Obvious to You. Amazing to Others.

I enjoyed this inspirational video by Derek Sivers about embracing the unique quality of our own creative ideas. I hope you’ll like it, too!

Fly Away From Your Creative Blocks

Creative Blocks. We’ve all got them: perfectionism, overwhelm, procrastination, lack of confidence…the list goes on. And even when you’ve committed yourself to your creativity and learned to work in flow, your most persistent blocks can still sneak up behind you. Start tapping you on the shoulder when you least expect them. Hover over your computer and make nasty faces while you’re trying to create. Do a rain dance until a black cloud forms over your head and starts storming.

I recently had some fun writing about creatively escaping my biggest block these days, which is overwhelm, also known as too-much-to-do-itis. I chose to simply refer to it as “my creative block” as I envisioned a big cement square holding me back. After letting my imagination run wild with fun escape routes, I stopped feeling overwhelmed and started feeling more creative. Try it, and see if you feel lighter when you’re done!

Here are a couple of mine. I’d love to see your creative block escapes, if you’d like to share in the comments.

I turned into a flamingo and flew over my creative block in a pink streak across the sky, and when I looked down, my block was so small and far away that I forgot what it was.

I dug a deep hole underneath the huge old willow tree of my childhood and buried my creative block in the cool, rich earth. Soon its tight contours relaxed and mingled with the happy footsteps of generations of children and the multi-colored strands of their play until it grew into a brilliant bush bursting with juicy ideas.

Copyright © Sandy Ackers, Strangling My Muse: Struggling to Live a Creative Life in a Stressful World, http://www.stranglingmymuse.com

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Perfectionism: A Great Muse-Strangler

This week I’m rerunning my series on perfectionism, which struck quite a chord with readers last year. Here’s the first installment:

I currently have a half-written blog post about perfectionism and its destructive effect on creativity. For some reason, every time I get back to it, I’m interrupted…hmmm…there’s that stressful life making things difficult again…

Until I can finish up what I have to say about the evils of perfectionism, I’m going to share a few words of wisdom on the topic from other creative people:

“A lot of disappointed people have been left standing on the street corner waiting for the bus marked Perfection.” —Donald Kennedy

“Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough – that we should try again.”
—Julia Cameron

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”
—Anna Quindlen

“The maxim ‘Nothing but perfection’ may be spelled ‘Paralysis’.”
—Winston Churchill

“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.”
—Salvador Dali

“An artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.”
—Eugene Delacroix

“Perfectionism is the enemy of creation…” —John Updike

Just Don’t Do It

I found this fantastic “To Don’t” pad at a bookstore yesterday, and I think it shares a wonderful lesson through humor. I’ve filled in some items I plan to avoid in the next 24 hours. What can you put on your To Don’t List today?

Copyright © Sandy Ackers, Strangling My Muse: Struggling to Live a Creative Life in a Stressful World, http://www.stranglingmymuse.com