Creative self-sabotage
... is a real sneaky little twerp. Here's one way to cut it off.
All November, we’re focusing not only on non-fiction writing prompts but also on your writing output and career.
Today, free write about your biggest creative fears. Let yourself imagine worst case scenarios if they come up, no matter how big or small, how probable or ridiculously far-fetched. Maybe some are mere what-ifs, maybe some are preempt-able, some are totally out of your control. List them all.
Then, write around what you might do if any of them were to actually come to pass, and allow yourself to imagine different scenarios. What you’d do emotionally, yes, but also strategically what you’d do to address these things if there were to happen. Write until every concern is addressed to the point that you feel like you could get through it. Seriously, keep writing until you get there; that part is important.
Why this exercise matters: often we can subtly hold ourselves back from big victories because we are consciously or subconsciously holding onto the what-ifs. Literally, I have watched super driven and talented writers sabotage themselves left and right until they took the time to create plans and strategies to let their minds understand “hey, self, if that should happen, we have a plan.”
It’s weird but it works. We almost never let ourselves have the visibility we want if we don’t feel totally safe having it.
Extremely related to this: a huge part of my jam is to help people get creative wins, especially people from historically marginalized groups because, let’s face it, the starting line is definitely not the same for everyone and neither is the path. I’ve done this work 1:1 with a handful of creative artists each year for a number of years, I’ve formalized this process into The Seen AF Method, a deep-work creative visibility program.
In it, I work with folks to completely map out their existing body of work, bolster the visibility of your current projects, and set up easy little systems for your future projects so they can get as much visibility as possible. We also work together to think deeply about what success looks like to you, what wins would be meaningful for you, and then we open up paths and methods to keep your work continually relevant and visible, and set up an easy framework to dial your visibility up and down when you need it.
Because at the end of the day, visibility is a resource. And, the thing with visibility is that you very likely won’t let yourself have it and sustain it and have a positive experience with it in all the ways you want until you work through your existing beliefs about visibility, about who “gets” to have it and why, and what it means to want it.
There are lots of ways to access that, both in terms of time and type. Learn about the program here to see which option might be for you.
If you have questions about any of it, book a slot on my calendar and let’s talk about it.
And, if you’re thinking you might like to dip a toe into that and get a little bit of support, take a look at The Visibility Lab, my membership space to gain asynchronous coaching support to help boost the visibility of your creative projects + have access to a community of other creative folks. Learn more.