{Personal Image}
It’s giveaway time!
Why? We’ve been discussing time management and goal setting and I wanted to help some of you overcome something big: resistance. This nasty little thing called resistance is something that keeps us from doing our amazing work and moving ahead. We’ve got to learn how to deal with resistance and overcome it.
I’m giving away 4 copies of The War of Art, and I’m making it super simple to enter. All you need to do is:
1. Leave a comment below before Friday, August 5th at 5pm EST that answers this question: What keeps you from doing your work?
I want to know what gets in your way and what form of resistance you encounter. Do you struggle with balancing family and work? Do you procrastinate all morning and realize that you’ve gotten nothing done by lunch? Do you have a full-time job that zaps your energy?
2. Use a valid email address when you leave your comment, so I can contact you for your address if you’re a winner.
I will announce the winners on Monday, August 8th.
I’ll leave you with some of my favorite quotes from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield:
“Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.”
“The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. At this point, Resistance knows we’re about to beat it. It hits the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it’s got.”
“There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.”
Twitter. I have to shut it down if I really want to get any work done. Every time that “1 New Tweet” bar appears, I feel compelled to check it.
My biggest problem is dealing with difficult family issues. Much has gone on in the last year that has been very difficult to cope with and has left me feeling anxious. I want be creative but I spend so much time feeling anxious that I can’t seem to find the motivation to write or make jewelry. I guess you could say that anxiety has left me stranded in the middle of nowhere and I can’t seem to find my way.
#1— I am a PROCRASTINATOR and totally DISORGANIZED!!!!!!
Now that we take care of our 2 1/2 year old grandson (since he was 6 months) during the day, time is at a premium. I feel if I could come up with a schedule and stick to it, my art would be flowing.
Procrastination is the biggest.
Being disorganized.
Trying to balance family and work.
I get distracted easily.
I need to prioritize better.
As I was reading many of the comments, I found myself saying, “Yep! that sounds like me”, “That one too”, “Wow, that sounds like I wrote it”, etc.
Following your dreams is so hard when you are not supported by those close to you. This is my biggest challenge.
Kyles =D
I find I need to look at the process of the day in pieces. If I look at the big picture (house and family need attending, business issues are waiting, creativity is calling) I often become overwhelmed and have a difficult time getting started on anything.
My biggest problem is time management! I feel that I need to attend to every client request that comes my way the minute it happens. It keeps me distracted and I don’t make progress on my big goals.
More like what doesn’t get in the way. I have major focus issues, though dishes and laundry tend to be my biggest time suckers.
Thank you for this giveaway , April ! What holds me back from working is family responsibilities. I am the primary caregiver for my kids. When I am with them, their needs come first. So, I work when they sleep. It doesn’t mean I don’t get the time , it just means I can’t work when I am most energetic – mornings. I have figured out fairly decent ways to get productive. Being an architect, working nights seems to come naturally to me ! Its kind of an oxymoron..but I’ll take what I get.
What really gets in my way is – way too many ideas that I can possibly keep up with . I do tend to get carried away to see if something will work better than what I am doing. I tend to dip my feet into new and interesting techniques & sometimes waste time. Its good I realize that I can be excellent at what I do , so I have to chide myself into getting back on track. Exploring new ideas isn’t bad, but its a distraction.
I am taking a break from what I used to do , to try and focus on what I think will work well for me. It is a learning experience – trying to get a biz off the ground and raising a family.
What keeps me from real, honest work? Anything!
Creative pursuits, mini-adventures, Facebook, playing Wii, spending hours looking up music vids on Youtube…I went from Avril Lavigne’s “What the Hell” to Coolio’s “Gangster’s Paradise” to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in one afternoon! Now, THAT’S talent! ^__^
I also spend a lot of time with my 3 year old pooky. We swim, play at the park, walk, finger paint. She is my inspiration…especially when I need it most.
I really struggle with getting the family/work balance right. With 3 young kids, life is crazy and while I attempt to have structure in my work day…the kids have other ideas lol! So I usually find myself caught up in this loop of not having time during the day to get stuck into biz related stuff, then staying up way to late at night to get it done, then being dead tired the next day. And so the loop continues 🙂
Big buts.
But I have to do laundry.
But I need to play with the kids more.
But I have to network.
But I have to sew something for someone else.
But I need to pick up groceries.
But someone is coming to visit and I need to clean the house with a q-tip.
I have a big but with all of those buts.
My full time job!! I get all my best ideas when I’m at work and can’t act on them, and by the time I get home I’m so tired and find it hard to get motivated!
I struggle with shutting down distractions and getting into a focused work mode. Also, with overanalyzing and over-thinking decisions and end up losing time instead of just going with my gut (which is almost always right anyway). Oh, and one more excuse… not having a dedicated workspace, so I’m constantly shifting my mind between personal and business tasks, with quite a bit of overlap sometimes.
I’m probably my worst form of resistance. There’s an awful lot of negative self-talk that happens, constantly, and I find I often talk myself out of something before I even get to it.
It’s not worthwhile, it’s a dumb idea, no one will like it, I won’t do a good job, I’m not that good at it, I’ll never finish it, it doesn’t excite me as much as I think it should, it’s not practical, it’s not wise, there’s probably something “better” I should focus on, blah blah blah.
I’m my own worst dragon!
This is a great give-away! I’m a big fan of “Do the work” but I haven’t read War of Art yet.
My biggest struggle is keeping my focus. I have so many ideas, but with kids, dogs and other daily happenings, I have trouble executing them.
My biggest form of resistance is my daily life! I know I need to put priority on my creative life, but my full-time job, my family and friend responsibilities, my household responsibilities, etc. are getting in the way of me making time to get to the studio. HELP!
my baby!
the most adoRable thing on this woRld!
(11 months)
and when he finally falls asleep
im exhausted and i don’nt know wheRE to staRt
Hi!
I have many (several) ideas, but I think I do not believe in them, in their worthiness in other people’s eyes. Then I am afraid that I will not gain the clientele to survive. 😀 Another issue is all the tiny but important – packaging, design of packaging, shipping (hopefully) all over the world, etc.
Thanks!
I have soo much to do that I just need help planing it all so it all gets done!
Hi everyone!!! (Good luck!)
My time-suck is definitely Facebook. Ironically, I started a new morning routine this morning to change my bad habits! Now I get up, go for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood, eat breakfast, workout, shower, and then allow myself to turn the computer on for work. I’m in a much better mood and don’t waste time surfing. Of course, it’s the first day, so we’ll see how it goes, but I haven’t spent as much time on Facebook or Twitter and have spent much more time getting work done! YIPPEE! (I also check email too much. I’m trying to only open it twice a day!)
Oh, and reading blogs of course! I’m addicted to a few!
~ Alex
Actually all of those things get most in the way of me getting work done! I have a parttime job that cuts my day in half and robs my business of 20 hours. I always think that I’ll get a whole lot done on the weekend, but then we’ve got to go grocery shopping and make meals together and harvest cucumbers together and a friend invites me over for tea and the weekend is over. Procrastinating isn’t usually a problem for me at all, except when I’ve been trying to get too much done in my life and I have a huge chunk of free time that I end up just crashing and watching a movie or something because I’m too burnt out and unbalanced.
Biggest thing is the part-time job! Family time is important, so I don’t want to give that up when I can get it. My goal is to make a little more income from my biz than from my part-time job before I leave it though. Still got a ways to go yet!
Thanks for the giveaway, April, the book looks really motivating!
Too much time spent JUST thinking about all of the things that I should do and all of the things that I need to do. When it comes time to put things into place, I feel overwhelmed and I’m not sure where to start. I also try to juggle too many activities which interfere with pursuing a creative career 100 per cent. I work as a graphic designer full-time, I am a part-time Spinning instructor, I have a side business making cupcakes, I have a freelance graphic design business, I am involved with my local church and I try to balance all of those things with spending time with my fiancee and his children. There are only so many hours in the week! It seems that my projects often come last.
Gosh! Is there enough room to put down all that holds me back?! Here’s the short list: procrastination, full time job, trying to spend time with my husband who is also very busy, too many ideas and things I want to do, lack of focus, lack of goal setting, lack of planning, urge to play tennis, scrapbook, walk my dog, ride my horse, clean the house, wash the car, do laundry and a million other chores, time spent trying to keep up with the new technology, marketing my business, social media, keeping up with a full time job and two business ideas. What’s my dream life? My full time job is my web design business Pink Plaid Design AND my dog clothing business Tinkle Toots. I’m creating awesome websites in the morning and sewing stylish dog coats in the afternoon. Maybe this book holds the answer for me, contains the light bulb moment or I am finally jettisoned into enlightenment. Oh, did I mention I also want to write a book??
Thanks for another great giveaway!
Laundry, sleeping, cooking, reading tons of blogs, checking my emails, checking the mail, TV, laundry part 2, snack time, checking my emails, checking the mail once again, just in case, oh there’s something else on TV, playing with my cats… etc.
lack of energy gets in my way. whether its from not sleeping well (which i rarely do) or working my full time job, i have trouble finding the energy to do what i love.
I have a hard time balancing market season with non-market season. Having only started last fall I worked to get ready for the holiday and then spring season. Now it is too hot to do any markets and I don’t feel the need to work as much. I’m ready to get motivated again for fall shows. I’ve spent a lot of time on the development side getting my website built and reworking things that I know I want to change. I’m ready for the creative itch to get to me again and to get off the computer!
What keeps me from doing my work is my lack of focus. I have too many things going on, that I don’t know what to tackle first, so I leave it all unfinished. Most of the time I will work after supper because of my family obligations, but I wish I could do my planning during the day and then work on my actual knitting at night. Thanks for this giveaway!
Wow… the list could go on forever….. Let’s see… there’s the whole full-time corporate gig that zaps all my energy and some days seems to suck out all my creativity… the full time single parent gig which translates into mother, friend, taxi driver, personal chef and maid… and the fact that there are only so many hours in a day!
Thanks for the awesome give away!!
What keeps me from doing the work I want to do and need to do?
First of all, the day job! Sitting in front of a computer doing data entry, answering phones, and planning meetings for people whose schedules change at the drop of a hat is energy sucking, not to mention the scanning and filing and donation processing. Working a job that doesn’t stimulate the creative side of my brain makes it lazy and lathargic. After the creativity sucking job comes the boyfriend, and his two kids. They are not that difficult to deal with, but when I come home from work they need attention, and food, lots and lots of food, which I am more than glad to give, but can eat up most of my evenings. I want to spend time with them, and sometimes feel guilty locking myself away in my workshop. Then there is the house that needs a lot of renovations, updating, and constant cleaning, because well, I live with a man and his teenagers, and a Chihuahua. This creates a battle between growing my business and getting the house in order (because we want to sell it). Then there is the Voice Lessons. I used to sing, a lot, and although I have backed off of my performances for the summer, I have some major ones coming up in the Fall, and I need to get my voice in shape to sing some serious Arias! That needs to happen 3-4 times a week in the evenings, and once I have done an hour of this, I am tired! Then there is the working out. I need to lose weight! I have gained so much in the last year, because I have been too exhausted from the above to work out! I NEED HELP! Every attempt I have made to make my life run smoothly, and to take time to build my business has fallen flat on its face. UGH! I have a lot going on and loads of creativity, but that doesn’t seem to be helping me in the scheduling department 🙁
For me, there are actually two things that are keeping me distracted: my 8-5 zombie desk job & my family.
At the end of the work day, my job tends to wipe me of energy & turn my brain to mush. By the time I get home, I’m ready to collapse & just do mindless activities with my husband (who is just so glad I’m home & that he finally has another human to talk to instead of our furbabies). Also, I love my family more than anything (even my new family…I’m a newlywed), so it’s almost impossible for me to turn down any family dinners. Of course with the talkers in our family, a dinner visit usually is an all day thing.
I’d love to figure out how to face my distractions head on, & make use of every bit of spare time I can…while still enjoying some family dinners.
My Day Job. You know, the one I dream of quitting. But Cannot. Because there is the mortgage to pay, and the kids to put through college.
I have so many ideas and half-finished projects. I’m actually pretty proud that I get as much done as I do! But the day job is a time-sucker and a soul-sucker.
During the week, it’s my day job & my 2 hour ( on a good day) commute roundtrip. I already trybto wake up at 5:30 am to work out & then by the time I get home, eat, get ready for the next day & spend some time with the husband, I
I’m exhausted. Then on the weekends, its “time monsters” like the internet, social media, tv/movies, going out to eat or play…the excuses are endless. Thanks for the giveaway!
I think my biggest obstacle would be that I don’t trust that I am capable to do the task at hand. That I don’t have the know-how, or connections, or just the confidence that I can do it and do it to my own standards. I guess it’s kind of a fear of failure, so-to-speak… If I don’t start the task, I won’t fail it, and I won’t be disappointed.
I get waaayy too distracted by other things.
I get caught up with too many ideas and too many possibilities. I seem to do it without thinking about it. I am forever heading to the administration in my day job with new project/program ideas (as if I wasn’t busy enough!) and do the same thing in my own business. The minute I start to focus on one project, I get a new idea that I’m totally excited about and start to work on that. I feel like I have six oars in, but I’m paddling around a swimming pool (in other words, I’m working hard, but getting nowhere.) Ideas and vision can be both a blessing and a challenge!
Oh so many excuses. My day job is draining, having no money to invest on the ‘big dream’ is depressing. My mental block of not wanting to start something I can’t finish. ….
I hadn’t heard of this book, Thank you for sharing it.
My day job! Social Worker by day Furniture Painter/Home Decor Daydreamer by night.
The closer I am to the moment of creativity, the weaker I am. It seems like my body is against me. It’s becoming sleepy and made of cotton. It’s a bit easier if I have to continue making a piece, but once I got to start a new one it’s again a disaster. I am trying to make a creative plan for tomorrow full of sparkling ideas, but with my morning eyes they don’t sparkle any more. It helps when I take a ‘business day’ and go through all the beautiful April’s tips and quotes, then I feel charged. For a day or two. And then again my struggle comes.
And when I finally manage to tune myself into the work of my life, immediately all my friends and relatives will have something to tell me.
I love my work. My head is blasting with ideas. I kept dreaming to get all my day in my hands for a long…Frankly, I was way more productive having a small child (now she is 12) and a full day job. SOS!
For sure it is a balancing act. How many plates can you hold at a time. When do you put this plate down and pick up the other one?
I struggle to balance working at home with 3 boys. I find that I am easily distracted when my three kids are home. And then even when they are gone, here comes the dog whining to go potty! OK, so I stop working again……………and a few minutes to take him potty feels like an hour gone.
More of a bigger struggle is finding childcare for sale events that are long irregular hours. Battling with my shyness doesn’t help me to be a “big money making seller” either.
Being a good mother and working on my own at home is hard work and staying focused on the big picture and keeping my goals on the top of my mind keeps me going even when I feel like maybe during my balancing act today, I dropped a few plates.
Everything is a distraction! Look at me… here I am reading blogs and entering giveaways when I have 6 custom designs to work on! I’m finding that I have so much to do, I’m like a deer in the headlights and don’t know which way to go first. I make a list and that helps but I really really need to manage my time better. I have so many ideas that I want to work on but there is just too much distraction and since I work on the computer, it’s not like I can just turn it off. ::help::
My own misguided impulses “to do” every little thing rattling around my brain before starting creative pursuits. And the creative job is what earns the money to feed my family. Still, I am hardwired to get done laundry and dishes first. Wtf me..
Just about everything. Frustration, 2 jobs, loneliness, aggravation. I just can’t seem to get *anything* done. I have all these great design ideas, but by the time I get time to make them happen, I’m worn out, aggravated and just want to sleep.
HELP ME!
Balancing act! How many plates do you want to pick up today? Everyday I am dancing around juggling the family, the creative workload, working the sales, scheduling shows.
My biggest challenges are distractions in the home with 3 young boys and dog, time management, finding child care for events, and overcoming shyness.
Whoa! I read all of the comments, many very real, and I have one comment….I have no excuse. You resonated with me on the ” do you find that you haven’t gotten anything done by lunch. Kids are grown, husband is wonderful, have a great work space, blah, blah. The strange thing is that I worked full time at my art for over 20 years with all of those distractions – kids, family, etc and got everything done, but now?? who knows. I had to change mediums a few years ago due to a health problem. Feeling fine now and have starts and stops but no schedule, no real motivation. Can’t figure it out. I have turned procrastination into an art form of itself. Too bad I can’t market that.
I get distracted by reading other blogs & thinking mine isn’t good enough, thinking about how far I’ve got to go, trying to improve my etsy store, etc. All this keeps me from getting in my studio and creating new products.
I left my job as a legal professional after 9 years in December of 2010 to pursue a more creative full time job and to start building up to start my own creative business (as a hobby).I have sent out resume after resume to no avail. There are 3 things that keep me from doing my work – frustration and a lack of motivation and concentration.
A full time day job and family take up most of my time, then when I do have time to create new jewelry, I have to rely on sunshine on Saturday or Sunday to get good photos, and sometimes I get lucky, and sometimes fate deals me a couple of really cloudy days!
As many others have mentioned, my kids are a major factor for not getting things done. I find it hard to work when they are around. I am a stay-at-home Mom and they are my main responsibility. They are still young and I find it hard to tell them that for the next hour “Mom is working”. And sometimes when I do find that magic hour to work I’m suddenly not feeling very creative.
Another resistance for me is something new or something I’m not completely comfortable with. I was recently asked to burn the head of a beagle onto a house plaque. I don’t do animals very well and I really didn’t want to mess it up and have to start over again. I took my time working on it. I wanted to get it done and off to the customer but knowing I had until November to get it finished and the thought of making a critical error made me stay away from it. After finally forcing myself to sit and work, it’s done and I’m very happy with how it turned out. I’ve only just put it in the mail so I have to wait a little longer to hear the customer’s reaction, but she liked the picture I sent. : )
Thanks for such informative, inspirational and all around great posts!
Maya
mayawade@hotmail.com
That full time job is a definite kill-joy.
And I have a full time family too.
This is my ‘hobby gone wild’, my ‘9-midnight job’ and it is zapping me. I have lost perspective and my health is suffering because I have been out of the sun for too long and starting to feel trapped by my success. Something has got to give.
Time is my nemesis and my computer is the other. I need to get away from the computer and back to just the joy of creating!
Enjoy the day!
Erin
I love this topic, and what a great giveaway April! What keeps me from doing my work? Well its hard to pin point exactly, because I’m struggling with this at the very moment. I had planned to have my website finished by now, but I haven’t done much to it in weeks. I procrastinate a lot, and I think the main reason why is that I think things need to be perfect, and i do too much “research”. For example, I know what I want my topper to look like, (I’d like to do a paint/collage) but instead of playing around with paint, I’ve been reading tutorials, looking at sites online for inspiration, and focusing on other things. I think fear plays a big role in it too. What if it doesn’t come out the way I imagine? What if I’m not good enough to do it?
A lot of people blame time, kids, distractions, etc but I think it all boils down to mental blocks. Because all these things in our way are just excuses. If something was really important to us, and we believed we could do it, had no fears about the process or outcome, and knew how to turn off our inner critic, then we would probably get it done much faster.
Thank you for this post April, it has been so interesting to see what other people have written. I’m very passionate about this topic, and its actually a part of my “theme” for my upcoming website and blog “Cultivating Creativity From the Inside Out”. 🙂 I can’t wait to read more replies, keep posting everyone!
I so need to read this book! I’m usually a pretty organized person. I’m a morning person so I like to get things moving right away. BUT I get in trouble when I start creating new items in my mind while working on current projects, or laying in bed until 1AM thinking about tomorrows new ideas. The juices start flowing and I want to immediately grab my fiber and needles, sit down and make it. You may wonder what’s wrong with that. Nothing at first, but then I completely forget about the projects I intended to do that day. The worse part is that sometimes these new ideas don’t pan out and I’ve wasted hours trying to make it work. The frustration of the lost time gets overwhelming and I want to scream sometimes! I make a pact not to do that again, just write down my ideas in my project journal and work on it another time. Being creative people, it’s almost impossible to not want to see that new idea immediately. I’m afraid that the moment will pass and my new idea will be lost forever in the “I should have made that and can’t remember the details” file. Help get me back on track! This book would certainly make me refocus my time and energy into worthwhile completed projects.
What keeps me from doing my creative work is that I have a full-time job that is very non-creative. I work 10 hour days Mon – Thurs with a 1 hour drive one way, to and from work. I have Fridays off, but those are usually taken up with running errands and getting the house back in order after a crazy week. Saturdays are reserved for church and family and friends and taking a day of rest. Which leaves Sundays and those are usually taken up with more house projects. Arrrggghhh!!! How can I find time and energy to get my creative side business going!!! Help!!!
Focus or the difficulty in focusing on one project, one thing at a time, etc.
Also, my studio is not as organized as it should be and that gets in the way. I waste a lot of time getting in in shape to work in. In fact, I am on a major organizing, purging effort right now, but got distracted by the internet!
My biggest form of resistance is balancing full time job/creating my art and working my art. I create my product on a daily basis as it calms me down and is my form of meditation. Building my business can at times drain my energy so I am still working on improving my time mgmt system for balancing it all. I remind myself that I am in my first year of business and have lots to learn overtime (not all at once) to relieve the stress I feel from not being completely in the marketplace.
What keeps you from doing your work?
Myself: between work, and kiddo and ADHD, I can always find a way to put things off due to fear. My goal this year is to make fewer excuses…
What a great giveaway!
My “real” job is by far the biggest thing in my way! I work anywhere from 8-12 hours a day and 5-7 days a week!
The routine daily tasks (cooking, cleaning) are also a big time sucker! I need to win maid services…LOL 🙂
Kids, doctors appointments, seizures, anxiety attacks, emo monday, one-car emergencies, dinner, half-days, bus delays, 4 hours of sleep…and then there are my excuses. LOL
Hi April! Thanks so much for offering this great contest!
Two things have been getting in my way lately.
The first is guilt. My mom has cancer and has been going through treatments for a few months now and it’s been a hard time for my family. I’ve been staying with her when I can so when I’m there I feel like I should be spending time doing things for her and spending as much quality time with her as possible.
The second is organization. Because I’ve been back and forth staying with her it’s difficult to transport everything with me. I’ll be staying with her and sit down to do something and realize I don’t have everything I need. It’s impossible to pack up an entire studio into a suitcase!
I find that I get completely sucked in to internet stuff – social media, checking emails, reading other blogs etc… And then I lose focus on what it is that I’m trying to do.
This is something that I am working hard on! I have started scheduling in tasks and making rules, such as I’m only allowed to check email once in the morning and once in the afternoon. It’s like breaking an addiction 🙂
I love this subject because I always used to struggle with reistance until I took a step back and “sat down” with it. I had to take a good look at what was causing the resistance in my life. Being a very “in-tuned” person I started to pay attention to my intuition and what came up for me when I was feeling resistance. I have lots of experience in this area because I have had many start and stop careers in my life. My careers in the past STOPPED because my resistance was there for a reason, and I just had to pay attention to it.
What my resistance was telling me ; and ultimately this was my inner voice or my intuition that was trying to steer me in a different direction. And I am sure glad it did because now I am FINALLY doing what I LOVE and there is hardly any resistance.
Now this doesn’t have to be so grand that you have to changing careers. If you have lots of resistance in one area of your work; lets say every time you attempt to construct that new dress idea you have and for some reason you just can’t get to doing it; this is just your inner “knowing” that this is not the right direction to go in. You might need to create a new idea in order for you to move forward with it; and ultimately not feel the resistance. I hope this make sense. I believe when you are on the right “path” in your life (when you are doing what you are meant to do) you do what it takes to make it happen.
Now I have heard every excuse in the book, like I have kids and I need to make dinner and laundry and yada yada yada! I can tell you this: It was the same with my excuses. But now I finally found something I LOVE! and to tell you the truth I just can’t stop doing what I do! There is NO other option for me then to do my “work” or play for me:) Does this make sense?
Here are some tips to help you through the process:
1. When you are feeling the resistance. Sit down and really contemplate what you are feeling about the situation. Meditate if possible and try to feel inside what is coming up for you.
2. Ask yourself these questions:
Does this feel like I am going in the right direction?
Should I put my efforts into a different project instead?
Is this the right time for me to be going ahead with this?
Does this feel good to me?
And just listen for the answer. It will come…..learn to trust your intuition and your inner guidance. It never steers you wrong.
I can tell you this: If you absolutely LOVE what you do, you WILL find time to create it; even if you lose sleep:) I have 2 kids, 2 dogs, a cat and husband and run 2 businesses. I work on the edges of my day, but it gets done with a big grin on my face:)
Wishing you best of luck!
Eva Smith
evabellaboutique.com
Thank you, April, for this wonderful giveaway! To answer your question, my own self-doubt is what holds me back most often. That inner critic in my head tells me all sorts of horrible things I would never say to anyone else, and yet sometimes I find myself believing this negativity. I think, maybe I’m not that talented, maybe I am just a fake, maybe I never will be successful, and all this doubt keeps me worrying and fretting instead of just making progress on my goals. When the doubt takes over like this, I look at everything I do with a mean and critical eye, and nothing measures up. Then I have to work really hard to recover my own sense of worth before I can get back to work. This is something I’ve struggled with for a long time, but luckily I am learning to have more faith in myself, albeit a slow process. 🙂
I am easily distracted. If a fly buzzes by, I have lost my train of thought. My attention span is that short. Therefore, I spin around in circles, and it doesn’t feel like I accomplish much some days.
Loving your approach to creative business! Quit my job a few months ago and find my biggest challenge is knowing when to pull away from the marketing/networking to focus on the creating. Prioritizing and time management don’t come easy for me!
I get distracted easily by anything and everything, but I think surfing the web is my biggest distraction. I get on the internet to quickly look something up and before I know it, I have been on the computer an hour or more.
I subconsciously get confused about a “daily schedule”. They can never be accomplished because I work from home trying to distinguish time between personal chores around the house, business production time, and creating artwork time. Where I suffer the most is when I sit at my computer checking this and that, and being distracted by that or this. Even my calendar is a mess because I’ll schedule something but it is continually scratched off and rescheduled for the next day, weekend, week, or month. So it is a never ending cycle that I feel I’ll never over come. I’ve come to learn to just get done what can get done reasonably and not worry about a schedule as much. Now I am able to go to the YMCA everyday without worrying about what time it is and what I have to get done. “It will get done when it gets done!”
I definitely have what I call ‘stupid days’ where I seem to just zone out and avoid what really needs doing. Sometimes I will actually just stare at the project at hand as if it has me in a trance. Drives me nuts!
I do have a full time ‘real job’ but my goal is to make my ‘dream job’ reality and I’m not going to get there by staring right through my ‘not so fun’ stuff.
I chalk it up to plain old avoidance…running away. I know I work better from a list, and I know I am in my best creative state when my table is cleared/cleaned for the next project.
Help me!
Joanne
Happy Moose Garden Art
Two things, 1- Kids, my kids are constantly wanting my attention and it breaks my 5 year olds heart when I say to her that mommy needs to get some work done without you in here right now. I make little girls clothes and so she always wants to help me sew, which equates to getting nothing done! 2- I have so many ideas running through my head of new designs I want to make that I get stuck and end up not doing anything at all!
My time drain is wishing I was in the mountains where I used to live. I am very creative being a photographer aside from my full time job. I hate looking at corn and beans in midwest Illinois all the time. I find it hard to concentrate when there are so many more worthwhile things to do! Thanks!
My biggest issue(s)…..
It usually takes me much longer than it should to do what I want. My resistance comes in the form of ;
1. my 2 yr old and 3 yr old who want my undivided attention
2. dirty dishes
3. hungry family
4. If I go in my craftroom, my kids tear things up and and apart while I’m trying to work
5. balancing a part-time job as musician, which means I have to practice and rehearse
6. I can’t leave my husband out of the mix
7. messes everywhere that clutter my mind and creativity
8. I have nothing left when the day is done to work on my creative business
…I’m open, please help
A full time secretarial job in a school, gardening and canning, and helping my husband with household projects. When I do get the opportunity to “be still”, then I close my door and try to get as much done as I can in about an hour or two. I would love to be able to close off the world for 3 hours for at least 3 nights a week. I also have too many ideas floating in my head to get to them all.
TV
If I turn on a television set – I’m done. Nothing happens.
Like many of the above comments, I am easily distracted. I often log onto Facebook solely to read updates only to realize that 2 hours have flown by and I’ve been reading everyone’s links and updates and blogs and and and….haven’t even finished the reading the updates. Even if I intend to update my business Facebook page, it sucks me wondering ‘why there aren’t more impressions’ or clicks or comments.
Likewise, I have a full time life sucking job that has me out of the house with a commute for almost 10 hours a day. Then there’s fitting in time for a work out and walking the dog…who has time to create anything after all that?
I desparately need to excel at my sales so I can quit the life sucking job, but until then…I’ll be commuting and praying that I can finish one project (like photos).
Thanks for the giveaway April!
I think I am not focused and I find it hard to work and concentrate on my business when I finally get to it at night, after workig full time….
Limitz
I really struggle with time management and lack of energy. I work full time and travel 1 hour each way to work. My days are long and very busy. I tend to work really hard on my art biz for a few months then crash and burn…Right now it’s been 3 months since I’ve wanted to even think about making any art..I am just seeing the end of this in sight and feeling like I want to draw again. Phew! It is just so hard to fit in full time job+family+looking after me+home+ Art biz..
What keeps holding me back? FEAR
Fear that its not good enough.
Fear that I’m being selfish (spending the money, spending the time, etc., etc., ad nauseum!)
Fear that people will like it and change their expectations of me.
Argh!@#! today it was painting walls in my house. I hate painting walls but my house needs it!! I’ve been putting it off and now i am putting off my own art. Other than house work when it’s not summer it’s teaching. I am an art teacher and by the end of the day or weekend i am wiped 🙂
Honestly, I’ve yet to really figure that out. It’s this feeling deep in my head and my gut that just sort of whines ‘nuu uhhh’ ‘I dont wanna’. I don’t know what this is honestly, or where the resistance comes from. It’s this unnameable urge to procrastinate by any means necessary to stop myself from doing what needs to be done and often what I desperately want to do. It’s a constant battle with me against myself. I think often times it stems from an overwhelming amount of information streaming through my brain and not being able to slow it down or filter things out. Creative minds can get clogged up!
Honestly my daughter…but not much I kind do about that lol. I have to remain flexible and just recently realized how important it is for me to get up before everyone to get my day started.
Oh and Twitter, sometimes, if I let it:)
Thanks for the giveaway April, looks like an amazing book:)!
Two things for me: procrastination & lack of organization! I’d love to change them both!
Writing, I am not good at it. I can create/make things until the cows come home but I have a hard time writing descriptions and blog writing. This is the hardest thing for me to do and this is when I feel the most resistance.
This post hits home! If I answered all your questions my post would turn into a short novel so I’ll spare you the heavy reading. My problem can be explained with his quote, “When you have complete freedom, you often FREEZE UP and do nothing”, author unknown. I have everything I need from time, supplies, resources, electronic devices, etc. I just lack time management and maybe a few things. 😉
I can see my success but everything gets all jumbled and crazy when I try to put it on paper. Arg! It’s so Annoying.
Great Post! Thanks April. 🙂
Oh yeah, I’m starting to use my (new) blog….baby steps.
I can see myself in at least one of those quotes . . . ugh! I’m constantly battling procrastination. I’m a flitter, and have trouble concentrating for very long on any one thing, so it ends up keeping me scattered. I use a timer to help me focus, but I’ve even gone off and left it running and still not done what I was using it for! That’s how bad it is . . . I also keep trying and trying to “get organized”. I now realize I’ve been trying my entire life and it hasn’t happened yet, so I’m going to have to learn how to work within my own “style” and with my personality. Haven’t figured it out — maybe that book will help?
Hi April,
It’s not the TV, its not my full time job, its not that I suddenly feel the urge to clean the house…for me it is one little four letter word -fear. want to make my creative business work so bad, I have invested countless hours and many dollars, and feel a stomach gripping urge to go on, but I am so scared of what will happen if I make my dream a reality, what then? will I be able to go on? will I be able to continue to come up with amazing ideas? will I be able to one day reach that elusive goal and quit my security blanket of a day job?
If I let myself start thinking of all my fears I am shot down in my tracks then any little excuse to go forward wins…
I woudl love to learn how to overcome this fear and move forward to make my dreasm a reality.
I wake at 4:30a.m. and then go go go till lunch. Right after that all bets are off! My energy is zapped and there is nothing left. All the productive time and brain power has been sucked up by my job. It has the effect of making me feel pulled in 400 directions and unable to reach my goals.
My biggest obstacle is the pull between my day job and trying to have enough time/energy to write and draw and weave AND see my husband occasionally. This year I am really trying to keep things in perspective, especially since the powers that be at my day job just made some human resources decisions that show the value they put on my department (very little). They aren’t bad people, just clueless and arrogant. So, I’m working to try to get my life to exemplify what my values are. It’s just hard and I get tired. The reality is that what I make the time to write and draw, I have more energy and I get more done. It’s just the fighting through to get to write.
My biggest struggle is being a single parent with two children, one has significant special needs and requires constant attention. I spend so much time taking care of everyone else and end the day with no energy to pursue my dreams of being a jewelry designer.
I find I get distracted by things in the house, like chores, cooking, etc. I work at home, as many of us do, and separating work time from “home” time is often tough. And wanting to spend enough time outside in the summer gardening and playing with my dog. I feel guilty when I am not in the studio working, and working at home I feel like I should always be working, yet I find many things distracting and occupying my time out of the studio. Sort of a frustrating loop.
Two things get in my way:
1. Day job. It zaps my physical and mental energy. I come home drained. I try to get up early in the morning to get more done before work, but I need to leave the house before 7:30 am.
2. Social media. Sometimes I just want to unplug the computer and lock myself in my studio.
Between email, Etsy Teams, blogs, FB, Twitter and Pinterest, I easily spend 2 precious hours per day (or more often, middle of the night) trying not to be a social slug.
My biggest issue running my own business is balancing work and my family life. I am a mother of two young children, one of whom has only just started school, so I find a lot of my “free” time is spent doing housework, entertaining children or taking them to their various activities.
I probably also need to be more organised in how I plan my days, working out a schedule which fits in well with my life and uses my time wisely.
I do! I think I can do everything! and all in no time at all. I say yes, when I should be thinking about all the things I have already commited to. My full time job, the one that pays my bills right now, wears me down so that I do not have the energy required to do the things I really want to do. I want to make my Etsy store a booming business. I have all these fab. ideas for my site, but alas, do not have the time to do them. I know it is me. I stand in my own way. I need direction, and the drive to tuirn my “can do” attitude into realization. Ugh!
God, what perfect timing. I just wrote today about what sucks me dry:
http://www.thethirtysomethingbride.com/imported-20100102151706/2011/8/3/removing-the-tramp-stamp.html
Gah. I hope sharing that in your comment section isn’t too obnoxious.
My issue is that I start to delve into something, particularly something that is a challenge and then I think it to death. And then I research to a point where I don’t know who to believe or what to believe. I convince myself that there’s a right and only one right answer to how to be successful in business and I have to find it. And because that doesn’t exist, I completely overwhelm myself and shut down. Once I get to the overwhelmed part, it’s easy for me to get distracted and find relief in laundry, or the internet or whatever gives me relief from the challenging sink hole I’ve put myself into.
I think I need this book.
Thank you for the opportunity to win this giveaway! This book was recommended to me by a friend and then I find out about this giveaway and it’s like fate! Either that or a big knock upside the head that I need to read it!
What keeps holds me back is fear. Fear because I don’t feel I can do it, I don’t know how to do it, I don’t know what to do! Also fear because I have the sole income in our family after my husband lost his job a year and a half ago and is now back in school for another year. At my day job I’m a CPA and I work for a horrible boss who is very negative, demeaning and belittling. Never have I heard anything good about what I do so although I know I do a great job, not getting positive reinforcement and only negativity sure does suck away the self confidence. Anyway, thanks for the opportunity! *fingers crossed*
3 things:
1. perfectionism – the need to get things just right so I never seem to finish anything
2. the belief that there is one way to do something correctly (then I hear about people with the wrong tools, wrong process and yet they produce such beautiful things while I still search for the right way… hmmm 🙁 )
3. my full time job saps me of energy.
I am resisting beceause everybody tells me I should be happy with the day job I have which is (for them) better than most of people and that it pays the bills very well….
(I am struggling to keep this thought away when I am working on MY big project but it keeps coming back to me!!!)
arrrrhhhhggggg.
My biggest struggle is time and energy. With a very active two year old, a full-time job and big renovation in the basement and my business just starting, I’m lacking time (I’m often up till midnight) and energy to go through it all. At the end of the week, I’m exausted and I work some more on my business on weekends.
One more concerne of mine is guilt. I’m feeling guilty that I’m not working on my business if I have some free time and I’m feeling guilty I’m working on my business when I could be playing with my son or having precious me-time!
I’m also fearful I’ve invested all that time, money and energy into something that either won’t make it or will bore me eventually…Heck, I’ve not even opened shop yet that I already fear it won’t work. Technically, I’m ready to open it now. But I’m still working on little things that don’t really matter for now…and I’m postponing my opening date.
I love the two quotes you wrote in your post today. I’ve even posted one on my Facebook status…..OK, OK, that’s another thing that gets in my way! 🙂
I think it’s fear–either of failing, or of succeeding.
I allow everything to stop me, especially me… so much so that I almost didn’t even comment (I had the window open for a while and almost clicked it off without commenting. I allow chaos and overwhelm to stop me from being creative. I just want to be productive and feel unstuck. Thanks for the chance to win.
time….for family, homeschooling, self employment (landlord), somehow, me comes last.
My biggest struggle is with distractions, because I work from home. It is hard to focus when I can watch my favorite TV show, read an interesting but work unrelated article, call my mum and so on…and when I finally get to work, my friends keep calling to hang around (for them working from home means I am available all the time) and then my hubby comes home and wants my attention ‘because I have been sitting free at home all day’.
So apart from the fact I must get down and make myself actually work at home, other people are not helping by disregarding the fact that it is still work.
Thank you for your giveaway, April. On my daily creative way I face such obstacles as my lack of organization and an excess of the Internet: with my computer switched off, I am generally able to do much more Let me wish everybody good luck and enough time for creative activities!
My biggest resistance is a sort of paralysis that prevents me from putting myself out there on the front lines. A friend of mine calls this “Gremlins” — creatures that tell me things like ” art is a luxury, who can afford that nowadays…” and “what does it matter, my stuff is buried in the 1000s of other quilt art items out there” and “if I contact that gallery, they will jack up the prices so much it will render my work unaffordable, so why bother?” and “do I really have talent and imagination?”
Gremlins are mighty powerful and once they are members of my business they doom it. I work almost as hard to get rid of the gremlins as to do the work.
Any assistance in shaking off these mean creatures would be ever so welcome!
Thanks, Cindy
It’s the very long list of things to be done! It’s the laundry and the dishes and the cooking and the gym and the networking online and the networking off line and the running and waiting at the post office and the tones of unread emails sitting in my inbox, bolded, waiting for me to open and read them! And the list is longer… and very time consuming!
Thanks! Meytal.
My biggest problem is “demand resistance” which i read about in a book on writing. Even if the demand is coming from myself I still rebel, which is just weird! I make all these plans, set all these goals for making stuff and getting it on Etsy or my website and then I can’t produce. I work a full time day job and I’ll use that as the excuse, I’m tired, I’ve got to come home and make dinner for my daughter, and by the time I can start crocheting or writing it’s after 7:00 pm and I just want to collapse on the couch and veg out with TV. It makes me mad. But i’m glad you had this article and comments because I thought I was the only person like this. So thanks
I struggle with balancing my day job, family, and my small business. I feel that I could do a lot better if i didn’t have so many responsibilities that keep me from being able to give 110% to my small business, so that I can build it enough to become a source of income, and I can leave my day job.
Distractions. I write up a list of tasks to accomplish for each day, yet I seem to get easily distracted by non goal related tasks. They include checking e-mail, cleaning the house, reading blogs (although I find that to be a good distraction), running errands. Distractions are what prevent me from sticking to a schedule and managing the time within.
I have two part-time jobs plus family, home and disabled hubby {doesn’t work so when I do get home, he wants my time}. By the end of the day, I’m wiped. When I go online to read blogs and catch up on emails, etc, I get so inspired by viewing fellow bloggers or Etsy shops, that I over load myself and when I finally get a few minutes to “create”, I’m usually stumped !! I need lists, and blocks of time dedicated to all I need to do.
I fight Resistence all the time! I have a hard time being okay with sewing my play tents because it is fun for me….and someone will find out I am having fun when I should be cleaning my house!!!! Just read the War of Art on my kindle, awesome book! and everything in it spoke to me…I would love a hard copy though to mark, and mark and mark up!
My main distraction from working is still working… just on the wrong things. Like I’ll be designing something (a new product), like I’m supposed to be doing and then BAM! Suddenly I’m redesigning my website. THAT’S how I procrastinate.
Good luck to me!
I seem to be able to find excuses….housework, gardening, after school starts ( I teach) I am so exhausted that it is hard to find the energy.
I fight brain freeze too………….ideas are there but no the energy..
I am such a procrastinator and find excuses to put things off. And i tend to do a lot of research before doing something as another way of procrastinating. Sigh.
My biggest problem is procrastinating – I think because I’m worried that what I make won’t be as good as it is in my head!
My second problem is organisation – I’m a little quick to indulge flights of fancy and I get so immersed in projects sometimes that I can’t see anything else.
Oh and then I have to fit in the housework. Eeek!!
Hi April! I guess the main thing that keeps me from doing the work is getting things done around the house when I should leave that for a later time and sit at my jewelers bench. I guess that’s the problem when your home space and work space actually share the space! It’s hard to ignore the stuff you need to do and it feels so much better when you know that the cleaning and organizing is done. Unfortunately, it takes up precious creating time and honestly what’s the problem if you do the housework after you work?! (must remember this…. ha!) I guess running a home business comes with its many distractions. Two other big problems for me are email and accepting all sorts of invites, visits and distractions from others in the hours I should be focused on work. It’s hard to explain that you need to put in the hours exactly as if you had an office job!
My six-week old son probably has a lot to do with why I haven’t gotten any work done in months, since not only have I not really done any work since he arrived, but I didn’t do much for the last couple of months of pregnancy either.
I think the other part is some slight frustration, because despite having been official for about a year now, I still have had all of about three sales, although I do know that at least some of it is my fault.
However, in April, I did mange to use work as a way to procrastinate on the full housecleaning I needed to do and didn’t want to. So I suspect that a lot of it is just me not wanting to do what ever I’m “supposed to,” which is why I think I may be in the wrong line of work.
I’m just getting started and there is so much to be done that the most difficult thing is figuring out what to start on first. I’m not planning to devote a ton of time into my business until both my kids are in school (I have a 3 & 5 yr old), but I want to start now so that it’s really rolling by then, but I vet easily distracted! Thanks for the giveaway, I have been wanting to read this book!
#1 is procrastinating. But a close 2nd would be fear. I am a Libra so i can argue for eiher side of the arguement. I have X amount of money saved to start a venture but maybe I should save that for a rainy day. Well, if I start my venture now, if any job issues arise, I will be pretty established and could do my venture full time. Well then if any job issues arise maybe I should just save my money for that rainy day… see what I mean?
I also tend to get side tracked ALOT. I need to clear off a space to do my artwork, oh this is where that has been, let me put it up where it belongs. Oh what is that doing here, it should be there, let me re-sort all this….what was i doing again?
Cleaning. I can’t do anything if there’s any cleaning that needs to be done and there is always cleaning to be done.
Hi April, Thanks for all your hard work. I love to read your site even if I don’t comment. My biggest struggle is getting through the internet work and housework before I can get into my studio. I am a potter, so timing is important. If I am preparing for a show, I can’t make pottery because I won’t be at home to trim it when the time is right, therefore, I lose precious time while I prepare for a show. This slows me down. Also, I live in a vacation/retirment community and have a lot of part time neighbors who drop by to visit. While I can work through some things and visit at the same time, I can’t do a lot of other things. Sometimes, I “hide” in order to get work done and I screen phone calls to do the same. Hiding doesn’t always work and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by telling them I have to work now and can’t visit. I never reach my comfort level in inventory as I am a one person show. My husband helps with the heavy lifting but I am the actual producer of the product. So much to do, so little time. Forget tweeting, I don’t even want to go there. I have hard enough time doing facebook and handling my 4 etsy accounts. Thanks for the tips.
Pat
I get stuck in planning things instead of actually doing them. Or I spend my time organizing and structuring or researching instead of actually producing…
Thanks for a generous give-away!