Here’s what I mean + 6 Ways to Experience Creative Flow
Forcing and Striving is all about a mindset that says don’t quit, don’t rest or other people will win and you will lose.
Striving feeds and breeds on fear of missing out.
Striving feeds on hustle.
The idea of striving — without stopping — is common advice for new creators and those in startups — as if it’s the only way to be successful.
But, there are many beautiful ways to getting things done, achieving your dreams and being who you want to be.
I am proof you can have a successful, creative online business without hustle.
I’ve worked hard. I’ve put in the time.
But I’ve also put family, self and rest first — by focusing on creative flow over forcing and striving.
Striving is a constant state of being on alert, scanning the world for more opportunities, more pushing, more inserting yourself into the plot of your life.
And it’s exhausting and relentless.
Striving is all about self-optimization. You aren’t enough, you aren’t doing enough, you must improve, constantly.
It’s a “Can’t stop, won’t stop” mentality that is not built for humans.
Flow, however, feeds on mindfulness, just-right intentions and Divine timing.
“May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
Flow says this is my best moment to shine, this is my time to get things done, this is my time to create.
When we choose to work in Flow, we allow moments of rest, time to recover and heal and practice self-acceptance of being human not superhuman.
Flow means being fully immersed in an activity that brings you immense pleasure and interest — > you lose yourself and all sense of time disappears.
Flow happens in the sweet spot between the ideal conditions of satisfaction, effort and energy.
Choosing flow over forcing and striving requires what I call Sovereign Self-Trust.
You must be able to draw on your own inner wisdom of what is necessary and true for you and what’s possible with your life circumstances.
When we trust ourselves to access flow states, we give ourselves permission to just be, to rest, to enjoy life.
So, how can you experience more creative flow in your days?
6 Ways to Experience More Creative Flow:
Accept that you can’t hack it
While you can train yourself to experience creative flow more often, it can’t be forced.
You can’t just say, OK, “Going into creative flow state right now.”
Prioritize YES projects, not shoulds.
A Yes project is challenging enough to keep your attention — and brings you delight.
When I’m working on a YES Project, I access creative flow quickly and easily, always.
It’s nearly impossible to enter a creative flow state if you are multitasking.
Hide your phone, shut down all the tabs on your computer — and in your brain — and go all in on your YES project of the moment.
Diversify your flow states.
It’s beautiful to get into flow in non-work activities. Gardening. Cooking. Baking. Organizing.
These give you energy for your work projects.
What’s a non-work YES you’d like to make time for today?
“Flow can be found in so many things: Teaching, carving, exploring. Healing, writing, making right. Unearthing, interpreting, speaking truth. What is common between them is an exhilaration in the engagement, the challenge, and no guarantee of success.”
― Heather E. Heying
Address your Energy and Emotions
Creative flow will not show up if you are feeling zapped emotionally or energetically.
This is the biggest obstacle I see with my clients who struggle with accessing creative flow consistently.
Stop letting life zap your creativity by …
:: Cultivating strong wellbeing practices. :: Develop resilience for life’s circumstances :: Learn to bounce forward in hard times
Be honest about what you need to do to balance your mind, body and spirit better.
Slow Down.
Creative flow thrives with S P A C E … give yourself plenty of time without conditions or expectations.
In other words, put away the striving goals and to-do lists.
And just flow. 🙂
Does flowing vs. hacking, striving and forcing resonate with you? Follow me @Shawn_BraveYes for more anti-hustle approaches to making dreams happen in your life and business.
I’m a believer in Radical Wellbeing for creators, thought leaders and Entrepreneurs who are doing courageous work.
First, What is Radical Wellbeing?
When I was coaching moms around the world to find more peace and ease in their lives, I often said this — > the harder the day you had with your most challenging kiddo, the more self-care you need.
Radical wellbeing is radical because it’s literally about putting yourself extremely first. Extremely. Because you need it. You’re holding up a lot.
Most of my clients are not just business owners.
They have families and homes and health issues.
They don’t have a ton of support for themselves.
And they have big dreams. Dreams that are often too big for them to take on because of their capacity.
Next, What is Brave work?
If you have unique ideas and offers you are putting into the world, you are doing Brave work.
It goes against the everyday norms of our society, the culture we were born into, the culture that we’re being swallowed up by right now.
It sets out to create a new culture.
A new identity.
A new way of being.
Upleveling or changing how we do our work, how we show up.
And much, much more …
Brave Work is often your soul’s work. It’s what you were meant to do.
And, it can also be doing the work you do — just very differently.
Whatever your Brave Work is— maybe it’s just being more visible and taking up more space — or putting yourself at the center of the work youv’e been hiding behind for so long … you have to have the clarity, the capacity and the courage to do it.
That’s the foundation of brave Yes coaching.
But today I want to focus on the capacity piece of my coaching work because so many of you reached out to say YES, CAPACITY. THAT’S WHERE I NEED TO INVEST RIGHT NOW.
I think out of everything I talk to my clients about in private coaching, taking everyday courageous leaps is where my heart lights up the most.
As a Brave Yes Coach for creative CEOs and Entrepreneurs, my clients are all on a mission to play bigger, expand and reach their next level of growth or professional development. They also recognize they need a little push themselves out of their comfort zones this year and so I see my role as a gentle. persistent nudger.
But let’s be honest: None of us are ready to jump out of an airplane without some everyday leaps that lead us to that moment.
Last year, I began a list of 100 Brave Yeses anyone could take.
That soon became 200.
And now I”m working toward 365.
There’s are so many ways we can be more courageous in our creative work — and in our lives.
And since your business is a part of both — you can practice everyday courage in life and creativity and it all counts.
One of my favorite homework assignments to give my clients is journaling on a sticky issue. So I encourage you to create your own list of 22 leaps YOU can make this year in your business.
So without dragging this out, let’s just get into it.
This is a part of my 22 in 22 Project, where I am sharing a Brave Yes List of various topics that feel good to me — because I happen to love list making and February is my birthday month and this is my blog and I can do what I want. You can read through all of the lists here. I have no idea how many of these lists I’ll create … so stick around and just see what’s up.
22 Everyday Leaps to Take In Your Business in 2022
WANT TO TAKE BOLDER, BRAVER LEAPS IN YOUR BUSINESS? Let’s chat about your business, life goals and how the two can fit together. Let’s definitely chat on Zoom and assess where you are ready for a life or professional EXPANSION. Learn more and schedule here.
I want to talk about an essential part of my coaching philosophy today — the Catapult Method, which is a fun way of looking at the 3 Cs of Brave Yes CEO coaching and methodology.
Two episodes ago, I talked about the goal of my work with women founders and entrepreneurs is all about the A-Factor — that focuses on alignment, audacious self-worth and authenticity. If you haven’t, check out that episode.
And in the last episode I went deep on my own personal word of the year — untamed — and how I see it playing out in my business this year.
Today I’m going to be a bit more practical and talk about the 3Cs of a Brave Yes CEO. Plus a bonus C for fun.
Clarity
Capacity
Courage
When I beganmy first business in 2012— 10 years ago — I definitely didn’t have the 3cs. But over time I learned they were essential and where I eventually began to put 80 percent of my investment and resources.
Ready to Uplevel Your Business? The 3 Cs of a Brave Yes CEO
CLARITY.
When we lack clarity we spin our wheels and end up very, very distracted and off our path.
Lacking clarity is something that evolves — the more input and ideas we consume, the less clear we become. The possibilities become endless.
I definitely made this mistake early on in my first business. I wanted to do it all — I am a manifesting generator in human design after all! And not only did I want to do it all. I did do it all. until my business was a cluster%$##.
I used to get to my desk on Monday with more ideas than time and be stuck in gridlock on what to do next.
Until I put all my energy and resources into clarity and un-complicating things — and this is exactly what I work with my clients on when it comes to YOUR vision and clarity.
Clarity is powerful.
Clarity is motivating.
Clarity is energizing.
When you know, you know.
Clarity brings forth an inner knowing of what’s next.
This doesn’t mean once you find clarity you will always have clarity.
The more clarity we have the more projects we finish. The more clarity we have the more time we use effectively. The more clarity we have the more momentum we feel in our businesses. The more clarity we have the more we communicate clearly and with impact.
Some signs you need to invest in finding and cultivating crystal clear clarity:
— you don’t know what you should be doing
— you are stuck on spin cycle of what you where you want to take your business
— you spend a lot of time on the same few tasks in your business
— you aren’t sure who you really want to be or who you really want to serve
CAPACITY.
Capacity is what we need to do our work and tend to ourselves and our families and not burnout. Capacity is the energy and vitality you need to do big, bold work in this world.
I remember when I started making capacity and well-being a big part of my creative work. My daughter was a toddler and began having huge, huge meltdowns. These meltdowns continued for years. They were so big and so overwhelming that when she would go off to school or go to bed, I felt absolutely zapped.
I had to find a way to make sure that her emotions didn’t become mine.
And that’s how my first business, Abundant Mama, was born, honestly.
And it’s still so much of the coaching work I do with my clients — clients who want the capacity to write a book, launch a program, charge more, take on more 1:1 clients without burning out, do more art, etc. etc.
We all get 24 hours.
Some of us are going to use those 24 hours super efficiently and others are not and a big part of what decides that is your capacity. Your capacity to hold space and energy for all the things.
I am a woman who likes to do all the things.
My wellbeing work is essential and includes a ton of spiritual wellbeing and emotional. I work with my clients on nurturing your WHOLE self.
Signs you need to invest in boosting your capacity:
— you fall into extremes in your productivity — supercharged productive days or weeks followed by total inaction or very unmotivated dips.
— you want to do something out of your comfort zone but you are so tired and so exhausted from the day to day of your work
— you dread some of the things you need to do to move the needle in your business or work and just don’t have the energy for it.
— you play smaller to protect your wellbeing because you are afraid that upleveling is going to “cost” you time and energy.
— you spend more time in emotional upheaval than you’d like
— you wish you have more energy for LIFE beyond work
COURAGE.
Courage to live and lead a Brave Yes mindset — that allows for that A-Factor around alignment, authenticity and activating your superpowers — is essential.
It’s the difference between a boring business and one that lights you up.
It’s the difference between playing small and having more impact.
That web is filled with a bunch of self-sabotage and limiting beliefs such as — > I can’t make the time to write a book or launch my dream offer. Or, I’m not good enough or confident enough.
Whatever it is that’s stopping you from living and leading from your most courageous self it’s keeping you safe and comfortable.
I like safe and comfortable.
In fact, I toggle between wanting to change the world and curl up in my cozy clothes and shutting out the world. This toggle life requires me to do the work of courage and leaving my comfort zone.
I work my clients on discomfort in the messy middle or in the stretch zone because our emotional override is to keep us small, still and peaceful.
But there’s nothing small, still and peaceful around launching anything – a book, a new offer, a new identity, a new life or business. Change is hard. It brings up a lot of shit.
And yet change — and Brave Yes CEOs need to make changes — is essential to keeping our businesses relevant with the times and the market.
Change doesn’t have to be burning it all down either.
Changes can be powerful and subtle. Like in how you set boundaries — see Boundary Boost for more on this — or how you choose to do your work.
Some of the signs you need to invest inner courage work:
— You’ve had a big dream or goal on your list for years.
— You know you need to take your biz to the next level but something is holding you back.
— You self-sabotage a lot and need to get out of your own way.
— You are the bottleneck of your business.
— You desire more bold marketing and visibility but keep hanging back and hiding.
So that’s my Catapult Method: Clarity, Capacity and Courage — and my Brave Yes Coaching Program helps you with ALL THREE of these areas.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER: You are invited to schedule a call with me! If you need help boosting and cultivating clarity, capacity or courage than my coaching method is ideal as you consider upleveling your role as the leader of your business. All coaching discovery calls with me or free and pressure-free. They are simply a zoom conversation to see if private coaching with me is what you need right now to get unstuck, do what feels good in your business and start to move the needle and find more momentum on the business you dream of having.SCHEDULE HERE.
I’ve been paying close attention to what my body wants me to know about my word of the year — untamed — and how I can have an untamed business mindset.
This, of course, isn’t always easy to do in the business world.
Our tendency is to conform. We’re taught this at such young ages.
And more importantly, we’re taught to be three things: small, hidden and quiet.
In today’s Soulcast Episode on The Brave Yes CEO Show, I’m talking about this very thing and how I’m applying an Untamed Mindset in my work and business this year.
In many ways, the mere act of starting a business — freelance or otherwise — is a Brave Yes.
The second you step out of that 9 to 5 trap and into a life with more time freedom, you are essentially saying YES to yourself.
That is always the first Brave Yes™ — a threshold of beginnings, uncertainty and hope.
It’s scary.
It’s liberating.
But, the truth is that no matter how scary and liberating that first step is, the success of your business is entirely up to your willingness to adopt a Brave Yes CEO Mindset and begin planning in a way that allows you to maintain, scale and even grow your business in the way you desire.
And, the other part of the equation is about YOU loving your business and the life it’s bringing to you over and over, year after year.
So a Brave Yes CEO, as I see HER, is living and leading a bit differently than the average CEO. She’s …
Making decisions based on her own soul alignment — not just on what will sell and make money.
Not doing business as usual.
Living and leading in a way that is operates in her integrity and values.
Choosing systems that promote ease and joy over exhaustion for herself.
Using her strengths and superpowers for good, for impact and for deliberate action.
Focused on leaving a legacy not just a business.
Taking imperfect action and courageous risks often out of her comfort zone.
Doing the hard work on herself to have the clarity, capacity and courage to make those bold moves she wants to make — without experiencing burnout.
There will be more to say on what a Brave Yes CEO is over the course of this year.
First, it is going to be the name of my podcast.
Secondly, join my newsletter … For the first half of 2022 — the first 26 Weeks — I will be unpack The ABCs of a Brave Yes CEO.
Finally, let’s work together in 2022!
What could you do if you had more creative momentum and positive energy in your life? The possibilities are endless … let’s make it happen.
