12 things you're overthinking about your work.
You're a master thinker, which also means you are a master avoider. This will help you nip that in the bud and remind you of what you are here to do and just how possible it is.
Welcome to The Founder & The Artist - An accessible, $7 a month publication filled with priceless insights. From career creative and coach Emma Rose Tait, The Founder & The Artist launched in honour of spreading industry knowledge and supporting entrepreneurs whose ideas don’t fit any mold, especially those in the early stages of growing or pivoting their work. Every week we explore both the spirituality and strategy of human creativity and bring you back into alignment and self-leadership with your work and gifts.
This piece highlights some of the biggest ways we out-think ourselves from taking action. This list, though filled with the most common iterations of overthinking I’ve seen from coaching hundreds of entrepreneurs, is still not likely a complete list. The value does not come from completeness, but rather from the deeper skill and lesson we learn when we begin to identify these sneaky patterns: the ability to actively and vigilantly guard our creative impulses from the hammer in our minds that will use any excuse to push those impulses down and away or to distract us to the point where we forget about doing the real creative work in the first place.
First, what’s working in my business this week:
Revisiting my archive of work and letting myself be inspired by my own creations and insights. That, and actively telling people (the right people) what I’m working on. Whenever we are stepping into a new relationship with our work - be that pivoting INTO the work itself from a previous professional identity or embarking towards a bigger goal with our work - we are susceptible to the wobble, which can feel like one foot in one foot out. There’s a tentativeness we move with that’s not so much about readiness as about simply not yet having the experience of embodying that version of ourselves. A simpler way to put that is: we feel unsure, not because we aren’t capable, but because it’s a new experience.
The solution to building confidence in this new space is to focus on all the reasons why you ARE capable of doing it (i.e., revisit all your work to be inspired, to see your growth and evolution), and then to do the outer work of taking it seriously. Talk about what you are doing like someone who is doing the damn thing, no matter what. Then ask yourself: “If I really wanted this to be successful, and I was really all in committed to making it happen, what would I be doing differently? Where do I need to commit even more to believing this is possible and acting on those beliefs?
Now, to the main course. 12 thoughts that I know have pulled you in and helped you avoid doing the work that actually matters (which is the most rewarding but most elusive kind of work). Read this to get called out on the clever ways you bs yourself into avoiding your magic (which we all do), and to be called back into focusing on the essence of what you are here to create, and how possible it is to achieve what you set out to. Reality changes when we focus our energy on what matters, and to do that, we have to be able to distinguish between what WILL move us forward, what won’t, and most importantly, release the stories that are causing us to dilute our energy and therefore our progress. As you read through, take notes on which of these habits and underlying beliefs are hanging around in your world. Share in the comments below!
