ElizabethPW » creativity

The Seduction of the Resistance Monster: Day 6 of Writing Every Day

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:23:17 +0000

As part of my 60 day sabbatical, I’m instituting a new habit of writing every day.

First thing, as soon as I get up in the morning. Before any other work projects, before I leave the house to get my coffee (!!), before I do the dishes or indulge in any other excuse to not get the writing done.

Write. First. Every. Day.

And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a publishable blog post. It could be a journal entry of unbloggable content, just for myself, or to share with that one special person. An email blast to my list. A guest post. A subsection of The Live Your Truth Manifesto.

I don’t even have to know ahead of time.

Anything. Just the truth. Just what pours out of me.

Just. Write.

It’s already been amazing – I’ve been publishing tons of great content, I feel like I’ve already been productive by this time every morning, I’m doing the most important thing even before coffee (!!), and I have been working through tons of feelings (writing is amazing therapy), accessing ideas that didn’t have the space to surface.

But today the resistance monster paid me a visit.

She said: “oh, Elizabeth, you can take the day off, you have a lot going on. You wrote a little bit already. You made a video yesterday that you can post today, you don’t need to write something for your blog. You’ve been posting so much lately, there is a theory it’s better to post just every few days, so maybe you’re reducing your web traffic and comments. You don’t feel like writing. You don’t know what to write about. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, I’ll keep your little secret.”

So, in response to her polite assault, I sat down to write.

Not about what I had planned to write about, not what wasn’t working.

But what flowed out of me. What was already leaking from the tips of my fingers.

Just like the bitch in the corner, the resistance monster always strikes when you are about to do something amazing.

When you are making a change. Instituting a new habit. Taking a risk. Speaking your truth.

The voices in your head have a conspiracy to keep you safe.

To keep you small. To keep you the same as everybody else.

But I think the secret isn’t to resist her. It isn’t to fight her. It isn’t to beat her down or make her leave. (She’s not going anywhere anyway.)

The secret is to dance with her. To seduce her.

The secret is to write her.

–

How do you deal with resistance?

What happens when you are “trying” to be creative, when you are “trying” to change or create a new habit? What gets you stuck/unstuck?

EPW Live Ep5: Manage Ideas, Categorize & Test Content

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:03:17 +0000

In Episode 5 of EPW Live, I shared where I get my ideas from for blog posts, videos, live shows, and my paid programs, the different ways I categorize and test content, and how to choose which content to use, when, and for what media.

Check out the live show each week on Thursdays at 3:00 PM Pac / 6:00 PM EST.

Two Half Written and Nothing To Post

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:01:24 +0000

Today, I was productive.

I answered emails and blog comments and returned phone calls and made appointments. I coached a client and ran a twitter chat and wrote copy for my new consulting page.

I let my personal trainer kick my butt. Did the dishes. Unpacked boxes. Tidied the living room. (Well, I tidied it just enough so I was not mortified when the babysitter came.)

And then I sat down to write.

And found that today … today, I am boring.

I have two blog posts half-written. Full of facts. Full of detail.

But no story. No feeling. No epicness. No truth.

So, in a brilliant stroke of procrastination, I went on twitter.

And a tweet from my BFF Sarah Robinson came across my screen:

To which I replied:

And there it is.

That’s where the truth is. That’s the story. That’s always where the realness is.

In this moment.

And in this moment, I feel boring.

Productive, but boring.

Such is the ebb and flow of creativity. Some days the genius outside of us just ain’t showing up.

And our job is not to worry about the apparently lack of epicness. It’s not to lament the absence of inspiration.

Our job is to be in this moment.

As boring, as ordinary, as pedestrian as this moment may be.

To write. To create. To show up.

To do the work.

#thatisall

Review: “Ignore Everybody” by Hugh MacLeod aka @GapingVoid

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:49:07 +0000

Think you’re not an artist?

Think you’re not in a creative industry?

Think again.

In this video I share my realizations from the polarizing manifesto “Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity” by Hugh MacLeod (@GapingVoid).