5 Keys to Unlocking Your Creativity and Success
Whether you are working on developing an online course, creating a signature program, writing a book, writing songs, developing a business vision or plan or creating a vision for what you will do next, creativity rules. You are in the creative process and creating anything takes dedication and commitment. There are many unknowns as you seek to create something new and fresh.
Most often, you will go to your logical mind first and try to think through your creation. You might hit a creative block or even a period of procrastination. The work stops and you may even feel stuck.
Do any of these sound familiar?
You sit in front of your laptop with a blank screen and nothing comes.
You set a schedule to work on your project and you do everything else but that project.
You constantly think about what you want to create, but it doesn’t make sense yet.
You know what you want to create or you have no idea what you want to create but you have some thoughts.
You get about halfway through your project and stop.
You finish your project and then shelf it or put it on the back burner and don’t take the next step so you can reach people with your work.
You feel a sense of dread…maybe this will never get done?
You are comfortable with what you are currently doing, yet you know you are meant for a bigger step.
All of these scenarios are examples of creative blocks. There is a solution. You don’t have to wait until you feel creative, you can unlock creativity.
Part of the solution is moving yourself to the creative zone. What do I mean by zone? You could also use the word flow. Zone or flow means that your creativity seems to move through you, in an almost effortless way. Musicians, artists, actors, surgeons, athletes, speakers, writers, and more report zone or flow as a state of being where it feels like something takes over. It is a timeless feeling. You could feel like only five minutes have passed when it has been eight hours. Often your best work comes forward during a zone experience.
I love the zone. I get into this creative zone every time I have a group coaching call with my Inner Circle, every time I create a podcast or am being interviewed. I am in the zone when I am writing. I once wrote 16,000 words over a weekend and it didn’t feel hard. The words just flowed. My first book was finished during a zone experience.
Journal Exercise: When have you experienced the zone and what did it feel like?
Use these five steps to allow creativity to flourish in your life.
- Get in the zone. You can move into the zone using this meditation exercise. Get still, close your eyes, take some deep breaths and then let your mind go to that memory of your best zone experience and feel that feeling. As you feel that zone feeling let it amplify. As you let the feeling grow, invite the flow or zone experience. Ask, “What wants to come forward from me now?” or “What is my next step?” Breathe deeply and when you feel ready, open your eyes and write down ideas that come to you. You can repeat this throughout the day or over many days. The zone is about inviting and allowing and not about forcing. Soon, being in the zone will be natural and you will easily move into the zone. When you work, you can even affirm, ” I am stepping into the zone.
- Be open to new ways of thinking and doing. You may be surprised when you are in the zone. When I was writing my first book, which I thought was going to be a book on leadership, a spiritual book wanted to emerge. So I wrote a spiritual book, Keys to Living Joyfully. My leadership book (Be the Inspiration) ended up as my third book. Stay flexible.
- Face the fear. When you start living life in a bigger way, fear will come up. Don’t let it stop you. It is not the fear that stops you, it is you stopping because of the fear. You is the operative word here. You are the driver, the creator. Address the fear using tools like tapping (try my audio podcast on tapping for getting out of a slump) or affirmation (I am letting go of the fear right now).
- Break old paradigms and stories. Your life is the way you decide to describe it. Stop letting the past dictate your present and future. Let the past be in the past. Let go of blame. Instead of saying, I am stuck. Affirm, I am creating my next…(fill in the blank).
- Pay attention to clues and opportunities. You may be writing a book that really is a screenplay or a book that needs to be a course or a course that needs to be a book or one thing that becomes many things. You may be intellectually glued to one pattern or idea, but something else wants to emerge from your soul. Let your work be driven by your highest self.
Aide your creative process with practical tools. Keep a notebook on hand at all times to jot down ideas. Use your phone voice recorder to capture thoughts. Transcribe audios. You can actually voice record an entire book and then hire someone to transcribe it and then you can edit it. Keep lists using an app like Google Keep or Evernote. Use mindmaps and vision boards. Use sticky notes. Use colored pens and markers. Use software to help you. If you are a coach or consultant you will love this podcast episode masterclass on creating signature programs.
Get feedback. When you are creating an online course or coaching program, get feedback from clients or potential clients along the way. Your trial run people can take portions or all of your course in beta mode. Use surveys with well-posed questions. Consider using a focus group to help you. Create surveys in facebook groups. Joining a mastermind of peers helps with feedback, too. Note: you will likely get differing opinions from people, don’t let this drive you crazy. Go with your gut.
Don’t limit yourself. You have so much inside and so much to offer. Let it out. Be heard. Be seen and enjoy it.
If you liked this, you will love my masterclass 5 Keys to Explosive Growth in Your Biz
In Happiness,
Sheri
Sheri Kaye Hoff
Coach, Trainer, and Author, Sheri Kaye Hoff, is a Business and Life Coach known for inspiring massive action and a catalyst for personal and business growth, joy, and profits in a way that is fun, relaxing, and fulfilling, Sheri inspires people to do the work they love and make more money. Sheri helps business owners and professionals to relax into success. She uses both spiritual and practical techniques to obliterate blocks and create dramatic change. She is a business, leadership, happiness, and inner game expert. She has overcome nearly dying, and the loss of her brother at an early age. She has made it her life mission to discover the keys to happiness and success and then share them with her clients and community. Learn More About Sheri
