If you love writing, drawing, composing, designing, or any other creative activity, you might have started out doing it simply for the pleasure of creating. Once you start looking beyond that – to building an audience, and even making money from your art – a lack of confidence can be crippling.

Low confidence might be pretty obvious, when you keep thinking “I’m not good enough” or “No-one will want to read/view/listen to this”. But it might also feel like a deep-seated Resistance to create, or constant procrastination when it comes to putting your work out there in the world.

I work with a lot of writers, both in one-to-one and group situations. Some of those writers have huge amounts of talent … but very little confidence. I always want to wave a magic wand and open their eyes to their own skills and abilities. Sadly, I can’t do that for them, or for you. But I can offer you seven powerful ways to grow your confidence.

Photo by Yuri Arcurs via BigStock

1. Show your work to a professional

This might seem like a scary one to start off with … but it’s one of the best ways I know to get a reality check on your writing. If you’ve got any sort of contact with professionals in your field, find someone (preferably someone known for their kindness rather than their brutal put-downs!) and ask them to take a look at a small piece of your work. Ask for their honest opinion. Is it at a publishable or produceable standard? Do they see any key strengths in the work – or any weaknesses that could be improved?

You’re unlikely to get feedback telling you that your work is pure brilliance. But you may be surprised to find it’s better than you think. And hopefully you’ll get some suggestions for areas that need a little more development: this helps build your confidence by giving you clear and specific ways to grow.

2. Enter competitions

Whatever your preferred medium – words, pixels, paint, notes – you’ll find plenty of competitions to enter. Even if you don’t get as far as the short-list, simply the act of entering can help build your confidence: you’ll have a clear deadline and, often, some sort of subject matter to help you think inside the box.

If you do manage to get placed in a competition, it’s a huge confidence boost. You might not walk away with first prize – but a second or third prize, or your name on the shortlist, is a clear indication that your work has real merit.

3. Don’t rush your process

If you’re pressuring yourself to get your creative work out there as quickly as possible, then you may be uncomfortably aware that it’s not as good as it could be. Perhaps you’ve had some disappointing feedback, or you simply feel that you’re not very proud of your work.

Taking a little extra time at each stage of the process means you’ll at least be able to have confidence that you’ve done a good job. That might mean allowing more time for planning or research at the start of a new project – especially if you tend to jump at new ideas, only to give up when they prove more difficult than you expected. It could mean giving yourself time to create plenty of rough sketches of a planned painting, or to edit your first few drafts of a short story.

4. Get paid for creative work

Although money might not be your first goal as an artist, getting paid for your work can give you real confidence. Even if you’re not getting paid for your ‘real’ creative project – so you’re writing magazine articles, say, instead of a novel – you’ll still know that your fundamental skills are good enough that someone wants to pay you for them.

There are all sorts of different ways to get paid for something you’ve created. You could work as a freelancer, producing designs or jingles or articles to order. You could create a micro-product to sell online. You could run an event, and sell tickets. Don’t fall for the lie that ‘there’s no money in art’ – find a way to make it work.

5. Take a course or class

Although I’ve had a lot of writing-related education over the past few years (including formal degrees and more informal courses), I still attend conferences and classes on a regular basis, particularly for my fiction-writing. Yes, I’m now pretty confident with all the fundamentals – like creating engaging characters, writing dialogue, and setting a scene – but I find that it’s often good to have a reminder of the things that I should know but occasionally forget.

If you want to learn something new in your field, or if you just want a bit more reassurance that you do already know the basics, a course or class should help. That doesn’t need to be anything expensive or time consuming: you might be able to find a simple day course or a series of evening classes in your area, or you could look for an online program to join.

6. Track your progress

When you’re in the trenches with your creative work, it can be hard to think back or think ahead. In the moment, you might be struggling with an aspect of your work-in-progress – and you may fear that you’ll never get it right.

By tracking your progress over time, you can easily look back and see how far you’ve come. You might want to list specific achievements, especially any “firsts” – like the first time you entered a competition, or the first time you showed your work to someone who wasn’t a family member or close friend. You could also record your feelings at different stages of a project (you might realise, for instance, that you inevitably go through a period of doubt at the almost mid-way stage, before everything gets much easier).

7. Push yourself to try new things

Finally, keep on trying new things. Yes, this can be terrifying – but successfully getting through a new challenge is a great way to grow your skills and your confidence. You won’t be perfect first time (no-one is), but you probably will realise that it wasn’t as bad as you were expecting.

This could mean trying a new area within your current field of creative work (perhaps writing poetry as well as short stories) or it could mean experimenting with a new form of creativity. I’ve started working with video and audio in my online teaching materials; it was really tough at first, but now I feel much more confident with using new mediums, and I also know that if I can get through the initial discomfort and fear, things will always get easier.

I know that none of these tips are easy. If there was a quick, painless fix for lack of confidence, none of us would have any problems! But by taking a step forward – even when it’s scary – you will find that you gain the confidence you need to progress with your creative work.

Over to you

Which of these tips resonate most strongly for you?

What has given your creative confidence the biggest boost to date?

Any other tips you’d like to share?

About the Author: Ali Luke is currently on a virtual book tour for her novel Lycopolis, a fast-paced supernatural thriller centred on a group of online roleplayers who summon a demon into their game … and into the world. Described by readers as “a fast and furious, addictive piece of escapism” and “absolutely gripping”, Lycopolis is available in print and ebook form. Find out more at Lycopolis.co.uk.

On the one hand, it’s amazing to have so much media and so many gadgets and connections at our fingertips – news, sports, weather, blog feeds, photos, videos, music, calculators, voice recognition, encyclopedias, dictionaries, rhyming dictionaries, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn… and of course, email.

On the other hand, these things are fiendishly addictive, so it can be a bit wearing to have so much media and so many gadgets and connections at our fingertips. Especially email.

Photo by inottawa

If you’re not careful, you can end up repeatedly checking social networks, email and news feeds. At the weekend. At three in the morning. In bed! And feeling seriously frazzled as a result.

So assuming you’re not about to put your brand-new iPhone on Freecycle, how can you get the pros without the cons? Here are some tips from my own experience, and from working with coaching clients – feel free to add your own in the comments.

Notice how it affects you

Don’t follow the tips in this article just because I say so – pay attention to your own experience, and notice whether they make a positive difference for you.

Begin by noticing how you are currently using your smartphone, and how this makes you feel.

Do you find yourself checking it compulsively, without any clear intention of what you want from it?

If so, how does this make you feel?

Do you take it out automatically to kill time while travelling or waiting?

Is it the last thing you touch at night, and the first thing you touch in the morning?

Do you get fidgety without your phone?

When was the last time you spent several hours – or even days – without touching your phone? How did you feel?

Has anyone ever called you out for playing with your phone instead of paying attention to them?

If you’re comfortable with the answers to all of these questions, there’s no need to read the rest of this article.

But if you feel like your phone is starting to take over your life, and you’d like to set some boundaries, experiment with the following tips – and notice how they make you feel. Pay particular attention to the sensations in your body – they are a much better guide to what’s good for you than ideas in your head (or tips in a blog post).

Disable email on your phone

One reason I resisted getting an iPhone for so long was I didn’t want to find myself checking email at weekends or evenings, and start bringing work issues into time with friends and family. But eventually I decided the benefits outweighed the risk, and resolved to use my willpower to stop checking email outside of working hours.

I’m sure you can guess how successful that was.

As usual with willpower, it worked fine for a short while, or when I wasn’t waiting for any particularly exciting or important news. Or until I got tired or distracted and found my thumb automatically pressing the magic email button.

It only takes a moment to check your email. And it only takes one email with an unexpected problem to spoil a nice afternoon out. The last straw was the night I found myself checking my email as I was getting into bed, and downloading a problem that kept me awake for several hours.

Then I found freedom from portable email.

Disable the email account on your phone. Don’t delete it entirely – just disable it. On the iPhone, I need to flip through five different screens before I get to the ‘Mail – on/off’ button. That means it’s impossible for me to check it on impulse – I have to go through the slightly clunky and annoying process of switching on the email account first. I can still access email if it’s important, but this little barrier makes me think twice before doing it.

The instant I did disabled the email account, my body breathed a sigh of relief. No prizes for guessing what it was telling me.

Don’t use it in social situations

You know how annoying it is when someone is right in front of you, but miles away, talking to their inbox, or Twitter, or whoever. You’ve noticed their anxious, fidgety movements, and felt mild pity for them.

Don’t be that person. Pay attention to the people around you. Look them in the eye and smile. Notice how much better that feels.

Put it in another room

If you find yourself constantly fiddling with your phone at home in the evenings, or in the office when you’re supposed to be working, then put some distance between you and temptation.

Put the phone in another room. If you’re nervous about missing an important call, turn the volume up and leave the door open.

If you find yourself twitchy and reaching for the phone, this is a sure sign that you are doing exactly the right thing by leaving the phone alone. Give it 20 minutes, and the fidgeting will probably disappear – and you’ll feel much calmer.

Never check email in bed

Your bed should be a sacred space, for sleeping, relaxing or other pleasurable pursuits. When your head hits the pillow you want to feel calm, secure and serene.

So why on earth would you want to suddenly download an email from your boss/client/that jerk from accounts, telling you about a work-related problem? Because every time you touch the magic email button, that’s the risk you take.

Do this too often, and your unconscious mind will start to associate the bed with email, customer service complaints, next quarter’s financial projections, offers to put you on the front page of Google and all the other gunk that lands in your inbox. If that happens, where are you going to go for a good night’s sleep?

Get an alarm clock

If you can’t keep your hands off your phone while you’re in bed, then switch it off at night and put it at the opposite end of the house/apartment to your bedroom.

Worried about not waking up on time in the mornings? Get an alarm clock. Or a rooster. Or have children.

Have something decent to read

If your smartphone media diet consists mainly of Facebook, Angry Birds, the news or other trivial pursuits, get yourself an eReader app and load it up with some good books.

Personally I love my Kindle iPhone app, which syncs perfectly with the Kindle itself. So if I’m on the Tube or in a waiting room, I always have something great to read in my pocket. Not only is it more productive than Twitter, it gives me a feeling of pleasurable absorption, instead of low-grade anxiety – the acid test.

How do you tame your smartphone?

Do you ever feel your smartphone is taking over your life?

If so, what are you doing about it?

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a creative business coach and the co-author of the Creative Money Manual, a plain English guide to money matters for creative entrepreneurs – on sale price for a few days here.

Image by Radhika Bhagwat

Are you spending the majority of your time keeping up with business-related tasks rather than creating?

Are you lacking the passion you once felt for your business?

Is your creative time continually being pushed to the back burner?

If you answered ‘yes’ to the above questions, I’m guessing you’re feeling a bit stretched with all the things you need to be doing.

Growing a business is tough. For most of us, left-brained business growth activities begin to take over and right-brained creative activities begin to feel hurried and expected rather than free and relaxed like they should.

So if your business is drowning your creativity, I’ve got a solution that will dry you out and get those creative fires burning bright again.

You’re Trying To Do Too Much

You know it takes a lot of hard work to build a business. There are so many routine tasks you have to keep up with, like bookkeeping and marketing, but it’s also important to keep your passion front and center, always in your line of sight, so you don’t neglect the reason you started your business in the first place.

Yes, there’s never a lack of things to do if you’re trying to grow your business, but if you overwhelm yourself, the time you should be investing in your craft, your art, or your writing may become limited.

Healthy time management skills are important when it comes to being your own boss and growing a business. It’s important to keep in mind the fact that every new task you take on requires your time – which means your time will be taken away from something else.

You’ve Got Your Priorities Mixed Up

If you’re spending more time on marketing your products than actually making them, developing new products, or honing in on your creative skills, chances are you’ve got your priorities out-of-whack. Your products are what your business is built around you know. They need to be at the top of your ‘important’ list.

Yes, marketing is also a very important part of your business. You have to get your products in front of your ideal customer, but if your product isn’t in tip-top shape, then your marketing efforts will be in vain.

If you’ve put other business-related tasks at the top of your priority list, it’s time for some evaluation and rearranging.

The Solution: Plan for Creativity

Think about how much time you spend a week working on the actual products you sell. Now compare that to the amount of time you spend on other business-related tasks. Are you happy with that number?

If your answer is no, then you need to increase the time you spend on your craft by planning some creative time into your daily or weekly routine.

Now I know a lot of you may be thinking, “What! Plan for creative time? That’s too confining.”

Well, let me explain.

What you’re doing now… neglecting this time until you’re behind and you have to do it… that’s confining. That isn’t going to give you the freedom or the results you want in your business. Planning out creative time on the other hand is very freeing in the fact that this is your time to not worry about anything else, but to concentrate 100% on what you love to do.

So really it’s not as confining as you think. In a sense it’s very freeing.

Scheduling and Protecting Your Creative Time

Once you realize that you actually need to set aside time to create, you need to look over your current schedule – see where you can include this time. Do you need it every day? Do you need it once a week? Maybe twice a week?

When you decide how often you want it and for how long, you need to actually write it down so you don’t forget about it. You’re busy and things are easy to forget, but this is now a priority and you need to remember it.

Now that you have it scheduled, the difficult part is going to be protecting that time and not letting other things creep in and take it over. This is where determination, discipline and will-power come in.

We all have times where we’re not very motivated to do what we need to, but we can overcome that if we keep ourselves accountable.

How about including a weekly or monthly blog post about your new creative time? Talk about what you’re making, your ideas for new products, give a peek inside your studio or notebook, or share what having this time is teaching you. Your readers will love having an inside glimpse into your creative mind.

You could even try posting a full year’s calender in your studio and each day you complete your creative time you can make a mark on your calender to keep track of your progress. Reward yourself with a small treat for every month where you complete your goal. Once you get to the end of the year, celebrate by doing something special for yourself. Come on! You deserve it!

It may take some work at first, sticking with your creative time, especially if you’ve taken on too many other tasks that you’ve deemed ‘important’, but stick with it and over time it will become less like work. It will end up being something that you look forward to and your business will benefit from it immensely.

Long Story Short

You started a creative business, remember? You need time to be creative and if you’ve lost that time because of other tasks that have gotten in the way, it’s time to get your priorities back in line. Finding a time that works for you, scheduling it, and sticking to it can be very rewarding for you and your business – and that in itself can be one of the best things you do to help your business grow.

You and Your Creative Time

How do you get back to your creative space when too much ‘business’ has crept in?

What difference does it make to you personally when you carve out time for creativity

Have you noticed any business benefits from doing this?

About the Author: Meagan Visser is a creative business owner and coach who helps moms learn how to successfully start and grow a creative business around their families. She’s the creator of Creative Business Marketing 101 – a 7 day e-course designed to help creatives get their marketing back on track. Connect with her at MeaganVisser.com and on Facebook.

“I discovered at an early age that all I’ve ever wanted to do is design”

Jonathan Ive in his New Year Honours press release

(Image by David Blackwell)

It makes me want to puke.

On reading this you will have had one of two reactions – you’ll either have nodded along because you, too, have always known what you wanted to do and discovered it early.

Or it edged you closer to despair because finding your passion is like playing hunt-the-thimble in a game rigged by a particularly perverse game master.

Guess what? Yet another post from a celebrity who effortlessly discovered their passion and went on to pursue it with great success. You could be forgiven for wondering whether you missed out on the ‘passion-finding gene’. And you’re not alone.

All the evidence shows that people who know what they want are more likely to get what they want. After all, if you don’t know what you want, you will end up working for someone who does. Without your own agenda you will spend the best part of your youth and energy delivering someone else’s agenda.

What also seems true is people who do manage to know what they want possess a kind of ‘inner compass’ allowing them to make decisions and change their circumstances to move nearer to it.

Why then is it so rare?

There are myriad goal-setting books on the market and an equal number of goal-setting systems, each with its own fans. Much of this ignores the plain truth – most people, when you ask them, don’t know what they want. Goals, beyond a daily to-do list, are a hazy concept for most. An even greater mass of people have not made it as far as using an effective to-do list.

For all the talk of outcome orientation there is very little of it out there. We are drowning in advice and yet, aside from a tiny minority, most people don’t set goals and this year will pass pretty much like last year.

I have always found this fascinating. There appears to be a complete disconnection between the standard self-help, personal improvement, creativity mantra (I call it ‘Knowing and Going’) and the daily reality of working with clients who remain not only clueless but stuck because they are unable to work it out.

Test it for yourself. Next time you start a meeting try asking people why they are there and what they want to walk away with? Watch as they duck and run for cover. Hard to believe I know, but most folk who trundle along to meetings do not know why they are there and cannot say what they want to leave with.

If something is not yet done it comes down to one of two problems:

• Either you know what you want but don’t know how to get it
• Or, you don’t know what you want

It’s people with the first problem who are writing and reading all those articles and books on success and change. They more or less know what they want but need a tool, technique or advice to help them get it. These folk seem unaware they are part of a very small group. They also assume the second problem is easy – you just think of it and then go for it. You know and go.

This is all fine, until you begin talking to people with the second problem. That’s when you find it’s a real problem and for many it strangles change at birth. There is almost nothing out there to help these folk.

Unfortunately the people writing all those self-help/productivity/creativity blogs don’t understand this. They assume all you have to do is ‘work out what you want’ or ‘know what you want’ and you can skip to the next step in their pet system. But what if you don’t? What if you can’t get past step one because nothing you think of seems to ignite your passion?

Is any of this familiar?

• You know what you don’t want but struggle to be clear about what you do want.
• You could do almost anything but you end up doing almost nothing because you lack the certainty to pick something.
• You don’t like where you are but can’t figure out where you should be.
• You know you are holding yourself back but you are not sure from what.
• You have let others make the bigger decisions about your life; you suspect you might be coasting.
• You carry around a vague but pressing feeling there is something else for you, if only you could know what it is.
• When asked what you want, your mind goes blank or your heart starts racing. It scares you.
• You’re facing a big decision and you don’t know what to do, or you have a feeling you might know but are afraid of the answer.
• You’re scared of making the changes you know you could be making.
• Somehow, you know your life would be different if only you could work out what you wanted.

Congratulations, you have the second problem – you can’t ‘go’ because you don’t ‘know’.

I’ve spent years helping clients get past this and collecting tools to help with just the first step – working out what you really want. Last year, I put the best of them into a book, First, Know What You Want – Why Goals Don’t Work and How to Make Them. Inside you’ll find twelve practical experiments in finding your ‘inner compass’, whether you’re the analytical type or more intuitive. And some bonus tips on using these techniques with others.

Here are a couple to get you started:

1. Start with What You DON’T Want

Unless you are a highly motivated, goal-seeking machine who uses positive language all the time, the chances are you spend at least some of the time thinking about things you don’t like and don’t want. Some of us are really good at this, so good that when someone asks What do you want? it takes us by surprise and we get a bit flustered.

Make it easy for yourself and start where you are – with what you don’t want. Pick something right now that you don’t want in your job, career, future, art, or relationship. Got something? Now ask What do I want, instead?

What you want is not always the opposite of what you don’t want:

I don’t want to breathe recycled air all day.

What do you want instead?

I’ve always wanted to work near the sea or I’d like to be hotter during the day or whatever that little ‘instead’ unlocks for you.

If What do you want? is the most powerful question you can ask, What do you want, instead? is probably the second most powerful question.

First you go with your natural focus – the moan, the irritation, the thing you don’t like. Then ask yourself What do I want [pause] instead? To answer you will have to glance in some other direction, searching around until you find an alternative.

2. Stop Thinking and Come to Your Senses

Instead of using your head to tease out what you want, why not ask your senses? They have a pretty good idea of what pleases them, but they talk slowly, like your uncle who takes forever to get to the point.

Often we numb or ignore our senses because we are moving through our lives too fast and it is annoying to have to slow down and pay attention to them. It is a bit like taking a toddler for a walk. The little one keeps wanting to go in different directions and stopping to investigate interesting things.

Hurry up, hurry up you cry to your senses, pulling on the leash. It’s no wonder they stop talking to you after a while. In your senses lie some powerful clues about what you want.

Mike came to see me facing a job change and uncertain about what he wanted next. After getting nowhere for a while I asked him what his favourite smell was. He thought for a moment. “It’s my daughter’s hair, just after she has had a bath and is having a bedtime drink.”

When I asked him how often he got to enjoy that smell and how he could enjoy it more, he began to well up. “I’ve been so busy with work in the last few months I can’t remember the last time.”

What’s your favourite smell? was enough to help Mike get to the heart of what he wanted from work and family. Could your senses help you gain some clarity too?

What do you enjoy looking at?

What would you love to hear more of?

What do you like to touch (or be touched by)?

What do you love to taste?

And your favourite smell? Could it contain a clue about what you want?

We have somehow confused adulthood with having less physical pleasure in our working day but it’s totally OK to devise a life that pleasures your senses (in case you were wondering).

If nothing else is working why not stop thinking and come to your senses?

What Else Do You Want to Know about Goal-Setting?

With Mark’s permission I’ll come back and share some other tips for knowing what you want. Let me know in the comments whether you want to hear more.

If you have discovered what you really wanted, what was the secret, the trigger point for you? Please share.

If you are yet to find your inner compass, let me know whether some tips would be helpful.

About the Author: Andrew Halfacre is a coach with years of experience helping people discover what they really want. Visit FirstKnowWhatYouWant.com to download your free ‘First Know Journal’, a 40-page PDF of all the exercises from the book. And get the book as well on Amazon: First, Know What You Want.

Drawing by Hugh MacLeod

The tortured artist is one of the great cliches of creativity. And like all cliches, it contains a grain of truth.

Look at the work of any truly great artist, and you will find suffering is one of the big themes – whether it’s the everyday misery of poverty (Dickens), the pain of unrequited love (Petrarch), the atrocity of war (Picasso), the inhumanity of bureaucracy (Kafka), the pathos of passing time (Hardy), despair in the face of death (Tolstoy), or sheer existential anguish (Plath, Munch).

Even apparently trivial forms of popular entertainment, like the cinema and pop music, have produced masterpieces of suffering, like Bowie‘s Low, Joy Division‘s Closer, or just about anything by Kenji Mizoguchi or Leonard Cohen.

Is this surprising?

Not if you think the Buddha had a point when he said suffering is an integral part of life – and if you agree with Hamlet that art should hold “the mirror up to nature”. So if you want to be a great artist, sooner or later, you’re going to have to deal with suffering.

There are two ways to do this: in your life and in your work.

Firstly, when you encounter suffering in your own life, don’t shy away from it. Look it in the eye. Even in the midst of a disappointment, a betrayal, an illness, a broken heart, or even a bereavement, there should be a part of you that observes and pays attention. That thinks “so this is what it is like” – and remembers.

Graham Greene said “there is a splinter of ice in the heart of a writer” that forces him or her to look when others look away. To make notes. To record and tell the story.

Secondly, when you’re working and you come up against a creative block, ask yourself whether you are shying away from dealing with painful emotions or experience. If so, then the challenge is to stick with it – to stay with the pain, the suffering, the embarrassment, whatever it is – until you make a breakthrough.

Of course this risky and scary. And when you try to deal with a big theme like suffering, it’s so much harder to maintain high standards of artistry. You can be so overwhelmed by the subject matter that your craftsmanship suffers. There’s a dangers of becoming sentimental or ridiculous.

But great artists don’t become great artists by playing it safe.

And How Not to Do It

Everything I’ve written so far has been about what I would call genuine suffering – the kind of suffering that’s part of life itself, which no true artist can avoid.

But there is also another kind of suffering, that’s all too familiar to those of us of the artistic persuasion (and our friends and family).

This is the kind of self-pitying, self-dramatising, maudlin ‘suffering’ that gives artists a bad name.

It’s the kind of suffering that makes us tell ourselves there has never been a more sensitive, talented, unlucky and unjustly ignored creator than us.

It’s the kind of suffering that sends us to bed (or to the bar) for three days when we get a bad review, or when we are passed over for an award, or when we receive some other slight to our professional pride.

It’s the kind of suffering that makes us moan and whinge and bitch to our partner, best friend, family, blog readers and/or Twitter followers, until their patience is stretched to breaking point.

This kind of suffering should alert us to the fact our old friend the Inner Whining Artist is on the prowl again – and it’s time to tell him/her/it to leave us alone so we can get on with our work.

Let’s face it, we all indulge in this kind of suffering from time to time. Some days, it’s hard to separate the two types of suffering. But it’s essential that we keep trying.

If we’re serious about making real art, that is.

How about you?

Do you recognise the two types of suffering for your art?

How do you get yourself to face up to the first kind?

How do you stop yourself from indulging in the second kind?

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a Coach for Artists, Creatives and Entrepreneurs. For a free 26-week guide to success as a creative professional, sign up for Mark’s course The Creative Pathfinder. And for bite-sized inspiration, add Mark on Google+.

When the iPad was launched, amid all the huzzahs and hoopla, there were a few murmurs of discontent from the creative community.

“Sure, it looks slick, but you can’t make anything with it.”

“If this isn’t ‘lean back’ media, I don’t know what is.”

‘Lean back’, of course, was a reference to Jakob Nielsen’s well-known distinction between television (‘lean back’ = passive consumption) and the Web (‘lean forward’ = active creation).

So criticisms of the iPad as a ‘lean back’ device were effectively suggesting that Apple was selling out – abandoning its traditional role as the creator of computers for creators, and pandering to the masses, by giving the couch potatoes the ultimate couch surfing device.

Now that the tablet wars are hotting up, the iPad is no longer the only game in tablet town, with the proliferation of different sizes and flavours of Kindle. (Here the line between ‘tablet’ and ‘e-reader’ gets blurred, but the essential form and function – a flat screen for consuming rather than producing media – is the same.)

There’s even a $35 ‘Made in India’ tablet – the Aakash – which is being developed to take tablet computing to people who could never contemplate buying an iPad:

The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide.

Kapil Sibbal, Telecom and Education Minister, India

It looks as though these things are going to be as common as phones, as common as books.

Everywhere you look, people will be surfing, reading, watching, listening: email, websites, books, videos, music; in bed, on the sofa, on the train, on the loo, underwater and in outer space.

So the question posed for creators by the launch of the iPad is only going to get more pressing:

Are these just shiny new objects, distracting us from our real work of creating something meaningful? Or do they offer us something distinctive and valuable, that can help us realise our creative ambitions in new ways?

I’m going to suggest the latter, for two reasons – one of them about you as a creator, the other about your audience.

1. Consumption Is Part of Creation

Since I got a Kindle, I’ve been buying and reading a lot more books: poetry, novels, memoirs, biographies. Books about business, creativity, languages, cultures and social networks. Shakespeare, Milton, H.P. Lovecraft, R.L. Stevenson, David Bowie, Derek Sivers and Chris Brogan.

I’ve spent less time skimming ephemera from the web, and more time reading genuinely thoughtful, fascinating and stimulating writing.

I’ve also taken the time to read some PDF e-books that have been kicking around my ‘to read’ folder for a while. When I’m at the laptop, I’m busy writing, making things and interacting with other people via email and social networks. There’s always something to do, so there’s never time to sit and read a 50 page e-book at the desk.

But reading on the sofa, or a train or plane, is a completely different experience. I have time to slow down and read, not just skim. I’m not in a hurry. I can make notes on the device, and come back to them later. I’m learning a lot. Getting plenty of new ideas.

The iPad has a similar effect, even if you’re just surfing the web. Reading in your leisure time, when you have time to relax, reflect and absorb, is very different to skimming something at work, when you feel like you should really be doing something else.

Is all of this good for creativity? Of course. Because consumption is part of creation.

Garbage in, garbage out. You can’t produce amazing stuff, unless you’re consuming amazing stuff. And a ‘lean back’ tablet will help you do just that.

2. Your Potential Audience Is Growing Exponentially

So tablet computers are making it easier for us to consume digital media, in places more conducive to reading/watching/listening than a work desk. Which is great for creating – but the implications for publishing are even more exciting …

A few years ago, if you were self-publishing digital content – via a blog, newsletter, podcasts, YouTube videos etc – your audience was mainly restricted to geeks.

These days, when the internet has gone mainstream, you can reach a lot more ‘normal’ people (especially if you offer an email subscription as well as RSS). But you’re still reaching them at work, when their attention is divided.

Or maybe on their smart phone, on the commute. But when they get home, they are likely to ditch the small screen for the 30 inch plasma that dominates their living room.

But now there’s a new species in the domestic digital ecosystem. It’s small and unassuming – a mere furry rodent compared to big beasts like the home cinema, hi-fi stack or games console – but it represents a huge opportunity for creators.

Every time someone looks down from the TV and reaches for their iPad, they give you an opportunity.

Every time someone walks past the newsstand and downloads their morning read on the Kindle Fire, they give you an opportunity.

Every time someone browses through the Kindle store, looking for something new and different, they give you an opportunity.

Every time someone puts a low-cost tablet in the hands of a person on the other side of the planet, they give you an opportunity.

As the market for tablets explodes, so does your potential audience. The more people who are consuming digital media, the more people you can reach with your media.

So the game for creators is getting a whole lot bigger – in every sense.

Now, instead of competing for your audience’s attention with spreadsheets, email, and the minutes of last week’s meeting, you are competing with the TV, the DVD player, the PlayStation, the stereo, the bookshelf, the morning paper, and the magazine rack.

Instead of competing with other bloggers in your niche, with Twitter and Facebook, with Foursquare and Angry Birds, you are competing with CNN, the BBC, Mad Men, Kubrick, The King’s Speech, Grand Theft Auto, Beethoven, Lady Gaga, Steinbeck, Picasso, T.S. Eliot, the New York Times, and Wired.

Which raises the bar, does it not?

Because if you’re not as engaging, exciting, educational, entertaining or downright enthralling as the other things on that list, why should people choose to pay attention to you, instead of them?

Daunting? Maybe.

Exciting and inspiring? For a real creator, I should think so.

What Do You Think?

If you own a tablet, do you think it has had a positive or negative effect on your creativity?

Are you excited by the potential of tablet computers to open up your work to new audiences?

What other creative opportunities can you see with the proliferation of tablets?

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a Coach for Artists, Creatives and Entrepreneurs. For a free 26-week guide to success as a creative professional, sign up for Mark’s course The Creative Pathfinder. And for bite-sized inspiration, add Mark on Google+.

Drawings by Will Kemp

Ever wanted to learn to draw?

Have you daydreamed of just picking up a pencil and sketching?

But inside there is a lingering doubt.

A distant memory of a school teacher who told you once you were bad at art.

An inner critic that holds you back…. Even before you begin.

But what if you could learn to draw?

What if the principles of drawing could help you to become more productive in other areas of your life.

Would you give it a try?

Feel the fear, and draw it anyway.

Productivity is often linked to a fear of failure, an obsession with thinking rather than doing. Of reading one more book or enrolling on one more course until you are ‘ready’.

Learning to draw forces you to face your fears head on and takes you out of your comfort zone.

To draw something, anything, for the first time is scary.

You can feel very vulnerable when your work is out in the open for criticism especially before it is finished.

To get productive you have to push through these blocks, accept it is not going to be perfect and get to work.

A clear sign of procrastination is a blank page so put pencil to paper and the rewards can be fantastic.

To have the confidence to draw out your problems will help you solve them quicker, and to be able to record that view you admired so much on your holiday with a pencil rather than a camera will be priceless.

To be creative you actually have to do something. It involves putting your imagination to work to make something new, to come up with new solutions to problems, even to think of new problems or questions. You can think of creativity as applied imagination.

Ken Robinson, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

1. Embracing Mistakes

For a beginner using an eraser is seen as a bad thing, for a professional, it it essential. Mistakes are going to happen every time. Drawing, as with painting is all about refining and adjusting as you progress.

A drawing is never correct the first time. You always have to alter what you first thought was ‘correct’. Areas that you were convinced were perfect sometimes have to be completely repainted or scrapped.

Accepting that whatever you are working on won’t initially be perfect is key to making things happen. Mistakes or “failures” act as a lighthouse guiding a ship into dock. Every tweak adjusts the rudder, giving you a direction in the vast ocean of ideas, initially they will be big adjustments but as you get closer to your destination they will be smaller and smaller.

The trick is to realize that these are all signs of improvement and not to get disheartened.

2. Talent Is Overrated

Beginners often think you need a natural talent for drawing. You don’t.

Drawing is a skill that can be learnt.

Tiger Woods didn’t just pick up a Golf club, swing and hit a hole in one. He practiced and practiced. Don’t give up when your first drawings don’t resemble what you imagined, just see them as a visual diary of your progress.

We often have an in built ‘taste meter’ when we know we can do better, we know our work looks crap, we’re just not sure how to make it better!

This willingness to start something even when you know it won’t be 100% is crucial in becoming more productive.

3. Create More, with Less

To be able to draw a subject accurately you need to fully concentrate, and because of this intense focus, your eyes get tired.

You need to have regular breaks to be able to see the objects correctly. I usually find about 90 minutes is my optimum painting time.

We’re not designed to work for continuous lengths of time, it effects our ability to judge subtle differences and nuances. So work intensely, then make a brew and give your eyes a break.

You don’t get more productive by working more hours, but working intensely in short, focused bursts.

4. The Minimalist Productive

How many new ideas did you have this morning? And how many new articles did you feel you ‘had to read’ before getting started?

Being overwhelmed by the number of options is often worse than no ideas at all.

So tomorrow morning try drawing out your options rather than making a list. The drawings don’t have to be accurate, just a simple stickman will do, but by actually drawing out your issues it can be easier to visualise which direction makes sense.

It is a myth that multitasking makes you more productive. When you are drawing it forces you to focus on the now.

You can’t check email and draw at the same time. So apply these principles to other areas of your work that you try to juggle.

5. Sketch First, Paint Later

Drawing can be extremely effective in working through large scale ideas. And when you start drawing or painting you soon begin to appreciate how a little planning can make a big difference.

The Old masters always made sketches before embarking on a large scale painting. Sculptors make Maquettes (small scale versions of the finished piece) before starting to chisel the marble.

Painting and drawing takes time. And you don’t want to waste your time on a large scale piece if you haven’t tested a few options first.

So think about ideas you are working on and try to work out how you can make a ‘sketch’ of the project. Maybe a novel could be a short story, a jewellery collection could start with just rings. Start small, but think big.

6. A Little and Often

To keep on top of drawing you need to keep a regular schedule, even 5 minutes a day will keep you focused.

This could be on your journey to work, in a lunch break, or in a really boring meeting!

Momentum is key.

The more regularly you draw, the easier it will become.

When I first started my Youtube channel my aim was to post one new video per week. To start with this didn’t seem enough and I was itching to create more or publish more regularly but I forced myself to stick to the rules, one video a week, every week.

If I had decided to try to film one a day or every few days I would have definitely failed.

I’m now at 24 videos in 3 months and counting, this regular but small approach has helped to keep momentum and build the project – what’s more it’s become a habit.

7. Unlocking Your Creativity

Drawing is fantastic at engaging the right hand side of your brain, and if you’re having a creative block, drawing can help to kickstart your mind. To draw accurately you have to fully engage with your right hemisphere of the brain, the left hand side which is more logical and analytical will always try to ‘help’ out by trying to recall memories of objects for you.

It makes assumptions about what it ‘thinks’ is in front of you rather than what actually is there. Learning to draw is actually more about learning to see and discovering a new visual language.

Professor Betty Edward’s states in her book Drawing on the Artist Within:

You will also discover that this new language, when integrated with the language of verbal, analytic thought, may provide the ingredients essential not only for true creativity – that is, new or novel ideas, insights, inventions, or discoveries that have a social value – but also for useful creative solutions to the problems of everyday life.

So next time you find yourself trying to juggle too many things grab a pencil and paper and draw.

You may be surprised to discover the inner artist just waiting to be let out. And your new found productivity will give you the free time needed to indulge in your new creativity!

Over to you

Have you recently faced your fears and learnt a new skill that you’d being putting off for years?

Did you used to draw as a kid but have got out of the habit?

I’d love to hear your story.

About the Author Will Kemp can teach you how to draw. He is shortly starting a new online drawing course for absolute beginners.

So. We have a whole new year spread out before us. Like a pristine sheet of paper.

We can create anything we like, and it feels like we have all the time in the world.

Pretty good huh?

It’s exciting – but like all opportunities, there’s a flipside.

Ask any writer or artist who has spent hours (or days) staring at a blank sheet of paper and they will tell you how paralysing creative freedom can be.

And the freelance life may sound idyllic to those of you who have to report for duty in an office each day, but the freedom to arrange your own time can be just as intimidating as a blank page. (I coach lots of freelancers on this issue – so if you were thinking it was just you, trust me, you’re not alone. )

Paradoxically, the more time and freedom you have, the harder it can be to get started.

Think back to one of those days where it felt like you had all the time in the world to get everything done. So you procrastinated – then found yourself at the end of the afternoon, wondering where the time went.

Look back over the past year – did you achieve everything you set out to? Or did you leave some things till it was nearly too late, so you had to rush them? And were there some things that never got finished at all?

For many people, especially creative types, leaving things to the last minute is a way of life. It’s hard to beat the adrenaline-and-caffeine rush of all-night work sessions as the deadline approaches.

And if you’re happy with that lifestyle, I’m not here to spoil the party. Just like skinning a cat, there are plenty of ways to get creative work done.

But if the magic of deadline magic is starting to wear thin, and you’d rather find a less stressful way of working, I have a little tip for you.

It’s a habit I’ve noticed in a certain type of creative person, who seems to have no issue with deadlines, who never seems to procrastinate, and who gets a hell of a lot more amazing work done than the average person:

Panic early.

Look ahead, work out how much you have to do, and how much time you really have to get it all done. And notice how that makes you feel.

I can almost guarantee you’ll feel a twinge of adrenaline. Not a full-blown panic, but enough of a shot in the arm to give you a sense of urgency about your work.

For example. I’m a ‘morning person’ as far as writing is concerned. There’s a window of about three or four hours each morning, during which I’m more alert and can get more written than during any other time of the day or night.

Combine that with the time I devote to working with clients and doing all the other things I need to do to keep my business running (not to mention family responsibilities), and I know that I never, ever, have more than a few short hours a day to write in.

So if I get to ten o’clock in the morning and I haven’t started writing, it’s time for me to panic. Because I’m on the verge of losing an entire day’s writing. Five more minutes could be fatal!

It works a treat. Some days, that flutter of fear is just what it takes to get me past Resistance (and out of Google Reader) and into creative flow.

It could work for you too. At the start of each day/week/month/year, ask yourself:

1. How much do I want to get done?
2. How much time do I really have to do it in?
3. Can I afford to wait another minute before getting started?

Instead of waiting to the last minute for your adrenaline rush, why not get it while you still have time to put it to good use?

Over to You

Do you ever run out of time to get the important things done?

How do you get yourself to avoid leaving things till the last minute?

Could panicking early help you beat procrastination?

P.S. Last but not least – Happy New Year! I hope 2012 is a creative, productive and rewarding one for you.

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a Coach for Artists, Creatives and Entrepreneurs. For a free 26-week guide to success as a creative professional, sign up for Mark’s course The Creative Pathfinder. And for bite-sized inspiration, follow Mark on Twitter.

Fittingly, the comment thread turned out to be an inspiration in its own right, with over 100 entries that reminded me what a special group of people read this blog.

We had such a great response that I was glad I’d delegated the difficult task of judging to the artist himself, Mike Kammerling, so that I could simply enjoy the comments for their own sake.

Mike has now chosen the five winners, listed below, who will receive a very limited edition print of his inspiring image, on gorgeous reflective gold card, bearing the words ‘Tinder and Sparks’ and ‘Lateral Action’.

And as a bonus prize and Christmas gift for Lateral Action readers, Mike has kindly provided a hi-resolution graphics file of the image, which you can download for free by clicking here.

You are welcome to share the print with your friends and make use of it in any way you like – printing it, putting it on a t-shirt, using it as screensaver etc – as long as you don’t sell it or otherwise use it commercially.

And Mike’s too modest to say so himself, but I should point out that he has a whole range of creative, funny and inspiring prints on his website, which you can check out here.

So without further ado, here are the winning entries, introduced by Mike.

Thank you to everyone who shared their inspirations for this competition, I’m truly overwhelmed and humbled by the response. It was inspirational in itself to read through your thoughts. To pick people as winners was incredibly hard as everyone had so many beautiful things to say, so I chose responses that spoke to me most directly. To this end the winners are:

• Andrew Halfacre
• Sabrina Luthjens
• Slade Powell
• Wayne
• Daniel

Mike Kammerling
Tinder + Sparks

Winning Entries

Andrew Halfacre

I know this is odd because it also frightens me but I’m inspired by a crisp, good quality blank page, especially if it is in a notebook and even more if I think it would be good to write on with my fountain pen. When ever I see one of these I want to own it and do something with it. They call to me. I have too many. Trouble is, it’s also scary.

Sabrina Luthjens

Things that inspire me:

The grey sea and its smells, the wet wind as it blows
The dark of night turning into orange-pink day
The sound of the first birds as I finish a sentence
The smile on your face when I finally come home

A handshake, a taste
A shiver and drops of sweat
Nature when it’s dying or in full bloom
I have no religion but miracles do happen

Slade Powell

My inspiration comes from a quiet place inside me. If I settle my mind a bit, I can feel this big cavernous space inside my chest that’s not empty, but filled with silence. It’s calming and centering and puts my whole project in perspective, which makes it so simple to get moving on it.

Daniel

Hey everyone!

I just came across this interesting challenge today. The first reaction was to go to the bottom of the page and post my thoughts. But then I realized that too many and random things inspire me so I almost gave up on participating.

But then it instantly hit me – both figuratively and literally – as I realized that one of the most inspirational places and moments for me (as it provides break-through ideas whenever I’m stuck in a project, or generates more pure&powerful solutions when the flow of ideas is already good) is when I am sitting on the toilet. So, there you have it. My place of absolute inspiration in its most purest form. (I did not transform this into a technique or a method, but I embrace the gift whenever the “the calling” happens during a creative process.)

Wayne

At the Edge

I am at my best at the edge
A place of challenge and creativity, curiosity and change
A place both attractive and scary.
A place between past and future, pregnant with possibility

I am at my best at the edge
At the edge I can see all kinds of things I can’t see from the middle – glimpses of journeys that I might take.

My dictionary defines the edge as:

a rim or brink
the point at which something is likely to begin
the area or part away from the middle
a margin of superiority; an advantage
a provocative or discomforting quality

My edge is all of those things and more – more than any dictionary definition could capture

But my edge keeps changing.
It is not always where I expect it to be.
It is different to others’ edges so I am often at the edge on my own or with people I have yet to know.

There is no comfort at the edge.
It’s not possible to be comfortable and at the edge at the same time.

Every so often I need to step back from the edge
into the realm of comfort and complacency.
A place to rest from the rigours of being at the edge.
But soon I tire of this and find myself back at the edge.

Join me at your edge
and together we can create the impossible
That can only happen at the edge.

For more inspiration, read through the 100+ weird, wonderful, funny and practical descriptions of Lateral Action readers’ inspirations on the competition comment thread.

Thank you Mike, congratulations to the winners and a Merry Christmas one and all!

Photo by lulemon athletica

Let’s face it. We all get out of creative shape from time to time.

Just as an athlete quickly loses fitness without training, so your creative stamina will fade away if you don’t work at maintaining it – every week, if not every day.

So when you get out of the discipline of regular creative work, what stops you getting started again?

Is it because of work? School? Home? Family? Other commitments? Gossip Girls? The New 90210 (the original was much better)? Or some other excuse?

Oh I know – you have no time. That’s got to be it.

Your latest novel, blog post, painting, sculpture, business venture or website is just waiting for your time. That’s got to be it, since you used to be creative. You used to find the time but now, life has gotten in the way.

With kids, your job or just something good on TV, your life is too full to create. Well, I’m here to tell you that you do have the time – you just have to find it.

Finding the time is the first step in getting back into creative shape. The second step, is to build up your creative endurance.

Creative endurance is just like athletic endurance. No one ever runs a marathon on their first run – or even their tenth. You have to build up to it by training. That same training is what you need to get back into your creative swing. Sure, it’s going to be hard. Sure, you will struggle, but once you have your creative endurance back, creating will be a whole lot easier and more enjoyable.

Barriers to Building Your Creative Endurance

One of the biggest barriers most people face is the perfection fallacy. We trick ourselves into not creating because what we create is either ‘not good enough’ or ‘not perfect’. Let’s dispel this right now.

Most of the stuff you will create will be awful. In fact, it will take creating all that awful stuff to actually make something good. Doing all this ‘throw away’ work is called practice. Every creative person needs it – from Picasso to Rembrandt to Warhol to Kors (yeah, the guy on Project Runway).

Practice makes us better. It allows us to hone our skills and find our creative voice. As a writer, I throw away countless words, sentences, posts and even book outlines simple because my direction changes or it just did not work. All that creative flotsam and jetsam is still valuable because it’s practice and practice makes me better.

Our second barrier is time. For some reason, no one ever has enough time. You always here excuses like:

When the kids go to school, I’ll start to paint.

I have a deadline at work. After that I will go write.

I just don’t have time to compose my next score because I commute two hours a day

My family comes first and I have to support and nurture them.

You know, my computer sounds funny. I better get that checked out.

Did I miss any?

Go ahead, pick your favorite excuse. Write it on a piece of paper and then burn it. That’s right. Burn it.

Now you have no more excuses.

Didn’t that feel good? It should, because you just got rid of a big barrier. Now let’s look at the six steps to building your creative endurance.

Step 1: Write Down What You Do in a Day

The first step in building your creative endurance is to find time to create.

Take out a piece of paper and write down everything you do in the course of the day. Pick any day you want and start when you wake up and finish when you go to sleep.

Step 2: Look For Gaps and Non-Value-Added Activities

Now, look at the list. I guarantee you that there are activities on that list that add no value to your life. Maybe it’s the one hour commute each way, or watching reality shows, or maybe all those silly work meetings. These add no value to your life. Whatever those activities are, circle them.

See any you can eliminate? C’mon, be honest with yourself. You know there are certain things you either hate to do, don’t want to do or do out of habit. I dare you to pick at least one. Just one activity that you want to either reduce or eliminate so that you can create. I know you want to be more creative and the first step is to find the time. So look hard and be honest with yourself.

Step 3: Schedule 10 Minutes to Create

So you found at least one activity you can eliminate or at least reduce. That’s great. Now you need to use that time to create.

The minimum amount of time you need to build your creative endurance is 10 minutes a day. A measly 10 minutes a day. It’s probably half the time you spent reading this post or the time it takes you to flip through those gazillion cable channels to figure out what to watch.

Once you have picked your 10 minute slot, create a big sign that says ‘Creative Time’ and the time you selected. For those 10 minutes, all you will do is create.

Step 4: Set a Creative Goal

After a couple of weeks of creative endurance building, you now need to set a goal. All athletes set goals – they’re called races. Races are great goals since they bring together like minded people who have the same goals as you – so you all get to have fun and finish the race.

Be realistic in setting your creative goal. Remember, you have 10 minutes a day to work on it and this goal should be no longer than two months out.

Oh, one more thing. Tell your best friend, spouse or co-workers about your creative goal. Actually, better yet, write down your creative goal, along with the date it’s due and hand it to them. Make them post it on the fridge or in a place that everyone can see.

I know that many of you are shaking your heads right now. You don’t want to publicly commit to your creative endeavor. Don’t be afraid of this. You want to create. Your friends and family want you to create. You need their support to keep you on track. It’s just like being on a sports team. Sometimes, you really don’t feel like practicing but you can’t bring yourself to let the team down.

Your creative team needs you as well. All your friends, family, co-workers and yes, even your boss, wants you to be happy and creative – it makes you a better person and in turn a better spouse, father, mother, friend and worker.

Step 5: Publish, Sell or Give Away Your Creation

Once you hit your creative goal, publish, sell or give it away. You would be surprised at how much joy you can bring to someone’s life by giving them a piece of art or sharing a story you wrote.

No art is too small to be art nor to small to make a difference. In fact, you don’t need to be Piscacco to be an artist – you just have to get your work out there for others to enjoy. That’s it. That’s all.

Nothing fancy like putting it in a gallery or anything like that. In fact, at Etsy you can build your own creative store front easily and sell your creations to people all over the world.

Step 6: Expand Incrementally

Doesn’t creation feel great? Sure, you might have stumbled a bit, your first tries were probably a wreck and I’m sure you probably cheated a day or two (come on, admit it ).

The thing to be proud of is that you achieved something. You are building your creative endurance – 10 minutes a day. Pretty soon you will be up to 20, then 30 and then who knows.

Keep up this discipline even when you don’t want to. Challenge yourself to do something creative, anything creative, at least 10 minutes a day. You will be amazed at what you can achieve.

Over to You

Do you ever get out of creative shape? What are the tell-tale signs?

Which of these steps would make the biggest difference to your creativity if you applied it?

Any other tips for getting back into creative shape after you’ve let things slide?

About the Author: Jarie Bolander is an engineer by training, entrepreneur by nature and leader by endurance. His new site, EnduranceLeader.com combines two of this passions – leadership and endurance athletics. By enduring, we conquer our fears, challenges and create magnificent things. You can follow him on Twitter or on Facebook.