4 Strategies to Experiment With to Make Your Creative Work Easier
Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back from Creating What You’re Meant to Create
Where in your life is fear holding you back from bringing your most important ideas to life?
One of the first personal development books I ever read way back in the day was, Feel the Fear and Do It Anway, by Susan Jeffers, PhD.
I don’t remember all of the details from the book, but “feel the fear and do it anyway” is such a powerful mantra for creative, entrepreneurial people.
Doubt, fear, and impostor syndrome are built-in features with any meaningful, bold, creative work we are pursuing — no matter what level we’re at in our creative careers.
Ask any successful creator or entrepreneur and, if they’re being honest with you, they will tell you that they felt these things (and still do) as they were bringing to life their most impactful work.
You can’t escape these feelings if you’re doing meaningful, creative work.
But you can learn how to deal with them (and even harness them for creative fuel). You can increase your skill in feeling the fear and doing it anyway.
Today, I want to share with you 4 strategies that could help you build creative momentum toward your most important goals despite fear.
4 Strategies to Experiment With to Overcome Fear and Make Your Creative Work Easier
Impostor syndrome, doubt, fear (of being rejected, of not being good enough, of losing love, uncertainty), anxiety, perfectionism, overthinking…
These will all emerge during your creative journey — if you’re doing it right. 🤔
Creative, entrepreneurial work is objectively challenging enough — wouldn’t it be great to lessen the drag that these underlying thoughts, feelings, and beliefs have over you?
There are 4 strategies that you can experiment with to lessen the friction:
1 — Accept
No matter if you’re a beginner or an expert in your field, you’ll face negative self-talk, limiting beliefs, and unconscious blocks.
No level of achievement or creative success will do away with these completely — they will just come back and look different if you’re growing and venturing out on the edge of your comfort zone (where all the creative, meaningful stuff happens).
So why fight it?
Would you rather be an accountant? Of course not! (no offense to any accountants reading this 😄)
Accept and acknowledge that this is the path you have deliberately chosen AND that you can handle it.
2 — Reframe
It may sound odd, but feeling that fiery mix of doubt, anxiety, fear, and impostor syndrome (what is referred to as “gut churn” by Jad Abumrad, co-creator of RadioLab) is actually a positive signal that you’re working towards something meaningful and creative.
If you feel 100% comfortable doing what you are doing, then you’re not operating at the edge of your comfort zone — where your highest levels of creativity happen — and thus are missing out on personal growth and originality.
The next time you feel that gut churn, reframe this feeling into a positive indicator that you’re on the right track towards doing meaningful work — and commit to moving forward anyway.
It’s often in these radically uncertain episodes where you feel like an impostor that you find the freedom and opportunity to truly create something unique and meaningful for yourself and others.
And there is nothing more satisfying than when you accomplish something you set out to do despite initially feeling like an impostor or afraid. Doing so will grow your creative confidence significantly.
As Ryan Holiday writes, “The obstacle is the way.” When you take on these internal challenges and overcome them, they serve as powerful catalysts for your growth and creativity.
Get creative — how could you reframe the “negative” into a “positive?”
3 — Counterbalance
When demands, challenges, and fears are high, you need to counterbalance them with resources that will support you.
This could look like…
- Partnering with a creative performance coach or therapist (I highly recommend creative people working with a therapist skilled in Internal Family Systems)
- Getting support from your friends and colleagues
- Making your tasks more efficient, streamlined, and conducive to Flow
- Practicing self-compassion
- Building creative confidence and developing your mindset
What resources do you need to counterbalance your fears?
4 — Challenge
Just because your brain is telling you something, it doesn’t mean that it is factual.
You don’t just have to passively take what it is sharing with you as truth.
Challenge it.
❓What evidence might I have (or could I create) to prove the negative self-talk or limiting beliefs wrong?
❓What is the counterargument for this?
❓What mantra or affirmation might help me overcome or reframe this?
❓What actions do I need to take — when, how often, and why — to overcome or reframe this?
We all have psychological baggage that stems from past traumas and experiences that may not be serving us now.
What you experienced earlier in your life — in childhood, in school, in your developing years in high school or college, or even in your early adult life as your family was starting & growing — these experiences may have conditioned you for whatever reasons to suppress your passions, purpose, and creativity.
While these beliefs may have been helpful and protective to you in the past, they likely are outdated and simply not true anymore.
Find ways to challenge them.
For example: Seek out case studies of successful creators and entrepreneurs that challenge your limiting beliefs.
For example, if you have a limiting belief of, “I’m too old,” get out there and find case studies and articles about people who achieved creative success in their later years of life.
How could you challenge your fears and doubts?
Ground Zero — Start with Self-Awareness
Before you can implement any of the above strategies, you first must be aware of what is happening in your mind.
One thing that you can start today (before even testing out the above strategies) is to simply start writing down every fear, negative thought, or limiting belief that pops into your mind as you are pursuing your creative, entrepreneurial goals.
The first step to any change or growth is awareness.
Get to know your mind’s favorite stories and excuses.
Often, just writing them out helps to decrease their hold on you.
⚡️You can build even deeper self-awareness by asking yourself these questions:
- What thoughts do I notice arising?
- In what ways does this belief or self-talk hold me back?
- Where does this stem from? What is the early experience of this?
- What is the emotion I feel from this?
- In what situations is this stronger or weaker?
Often what’s most holding you back is your own psychology.
Don’t let fears and doubts stop you from bringing to life what is most meaningful to you (or what could positively impact others).
Experiment with the above strategies to build resilience, make your creative work easier, and fuel your creative momentum.
Let me know what is most resonating with you or what you are experimenting with! 👇
