Oh, The Places You’ll Get Stuck: a friendly guide to creative bushwhacking

Sometimes the creation process feels like whacking through a brambly mountain gorge in a giant Cosby sweater. There are so many places to get snagged and unraveled, set back and bewildered. I usually have to unhook myself a few times to be able to keep going.

I like the bushwhacking metaphor because I think most creative work is more like trampling a path through wilderness than it is like skipping in your keds down a comfortably wide, well worn road.

When I ponder the whole manifestation cycle from initial spark to full blown delivery of the creative work (or life change), I see a few distinct moments of muddle that are worth unpacking.

I. The Void

In the beginning, there is (almost) nothing, just a tiny, fuzzy little signal flickering in a void. This can be unmooring. Sometimes it’s threatening just to think about finding out what it is. All we have to go on is the vague feeling that something should be different than it is right now.

When we’re in this phase, with only an inkling that something should happen, but no idea what that would be, we need help interpreting the information we’re getting from our own navigational systems. What is that inkling telling us?

A great tool for amplifying a faint signal and translating it into something the cognitive mind can eat is the Body Compass (popularized by Martha Beck and succinctly described here). Using the body compass, one can get a clear “yes!” or “nuh-uh!” which works like playing 20 questions with the self: “Is it about my work life? Do I need to make a music video? Not a music video…another type of video?” The body’s “yes” is a comfy, expansive, spacious and free physical sensation (often in the chest and upper respiratory area). The body’s “no” feels constrictive, like a shutting down/clenching physical sensation (often in the stomach and solar plexus).

The reason this approach works is because the body’s connection to right brain and unconscious awareness will give more direct, immediate and personally true information than what comes out of the left brain by the time something is thought about abstractly in an ordered way. The left brain is slower than right brain for certain types of more perceptual, rather than logical, information.

(For the left brain/rational skeptic in you who is both insulted by what I just said and needing more facts before he goes along with me on this, it may be helpful to peruse this thread re processing time in the brain, or otherwise confirm for yourself what neuroscience has indicated, perhaps through the very readable Whole New Mind by the unassailably sensible Daniel Pink.)

In general, using body awareness to get in touch with what we subconsciously already know works because we are cognizant of much more than we are consciously able to focus on at any given moment. The body (as well as our image streams when we make art, poetry, music, free write, doodle or whatever other right-brainy activity) will crystallize what we unconsciously have already perceived so that our left brains can get a good look at it. (Arnold and Amy Mindell have great tools for connecting into the layer within that knows everything already. For a practical handbook, I recommend Process Mind.) For that reason, it’s helpful for anyone to leave ample time in their life for creative non-doing, where we are permitted to engage in aimless play. Many of my most favorite creations came to me when I was doing something a neutral observer would have called “nothing”.

There are thousands of useable tools for dredging the image soaked ocean of the unconscious and pulling up solid, distinct packets of inspiration, so I am confident that all interested people can find ways and methods that feel easy for them to use. In general the tools of Art Therapy, analysis both Jungian and Freudian, and the other creative therapies, are suited to this type of contact with the creative, deeper, more tapped-in mind.

I made an example of a quick, low-commitment process for giving yourself a Rorschach test (requires no art skills). These slides walk you through a method that links you up with your right brain when you need psychic refreshing.

II. The Dreaming

Let’s say you’ve had an insight about what you want to do or change. How do you turn your idea into reality?

In this stage, you need to picture the fulfillment of your yearning, rendered in the palette of the given world we have. It’s now necessary to engage your imagination big time to dream up and show you a compelling, beautiful vision of a fleshed out solution.

For many people it’s easier said than done to allow daydreaming to free-roll in our minds. Most of us were taught at some point to stop spacing out and get practical. It is likely that we internalized this message as children through admonishment by well-meaning adults who wanted us to hurry up, be more realistic, or want less from life from some way.

But in this stage, you actually do need to get daydreaming again, and this means letting go of all judgments, all thoughts of practicality, all objections about how that could never happen because [ancient core belief], and just fantasize.

If your inspiration relates to redesigning your life in some way, a great technique for this stage is the perfect day exercise. There are numberless other ways to get imagination flowing: you can collage, draw pictures, write stories, make a Pinterest board, or just close your eyes and visualize, trying on “solutions” in your mind’s eye while your body compass lets you know whether you’re barking up the right tree.

When doing this for a big creative project, you dream up the ideal outcome for the work, including how it will look, feel, sound, taste, etc, how people might interact with it, what kind of success it might have, and so on. Imagination time isn’t just for painting portraits of cats, either; Nicolai Tesla was also known for dreaming things up in incredible detail before actually building them (I won’t even get into Einstein because you, just, already know that.)

If you are making something to please not only yourself but an audience as well, it can be fruitful to fiddle with a customer-centric ideation process. This free introduction to design thinking is frankly rad. Also the Bootcamp Bootleg has everything you need to have a great time dreaming up solutions that beautifully satisfy other people’s desires.

III. The Planning

Let’s say you’re at the stage where you know what you want, and can tell another person in detail your fantasy for what this fulfilling life or magnificent creative work could be like in concrete, sensory detail. Large or small doesn’t matter: you have a vision.

Here we may face the following quandary: I know exactly what I want, and can easily imagine the details. But I have no idea how to get to there from here and it scares me to try to get specific.

If you’re stuck here, you might find support in my post, Planning Something Big, and/or in the slides, fashioned for people who, like me, become completely paralyzed by the concept of making and committing to a plan.

For big things (things that need many months of work before they’re done), people at this stage of the path need help with a roadmap and some milestones that help them visualize how that outcome could possibly result from where they are now.

Agile product development shines in this department: getting a handle on using personal kanban and scrum boards can be anxiety-reducing, as this kind of planning turns a mind-fog into ordered, actionable small steps. For those of you working on creative projects where there is a definable product of some kind at the end, you may find Roman Pichler’s tools helpful. I like his Product Vision Board, and his Product Roadmap tool. If you don’t already know them, the Strategyzer people’s very generous library of amazingly awesome free tools is beyond description if you like this kind of thing. For those of you working more on a life change of some kind, Christina Merkley’s many visual aids take you from start to finish.

In general, I like breaking a project or life change into really basic categories of to-dos:

A. NOW. I could execute these things right now. In beginning stages, many items like “dream up more details about x” or “interview 5 people what they think about y” may be here. As I get into the flow of execution, however, these will be small, bite-sized chunks of my actual product or life change that I can do in one sitting. For example, I may have “record bass line” for a song I am working on. Or I may have “look up how to record bass” if I’m not there yet.

Size of to-dos: small, can be done in one sitting

How ready for action: totally ready

Urgency: high

Importance: high

(For more about determining priority, a simple first things first map can be helpful.)

SOON. I am close to being ready to execute these items. However they may need to be broken down more, thought through a bit more, tested or researched. They need more time cooking. Alternatively, they may be a bit less urgent and important.

Size of to-dos: any, but often medium

How ready for action: often need more chunking down

Urgency: medium

Importance: medium

LATER. I’m not ready to execute these items but I know that they need to be done at some point. They may be huge, poorly dreamed up, and need a lot more chunking down and thinking through. Or they may be here because they are clearly later stage in the process and low urgency or importance.

Size of to-dos: often large

How ready for action: need a lot more chunking down

Urgency: medium or low

Importance: medium or low

You are ready to leave this stage when you have such a clear path for implementation, that if you had a spare hour to spend on your project, you would immediately know how to spend it best. Having such a plan, however imperfect, is a great cure for those who are snagged at this stage.

I also like remembering that while “plans are useless, planning is indispensable”. (Just found out that quote is attributed to Eisenhower…huh).

IV. The Doing

OK, I know exactly what needs to be done, in which order and why, but then this happens: my closet needs to be alphabetized right away. I need to consult fb regularly for updates on the bird-drops-a-baguette-on-CERN story. I realize I do want to have whatsapp contact with my aunt’s neighbor. In other words, I’m doing anything other than the project tasks necessary to bring my baby into the world.

Assuming that you have removed distractions, adequately supplied yourself, and have no good reason not to be working, there are two reasons to get stuck here. One is, the items are not chunked down enough. For example this morning in my “soon” column, I found an item called “Learn about business”. I tried to move it into the “now” column but blocked immediately — not only is the item extremely open-ended and vague, it’s huge. It implies that something someone else needs a 3 year MBA program to learn is one post-it sized item. To continue I need to replace it with a series of smaller, more limited and actionable items, starting with “define scope of what I want to learn about business”.

But if it’s something small enough, like “do a google search for other people in my town doing my type of work”, and you still don’t want to do it, you probably need to clear fears. Fear is, for better or worse, a completely normal part of the creative path, and probably a sign that you are doing meaningful work more than it is a sign that you are a numpty. (The seminal Art and Fear is a good read, and the usefulness of Fearless Creating cannot be overstated.)

I do some version of the following process when I’m stuck here:

CLEAR FEARS

Step 1. List everything you’re afraid of. Keep going until you run out of fears, and ask yourself, “anything else?” a few times, until you’ve spit it all out.

Step 2: For each fear, try to find the root (what is this fear really about?). Ask yourself, “why are you afraid of that?” a few times, to see if you can joggle out any more, more profound fears.

Step 3: Identify whether it is a lack-fear or an attack-fear. Reptilian brain is worried about those two outcomes, and I find that all of my fears can be categorized as one of these two things. I am often afraid of “not having enough skills/gumption/emotional toughness” which is a lack fear, and I am frequently afraid of “being ridiculed by others (or myself)”, which is an attack fear.

Step 4: Choose to release the fears. I like putting them in a Life Box, which means that I am turning them over to Life to solve for me. You can also just rip them up or, if you live far, far away from drought-addled California, burn them. Writing a letter to your reptilian brain to say “Thanks Liz, I took a note of your concerns, but going to do this anyway because I think it’s safe enough, and it’s worth it to me for such-and-such a reason” works too. I like to mix it up, if only to keep myself entertained.

For a visual guide to removing psychological goo, see clearing psychic clutter.

Fear is a regular on the barstool of my solar plexus, but it is good to release resentments, shame, and other “psychic clutter” too. In general, whenever the horse refuses to go over the jumps, it is ultimately faster and less traumatizing to take a time out and find out why than it is to bully myself into proceeding. Usually it is something from the child self, who may need extra coddling and encouragement around this time, when she/he is likely to face inner electric fences and come up against sundry intimidating inner characters, like the critic or taskmaster.

On that note, don’t forget to kick the inner critic out daily and to look out for its favorite tactics: double binds (aka damned if you do, damned if you don’t) and perfectionism (not the same as excellence). The role of the critic, should you find she has valuable input for you, is more at the end of production, or at regular intervals specifically designated to reviewing your progress, and not during the production cycle. Those of you who work in software teams or similar settings know how counterproductive it is to interrupt production to give criticism, change the requirements, or insert doubts into the process, all of which your critic is likely to do. If you have a particularly gnarly critic on your back, first of all join the club (welcome! I’m the president) but also you may find Taming Your Gremlin to be helpful.

Sometimes clearing fears about this part of the project IS the next most urgent, important task on your to-do list. In the words of legendary acting guru Sanford Meisner, “That which hinders your task is your task.”

V. The Testing and Tweaking

Let’s say you managed to get a first version of your creative work done (congratulations!). The task in front of you at this point is to test and tweak, that is, to refine the work until it’s in the state that you want it to be.

Of course you can use your own wisdom and body compass to see whether it’s working for you, but it’s good to talk to others, right? And if you are making a product for consumers, it’s crucial.

I find feedback pretty terrifying (what if someone confirms my worst fears?), but also fantastically useful (oh, other people are not the same as me). Probably the best guide to gathering relevant feedback that empowers rather than crushes the artist in me is the Solution Interview.

When I can take charge of my need for feedback and frame questions to get the responses that I really need to finish my work, riches can be harvested from the experiences of the others. My main advice here is to ask your inner artist/creator what he/she wants to know, and make sure it’s not the critic/censor asking the questions. The critic’s confirmation bias will likely want to hear either that you are the world’s greatest genius or that you are the worst creator known to mankind, neither of which are likely to be strictly true (though both of those sound interesting and hit me up if you think you have achieved either of those things please: hollymaehaddock@gmail.com).

At the same time, this is the moment, if there is one, to let the inner critic come over and have a big feast. If you choose to give your critic a space at the table, which is often good with shadow figures, provided you keep an eye on them, I recommend the following:

THROW THE INNER CRITIC A BONE

1. Invite the critic to give his opinion, and write down everything he says. Eg: “it sounds amateurish”, “it looks like a dog made it”, etc.
2. For each criticism, ask, “Why does that matter?” Force the critic to get specific about what exactly the concern is. “It matters because we want people to think we are very skilled, not that we are a hopeless amateur”. Then ask, “Why is that important?” The critic here gives you valuable information about your ego. Remember that your ego is basically a shield you built to defend yourself from annihilating attacks, as well as a manipulation machine for getting love out of people you feared wouldn’t give it to you unless you behaved in a certain way. If there is nothing to be ashamed of in having an ego (and there isn’t), you can have some compassion for the squishy mollusk emotional body that it shells.
3. Once you know which kind of social rejection the critic fears, decide for yourself whether this matters to you at this stage of your life. “OK, I see your point critic. But for me it’s more important to make this work at all than to make it perfectly, this time — because I want to learn from actually finishing it. So I’m going to continue”. Or, “OK, I see your point, critic. What if I cleaned up this part that is a bit sloppy, would that make you feel better, and less vulnerable to attack?” Whether you throw him a bone or dismiss his concerns, the main point here is that you are the decider, not the critic.

Incorporating the useful feedback from all sources you tapped, and tweaking your work, you are now in a good position to actually finish it.

Here the biggest bugaboo of course, is knowing when is “done enough” — depending on who you are and how you work, you may just need to give yourself a deadline, or predefine what good enough is, so that you don’t change the requirements right at the end as a way of sabotaging yourself.

VI. The Enjoying

Hey, you did it! Ta-daa! Great job! Now share it (please share it! at the very least, with me — I really, really, really DO want to see what you made: hollymaehaddock@gmail.com), enjoy yourself, and give it a big rest. You need time between creative activity to go back into the Void. Most creative dry ups come from not letting the field lie fallow, so don’t forget that there is a stage where you need to be composting, not harvesting. The best way to put material back into the Void for nature to recycle, in my experience, is to get a lot of input. Watch a lot of movies, listen to tons of music, and don’t “do” anything. Get into reception mode and just be a consumer for a while. When the time is right, all the composted material will help your inner creator sprout some new ideas, taking you back to step 1 for another whirl around the ferris wheel of creative life.

Thanks for reading! :)

*I actually think it may have burned down in the Spreepark fire. But it’s still rad. Thankfully I have a picture.