Start

Start.

Start. Start. Start.

I tell myself this all the time! It doesn’t matter that I love to follow my creative curiosities and I feel vibrant & alive when I do, still many days it’s hard for me to get started.

Seriously, so many days I just don’t feel inspiration. My gumption has melted out and snuck back to bed. Even making stained glass art on these days feels like a great big chore.

What helps me is to think of just the one thing I need to do next (with my current art project). Just that one thing. Then start.

Time after time when I didn’t feel a fire under my hiney to start creating, I focused solely on the next thing to do and made myself start. Soon I’d find myself thinking it really wasn’t so bad after all! I’ve been pleasantly surprised that my gumption usually starts to grow once I’ve started.

I mentioned last month that it helps me to have a detailed to-do list, mine is on a white board in the studio. The specific task I need to do for my current art is always at the top of the list. When I focus on that one thing, instead of thinking about the whole project, it’s much less overwhelming.

The bite-size tasks make it less daunting and it’s incredibly helpful for me to have that next task already decided! If I don’t have a plan, I get overstimulated thinking of everything I want to do and then get bogged down in my head and don’t do anything at all. Have you been there?

I’ve been there many, many times and that’s why I keep a list that’s broken down into small tasks then make myself start the top one. It’s a powerful key for me to get things accomplished.

*If you’d love to have a friend (that’s me!) send you emails of encouragement, insight and suggestions to live a creative life, then click here to sign up for CELEBRATE the newsletter. Or pop in here to the blog whenever the spirit moves you for a creative nudge!