The Truth About Self-Sabotage

Does this sound familiar?

You buy some amazing art supplies and set up a table in your garage to have space to paint. And you plan on having a whole afternoon on the weekend to get started on your new canvas.

But it feels like life is against you because everything that could go wrong does go wrong. It’s like you sent a memo to the Universe saying, Please interrupt my whole weekend so that I’ll never have a few hours to myself.

Or maybe…

You get up at 5:30 to do your morning pages in your art journal. And you immediately feel glorious about having the willpower to make this happen Yay!

But it turns out that was the easy part. Because your plans to get to bed earlier are a complete flop. Your wind-down routine is more like a wind-up routine. And you find yourself doing everything but getting ready for sleep.

Eeeek!

What’s happening here?

If being creative really lights you up, then why on earth can’t you make time for it? Why do you avoid doing what feels so good to you? And why does it feel like self-sabotage?

Let me address the monster in the room.

Contrary to what you may believe, being creative is not hard for you.

But your resistance to expressing your creativity is.

It’s the pushing and holding down of your creativity that’s exhausting. It’s the feeling bad about yourself and being mean to yourself that eats away at you.

All that squashing and pushing down turns into an energy-sucking monster called resistance.

So here’s the deal. Your creativity is your genius.

But when you try to squash your creativity, it turns into a monster.

We all have crazy mad desires deep down inside of us. We long to fulfill our potential and thrive. We yearn to make a difference. And yet we squash all that. We push it down.

We fear:
• Not knowing how it will all work out
• Not knowing if we can handle the success we dream of
• Failing and being rejected
• Disappointing others

The counter-intuitive truth about self-sabotage.

• You’re not short on time.
You’ve been spending tons of time avoiding and thinking about not doing it than actually doing what you want to do. Your resistance is creating some serious energy leaks for you.

These energy leaks show up in your life as multitasking, clutter, worrying, caring too much, indecisiveness, and perfectionism.

You’re not short on time. As soon as you figure out your energy leaks, you get back all the time you need.

• You’re not short on energy.
You’re already expending tons of energy pushing yourself down and squashing your creativity. By easing up on all the effort it takes to keep yourself down, you free up a buttload of energy.

You’re not short on energy. As soon as you drop your resistance, you get back all the energy you need.

• You’re not short on enthusiasm.
Here’s the thing, you’re never avoiding the work itself. Your resistance shows up in your overthinking about the work. You get caught in a loop of spiraling thoughts about not having enough time, not knowing how to start, not having the right materials, not being in the right space, not feeling inspired, etc.

When you think about the actual work, you feel excited.

You feel excited about using new materials you can’t wait to play with. You feel excited about finishing wherever you left off last time. You feel excited about trying a new technique.

You’re not short on enthusiasm. What’s going on is that you’re avoiding the discomfort of your spiraling thoughts.

• You’re not short on discipline.
Maintaining your resistance takes tons of willpower. What’s happening is that you think you need to push your way through.

But play is more effective than push. Working harder only keeps you stuck. The harder you try, the more resistance you feel.

It’s like you’ve been relentlessly paddling upstream when in reality all you’ve gotta do is let go of the oars.

You’re not short on discipline. What’s happening is that you’ve been trying too hard. You’ve gotta allow for ease and play. The more you play, the more energized you feel to try new things.

• You’re not short on talent.
The truth is that you’re already creative. And you want to get a lot done in the perfect circumstances. You want lots of time, all the right materials, the perfect workspace, etc. And you want what you make to be good.

But making unreasonable and difficult demands on yourself is not sustainable.
You’re not short on talent. You’ve been giving yourself tall orders and telling yourself yourself you’re not artistic enough.

Here’s how you can turn that around:  Think TINY to thrive.

Try making your tasks so tiny that you can finish them in 10-15 minutes. Doing tiny tasks helps you stay consistent. And because you can stay consistent, you actually finish faster.

Tiny tasks are more effective than tall orders because they’re easy to keep track of in a checklist format. And this means you can fuel your motivation by seeing your own progress as you check them off your list. Yay!

The reason you don’t have a time problem.

You feel like no matter how hard you try to organize, prioritize, systemize, or automize, you just can’t seem to keep your head above water.

And you’ll never find a solution by searching for ways to be more productive. Nope.

And here’s why: You don’t have a time problem.

What you think is a time management problem is actually an energy management problem.

The way you do energy is the way you do time.

And your resistance is creating some serious energy leaks for you.

These energy leaks are sneaky. They can show up in your life as multitasking, clutter, worrying, caring too much, indecisiveness, and perfectionism. They drain your energy on a regular basis and you may not even notice anymore.

Yep. You've got time going down the drain, baby. That’s time you could use for self-care, learning, and nurturing your creativity.

Now picture this:

All those projects you’ve had piling up for years no longer seem impossible.

It’s so much fun to use your art supplies that it makes you feel like a little kid. It actually feels easy to find the time to be creative. And not only that, but your creative play begins to spill over into all parts of your life.

Whoopee!

Trust me when I say that I want nothing more than to see you having fun with your creative side.

I also know that life gets in the way and you simply can’t function for long on a leaky battery.

So first things first, let’s take a look at how to get your time back. Yay!

Here’s your next move:
Click this link and learn more about getting your time back:
How To Find More Time To Be Creative: 6 Sneaky Energy Leaks That Steal Your Time