting out there and starting. This could be a printer, a fax machine, an assistant, anything besides your art, really.

Sure, eventually you’re going to need a few things, but they should come as an answer to an actual problem rather than a prerequisite for doing business. Heck, in most cases, you don’t even need a business license to get things going.

You don’t need business cards or any of that other junk, but here’s what you do need: intense focus on your art and simplicity. When you’re trying to get off the ground, you don’t need the self-inflicted resistance that comes with all the business gadgets.

Focus on creating your art and finding people who like it. That’s all that matters right now. Besides, the less you need to run your art business, the less you have to sell to keep running your art business.

2. An Art Degree

Here’s something really important that we should get out of the way. Education comes in so many different forms, and even though a classroom is a valid one, a degree is completely unnecessary if you want to start your own business and sell your art.

There are very few people outside of the corporate world who care if you have a degree and, dare I say, those people are a waste of your time and energy anyway.

Here’s what you need instead: A burning desire to learn and change.

No one who buys your art cares if you have a degree, but they do care that you have an education and an opinion about what you create and sell.

Luckily, those two things are easily attained for a lot less than the cost of tuition. If you have a hunger to learn, you’ll find all the education you need for free.

3. An Agent

Someday you may get to the point where you need someone to look out for you and help make good business deals so that you can focus on creating, napping, and taking exotic vacations.

Today is not that day. In fact, that day just might never come.

There’s nothing wrong with hiring someone to keep your best interest in mind, but always remember that no one cares as much about your art or your business as you do. Learn how to take care of your art business yourself before you outsource it.

You don’t need an agent, but you do need basic business aptitude.

Don’t worry if you haven’t got it now. There are all kinds of ways to pick it up.

The fastest is to just get out there and start doing business everywhere you can. You’ll screw up, lose money, get burned, and learn a lot of hard lessons. But if you keep at it, you’ll fail forward.

The safest way is to read every art and business blog you can, take business classes and start as small as possible.

The best way is probably somewhere in the middle. You’ve already got a great start reading Lateral Action (you smarty).

4. A Masterpiece

If there’s one thing that aspiring artists continually destroy their businesses with, it’s their own self doubt. This is a topic for a whole other discussion, but the thing to take away is that you do not need to create the world’s greatest masterpieces in order to make it as a professional artist.

There’s a market for every type of art and you don’t have to be the very best in the world to sell yours. You just have to be the best in your customer’s world. That means being the best thing available to them in their own sphere of influence.

Think of the last piece of art you paid for. Did you buy it because it was the most technically amazing piece of work you’ve seen or did you buy it because it told a story you liked?

People like art that looks good, but they buy it because it makes them feel good.

Better technique comes with more practice. Practice telling better stories and the technique (and money) will follow.

Here’s another secret the pros don’t tell you. No one paid attention to them when they started either.

People pay attention to things that their friends tell them about. When you’re starting out, your job is to be persistent and tell stories that people want to share.

5. Permission

No one can give the permission you need to sell your art. I totally understand the need for approval – I’ve been there many times myself – but it’s a dangerous rabbit hole to go down.

You see, asking for permission and waiting for approval is a carrot on a stick. Once you decide to chase it, you’re forever grasping. Every step you take is on the back of someone else’s approval and the further you go, the more of it you need.

Not a good place to be.

You don’t need permission or approval to be you and do what you do.

Without doubt, it’s the hardest thing to overcome, but the rewards for doing it are endless. You’re not good enough the day someone tells you that you are. You’re good enough when you’re tired of waiting for that day.

At this stage, skill and aptitude have nothing to do with it. Hard to believe, I know. Truth is, everyone starts out “not good enough.” Only the people that actually start end up becoming good enough.

My Confession

Here’s a little confession: I’m pretty new to the writing world, myself. I’ve got no credentials beyond my award winning book report on Oliver Twist in 10th grade and if we cross paths tomorrow, I’ll have no business card to give you.

Do I write the most beautiful prose you’ve ever read? Heck no. But every day I try to tell stories that connect with people that are like me and it seems to be working.

That’s why I’m writing this post for you. You’re not going to come find me just because I’m here, so I’m out finding you.

The most important thing you can do when you start selling your art is anything. Sure, you’ll get a lot of things wrong, but then you’ll get a lot of them right.

Think of everything you wish you could have before you get started and then imagine how you’d begin if you could never have it.

Start there.

Over to You

Can you think of anything else you don’t need to start selling your creative work?

About the Author: Tyler Tervooren helps extraordinary people improve their lives by doing really scary things at his site, Advanced Riskology. He’s currently on his own quest to join the top 1% of the world.

I’m running a couple of public workshops in London next month, so if you’re in that part of the world it would be great to see you:

Time Management for Creative People — 7 July

Manage the mundane – create the extraordinary. Essential skills to maximise your creativity and minimise your stress levels at work.

This is the workshop where I give you the inside track on my own working habits and show you how to use the same principles to turbo-charge your creative output while keeping on top of those pesky e-mails and other incoming demands. It includes the core structure I use to organise my workflow, which I’ve never published online.

Full details + booking here: http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/time-management-creativity

How to Motivate Creative People (Including Yourself) — 14 July

Motivate yourself to overcome obstacles and create amazing work – and a sustainable career.

In this session I show you how to use four powerful types of motivation to fire yourself up for work on a daily basis, even when things get tough. I also explain why the right type of motivation is critical to creative performance, and how to avoid some of the most common creativity killers.

Details and booking here: http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/motivate-create/

The workshops are designed for creative people of all descriptions — artists, creatives, freelancers, entrepreneurs, and anyone else who takes their creativity seriously.

I’ll be tailoring the workshops to the specific needs of each group – when you book your place, I’ll send you some questions about what you want to get out of it, which will help me target the issues that are most important to you.

The workshops are designed to work equally well as standalone sessions, or to complement each other if you take both. There’s also a special offer if you book both workshops together.

Places will be strictly limited to 25 per workshop and allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

Here’s the booking page (with secure payment via credit card or Paypal):

I hope you can join us!

What People Said about Last Year’s Workshops

“Clear, intelligent and genuinely useful material.”
Thomas Heath, thomasheath.tv

“This was nothing like I expected and much better than I expected. Made me look at how I work and why I work, in a completely different way. Mark has a very laid back style which is great.”
Sarah Turner, turnerink.co.uk

“The group size was just right. The distinctions worked well, and gave me a different way of thinking about motivation. The material is interesting and well presented. An enjoyable and worth-while workshop!”
David Stevens, musicforspecialneeds.com

“I liked the way the ideas for managing time were uncomplicated and realistic enough to start fitting them into your everyday life.”

“I really liked the way you related the issues of the talk with stories which you almost acted out! It was interesting relating problems which you experience yourself to other people who have succeeded – it made it seem more achievable! I really enjoyed it, a really comfortable atmosphere was created and the group seemed to get on well. Thank you!”
Candida Bradley, candipops.com

“I liked your presentation style. I think it was the first time in a long while when I actually was captured by a presentation and the content and listened to what you had to say.”
Kim Robertson

“The content was clear and can be easily applied.”
Jacob Sam-La Rose, jacobsamlarose.com

PS — If you can’t make it this time but would like to be first to know about future workshops you can join my mailing list.

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a poet, creative coach and co-founder of Lateral Action. Subscribe today to get free updates by email or RSS.