On this episode of Creative Space, I share my top five actionable tips to create—even when you absolutely don't feel like it. You'll discover how to acknowledge and honor your emotions, the magic of using a lack of motivation as a creative ingredient, and the power that can come from making a habit of pushing through and doing the work anyway.
I'll also talk about Steven Pressfield's concept of "creative resistance" from his book, 'The War of Art' as well as my own struggles battling creative resistance.
Whether you're a musician, filmmaker, artist, or any creative spirit, these strategies are sure to help you break free of the resistance chokehold. Let's navigate through this maze together and turn those low motivation days into golden opportunities for growth and learning.
On this episode of Creative Space, I share my top five actionable tips to create—even when you absolutely don't feel like it. You'll discover how to acknowledge and honor your emotions, the magic of using a lack of motivation as a creative ingredient, and the power that can come from making a habit of pushing through and doing the work anyway.
I'll also talk about Steven Pressfield's concept of "creative resistance" from his book, 'The War of Art' as well as my own struggles battling creative resistance.
Whether you're a musician, filmmaker, artist, or any creative spirit, these strategies are sure to help you break free of the resistance chokehold. Let's navigate through this maze together and turn those low motivation days into golden opportunities for growth and learning.
To sign up for the weekly Creative Space newsletter, visit: eepurl.com/h8SJ9b.
To become a patron of the Creative Space Podcast, visit: bit.ly/3ECD2Kr.
SHOW NOTES:
0:00—Introduction 0:55—Steven Pressfield's concept of resistance 2:50—5 tips to push through on low motivation days
Jennifer Logue:
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Creative Space, a podcast where we explore, learn and grow in creativity together. I'm your host, jennifer Loge, and today we are going to talk about how to push through and create even when you don't feel like it. This is the perfect topic for me to talk about today, because I am living it. I made it to hot yoga yesterday and it wipes me out. I woke up feeling bleh this morning with a long list of things to do with my music, with the podcast, and the resistance was real. First of all, let's talk about that, the concept of resistance. What is it? Don't feel bad if you haven't heard about this before, because I myself learned about this on the podcast from another guest, sam Jones, and you can listen to that interview if you scroll through the playlist for Creative Space. Anyways, on this previous episode of Creative Space, sam recommended that I read the War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and in it, steven talks about resistance as the force that keeps us from doing what we should be doing, what we should be creating. It can come in the form of limiting beliefs, distractions oh, this is a big one Procrastination, as an example. This morning, I won the battle against resistance. Night, feeling bleh, I went straight to my vocal warmups and master exercises and got to work. I didn't stop to spend 30 minutes to meditate or look up how to make dairy-free ice cream using a food processor, like I wanted to. I also didn't talk myself out of it with the thought Jen, what's the point of you training your voice again? The music chapter has closed for you and it didn't work out. This is a waste of time. And, yes, I do have that voice and I'm working on it. I think we all have some critical voices that pop up when we're trying to accomplish something. But anyway, nope, I didn't let the resistance win Today. I pushed through the resistance and I notice when you keep pushing through, the easier it becomes to push through the distractions, the limiting beliefs, all of that stuff. But pushing through resistance is easier said than done. So I thought, for today's episode, I'll share five tips on pushing through and creating, even when you don't feel like it, because the fact is we're not always going to feel like it, but we have to push through and create anyway.
Jennifer Logue:
So, tip number one honor your present emotions. It's okay to feel bleh. No one feels amazing all the time. No one feels motivated all the time. Take a moment to recognize the bleh feeling and accept that this is what you have to work with today. It's not ideal, but at least it's something. It can also be helpful to journal about why you're feeling a lack of motivation, especially if it extends over a period of time. Reflect on what's changed for you. Are you less motivated than you were before? Is it because you've become too fixated on results? Are you not feeling well physically? Did someone say something to you that was discouraging? Write out whatever comes to mind. Knowing the source of the resistance can be a helpful tool in overcoming it. I found that if I pushed through without acknowledging my feelings, it leads to burnout because I keep pushing the feelings down and it just turns into a big mess. So it's important to honor your emotions.
Jennifer Logue:
Number two make a to-do list. When you aren't feeling motivated, having a to-do list to guide you through the day is so important. It seems like the opposite of a creative thing to do, but in my opinion, the true opposite of creativity is doing nothing by not creating anything. So, as you feel your focus starting to dwindle, grab your list. What smaller tasks on your list can you work on, to refocus yourself. Without a to-do list, you'll probably start scrolling or watching something on Netflix. Side note, your list doesn't have to be super long. You may have one big goal for the whole day. For me, that's getting this podcast written, recorded and published today. For you, it could be refining the course to a song, editing a scene in your short film or putting the finishing touches on a painting.
Jennifer Logue:
Number three use your lack of motivation as an ingredient. As an example. I decided to use my lack of motivation this morning as the subject of today's podcast episode. Maybe you can use yours in a song, in a scene with a character and a player developing. How can you use this lack of motivation as an ingredient in whatever you're working on? This tip may not work in every situation, but creating from the present moment has a special kind of magic to it, even the magic of bleh.
Jennifer Logue:
Number four remember why you started. I find this helpful with long-term projects. Sometimes, when we're not seeing results, our motivation can fade over time. This is a great reminder to reflect on why you started in the first place. Remember that first spark of inspiration. Remember how excited and motivated you were. Remember the vision you had. Sometimes that helps push you through. I also like to remind myself of my high motivation days. These will come again. This day isn't one of them, but they will come again.
Jennifer Logue:
Number five recognize that resistance can make you stronger. Resistance can keep us from creating or it can make us stronger creators, as we get to choose. When we push through resistance, it's kind of like pushing through the resistance when working out. It makes us stronger. When we just give up and say I'm not creating today, I don't feel like it. We rob ourselves of the chance to become stronger as creators. We rob ourselves of the chance to develop the discipline, that grit, that grit that's necessary to be the best we can be.
Jennifer Logue:
So what do you think? Do you currently push through and create, even on your low motivation days? What strategies do you use to push through creative resistance? I'd love to hear about your experience. You can reach out to me on social media or on my website with your thoughts, and that's all I have for today. I hope you found my five tips helpful. I know they're helping me right now because, look, I'm actually recording this podcast episode, yay. And then, probably later, I'm going to experiment with making dairy-free. I stream using my food processor, because now there's time. Anyways, that's all for this episode of Creative Space. My name is Jennifer Loge and thank you for tuning in Until next time.
