The Artist's Way Week 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength and Learning To "Fill The Form"
Week 8: Recovering A Sense of Strength
So far, in Weeks 1 through 7 of The Artist’s Way, we’ve:
covered some foundational practices for creative recovery (morning pages and the Artist’s Date),
discussed some new concepts to get us into an artist child’s mindset (synchronicity, abundance, and creative luxury), and
identified some larger creative blocks and how to deal with them (The Virtue Trap and perfectionism).
Most of the readings and exercises until now have focused on unraveling negative mindsets/belief systems that have kept us creatively blocked, but starting from last week, the readings focus more on taking action towards our creative goals and dealing with some new blocks that may surface as we move forward.
In Week 8, we’re talking about recovering a sense of strength and building resilience in the face of failure and loss. We’ll talk about some strategies that can help us to keep going, and the importance of “filling the form” (aka taking small, but consistent action towards our creative goals).
Persisting Through Artistic Losses
As we start to put our creativity into practice, it’s inevitable that we will experience some type of loss at some point. Julia mentions a few types of losses in the book - loss of hope, loss of face, loss of money, and loss of self-belief. These losses can come in the form of rejection, criticism, lack of sales, or negative (or zero) feedback.
Experiencing these losses for the first time can feel like serious blows to our artist child, but here are some strategies to persist through them:
1. Acknowledge the loss.
Julia says that when artistic losses aren’t openly acknowledged or mourned, they become “artistic scar tissue”, creating more blocks towards our artistic growth. So even if it’s a tiny act of buying yourself flowers or letting yourself take a day off, make sure to acknowledge the loss (and the crappy feelings it brings), and treat your artist child as a mom would treat small child who is in pain. As Julia puts it, “Ouch. That hurt. Here’s a little treat, a lullaby, a promise…”.
2. Put your focus back on the process, not the final result.
The moment we accept our artistic losses as the “final answer” is the moment we get ourselves completely stuck. So instead of obsessing over the results, remember that we are on a creative journey that comes with ups and downs and all-arounds. Focus on the lessons learned, reflect on what you can do better the next time around, and remember that moving through your losses is an important part of your creative journey. These losses will strengthen you and become a part of your bigger story. And continuing to move forward will take you exactly where you’re meant to be.
3. Choose to move forward.
We can choose to let our losses define us and block us from moving forward, or we can choose to get back up and keep going. Julia says, “I have learned that the key to career resiliency is self-empowerment and choice”. The best way to handle artistic loss is to turn those losses into strengths and continue to make that daily choice to press on towards your goals. Therein lies the key to building resilience and reaching true success.
“Filling The Form”
Simply put, filling the form is this: taking that next small step towards your larger goals. It’s usually something small and seemingly insignificant - cleaning your paintbrushes, opening your sketchbook, or clearing your desk. And although it might seem too small to really make a difference, it’s the commitment to taking small, consistent action every day that “fills the form” and sets you in forward motion.
Filling the form can be a powerful practice because it removes us from a mindset where we are thinking in grandiose terms. We like to think that there is one big action that will change the course of our artistic careers, but this mindset causes us to: (1) put too much pressure on the next step we need to take, and (2) lose sight of the fact that large changes usually happen in tiny increments over time.
When we keep things simple and small, we allow ourselves to take things one step at a time - with a lot less pressure and anxiety riding on our decisions. So instead of worrying about how to make a cohesive portfolio that will impress potential art directors, why not focus on the simple task of getting your sketchbook out and getting that first sketch done? (This is me talking to myself, by the way. Please tell me that some of you can relate!)
With that said, here’s an exercise from the book that might help you figure out what it might look like to “fill the form” towards your creative goals today:
Step 1: Name your dream: “In a perfect world, I would secretly love to be a _____.”
Step 2: Name one concrete goal that signals to you its accomplishment. This could be something like getting a feature in a popular magazine in your industry or landing a job with your dream client. Be very specific in naming this goal. It signifies your true north and will be your guiding light along the way.
Step 3: Answer this question: In a perfect world, where would you like to be in five years in relation to your dream and true north?
Step 4: In the world we inhabit now, what action can you take, this year, to move you closer?
Step 5: What action can you take this month? This week? This day? Right now?
Step 6: Make an action plan. Each day, choose the next small action that “fills the form” and moves your forward.
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
- Robert Collier
What small action will bring you closer to your true north today?
Choose to take action and trust that even the tiniest act has the power to put you in forward motion towards your goals.
One step at a time. One day at a time.
See you in Week 9!