This is Part 3 in a three-part series. Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. To recap:
I had the great pleasure of being interviewed recently as a guest expert for Sue Ann Gleason‘s Well-Nourished Woman Inner Circle. One of the things Sue Ann asked me about was the three complaints she hears from women when she asks them where creativity lives in their well-nourished lives.
For too many of them, that creativity is absent, and for one of the following reasons:
- No Talent
- No Purpose
- No Time
Each of these reasons is a lie. A story we tell ourselves out of fear, or programming, but with no basis in reality.
Wednesday we looked at lie #1, No Talent. Yesterday we looked at lie #2, No Purpose. Today we look at…
Lie #3: No Time
This may be the biggest lie of all, and the one that’s hardest to uncloak. We’re all insanely busy — busier now than ever before in the history of humankind. Who has time to play?
“I don’t have time,” was my lament for close to a decade, the reason why the only art I made was for clients, never for myself (well, except five days once a year, at an annual retreat).
It was a lie. The truth was, I didn’t make the time. In my 2011 fifteen minutes a day experiment, I put the kibosh on that lie.
We make time for the things that are important to us. And if we don’t, we need to change that — now! (Click to tweet this.)
A corollary to the “I don’t have time” lie is the sub-lie that “I need a big chunk of time in order to create.”
There are a few creative expressions for which that has some truth: if you want to choreograph a physically demanding dance, for example, the bodies on which you choreograph — whether your own or others — must be warmed up so as not to sustain an injury.
But to create at all? You can take 2 minutes to doodle on the back of an envelope. Or 7 minutes to free write around a prompt. Or make up a song to sing to your cat.
If you claim you don’t have time for that, you’re just making an excuse. Something else is getting in your way, but it’s not a lack of time.
I challenge you to get real with yourself. If you say you want to live a creative life but you’re not doing it, I dare you to love yourself enough to devote fifteen minutes a day to nourishing your creative spirit. (Click to tweet this.)
Try it for just one week, and see what happens.
Still Skeptical?
I dare double-dog-dare you to try it, and here’s a gift to help you actually do it: Sign up for my free (free!) Creative Sandbox 101 mini-course through Kickstart Your Change to get some support and guidance for the first five days (and if you’re ready to take it further, look for a bonus coupon on the last day of Creative Sandbox 101 to get 30% off my 30-day Creative Ignition Kit through Monday, December 10.)
No More Excuses
Believe it or not, I was hindered for years by each one of those three reasons above.
I believed I had no talent, but the truth was I just had to stop worrying about talent and start playing!
I believed I had no purpose, but the truth was that following my creative passions led me to purpose.
I believed I had no time, but the truth was I just needed to make the time. (And not even that much time!)
Don’t let these lies stop you from your following your creative joy the way they stopped me. The world needs you to create. You need you to create.
Let’s create a world together where each of us is filled with joy and resilience because we take such good care of our creative selves! The vision of such a world is why I’m on a mission to empower people to follow their creative callings.
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
