Ep. 86 Working through Creativity Blocks [Jumpstart Your Year: Day 26]

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the 2024 Jumpstart Your Year series, where we're coming to you every day this January with mini episodes to help you get reflecting on what's working and what's not in your parenting and productivity journey.

Our goal with the series is to create momentum and spark creativity so you can go into the new year with clarity and intention.

On Day 26, Christina reflects on the question:

How do you deal with creative blocks?

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Transcript

Christina: To jumpstart your year, we're coming to you every day this month with many episodes to get you reflecting on what's working and what's not in your parenting and productivity journey. Our goal with this series is to create momentum and spark creativity so you can go into the new year with clarity and intention.

Hey, I'm Christina, life and business coach, a work from home entrepreneur, homeschooling mom, and Co founder of the village community and co workspace. And today we're going to talk about what to do when you set aside the time, but you have no creativity left or no energy to do the task that you wanted to do.

So this is something that. When we look at often what we're trying to do is manage our time. So we're trying to find those big chunks of time to be able to get this creative work done. And a lot of times what we think is that we just don't have enough time when in reality. Sometimes we can set aside that time and then just be completely blocked.

We just don't have, we can't muster any creativity. We can't muster any energy to actually get the work done. And this is something that I have found. Happens to me and happens to the women that I work with as well is that when we are in this mode of wanting and creating and we have this passion and we have something that we're really wanting to work on and we're also juggling all of these other responsibilities that it can be really A priority to just find that time, but I've set aside weekends where I'm going to go and make big strides in certain areas of my life or business.

And what I'll find sometimes is that I wind up actually more of this just need to. Be on my own and have that space and I don't actually generate as much as I thought that I was going to going into it. It's almost like this recovery period. So why does this happen often when we are at this pace in our lives?

We're just full of this busyness and. Constantly moving on to the next thing. So when we set aside that time and we have it, there's a couple of ways that we can go and we can approach this. So one way that we've already kind of talked about a little bit previously in the series is how to jumpstart the creativity when you are in that mode.

So, okay, I'm here. I have the space finally, and I can't get into that productive mode. So what do I do? So those can be things like movement, getting outside music changing up your environment or scenery breath work, anything that'll kind of get that energy moving and kind of move that out of you.

Sometimes it might be just taking a little bit of time to decompress before you actually start that creative process. If you just try to sit there and come up with something and the ideas aren't flowing, it's actually going to be contra indicative of what you need to be doing, which is if you just give a little bit of space to regroup recenter, you actually come back and feel much more energized and ready to tackle the project.

But what I think is more interesting and what I think that is been more beneficial is actually looking at this proactively so what are the causes of this, and the causes typically are that we are not managing our energy we're just. on the go checking things off the list not really taking care of ourselves in ways that are really conducive to creating that overall ability for our us to be able to tap into those creative sources.

So this can be things like. eating well, sleeping, getting some exercise or movements, having some time to yourself on a regular basis, having some space in your schedule. These are all things that if you start to proactively do and look at when you're planning your weeks or when you're looking at what you have coming up to make sure that you have those blocks and chunks of time that are just to yourself or whatever way feeds your energy. So for me personally, I really like to have space where I'm just on my own. I can have quiet. I can have a little bit of downtime and a little bit of release from the overstimulation of just constant life for other people. They might actually thrive on more. They need more energy or engagement in their life.

So they might need to go grab coffee with a friend or Go out to something that's really exciting and enjoyable to them, more social engagement, and that's where they're really going to thrive and get their energy. So when you're looking at this and looking at it, try to figure out what are the energy drainers in your life?

Like, what are the things that are really like just draining all the energy? So for me, a lot of the times that's like just constant maintenance on. The house or just regular schedule things that just don't really give me any boost or lift. And then just the noise and interaction, just everyday life.

So when I look at this, I look at what are the energy drainers? How can I help to reduce that? Or how can I help to alleviate some of that? And then how can I look to bring more regular energy in, and what can I do to really foster that overall environment where I have this ability to be creative and get into my center.

So when I do have these chunks of time that I can feel like I'm already filled, like I'm already in a space where I have filled my energy capacity. And so I'm able to do that. So when I'm looking at. You know, planning my stuff or looking at how that time leading up to that creative block looks and making sure that I'm scheduling in some of those energizing activities so I can really take full advantage of the time when I have it.

And then being able to implement some of those more reactive techniques as well because we're not always going to be in a space where we can proactively lead up to it. But then what can I do once I get there and just know. That I might have to do some things to jumpstart my energy and give myself some grace for that too.

I think sometimes we get stuck in this loop of feeling like I need to be productive or I need to be creative or I, you know, I set up this thing. And then getting a little bit down on ourselves when that doesn't just naturally happen. And so giving ourselves a little bit of grace and knowing that that doesn't have to be the full amount of time that I'm doing for that that I can.

Put in and plan for some of these energy rejuvenating activities that'll happen and then be able to able to take just advantage of the time that I do have available. And sometimes that might just be throwing out what I wanted to get done productively and just using that time to implement some of those energy creating activities.

And one of the other things that is conducive to this proactive look at creating these systems and having this constant flow of energy and creativity are things like the village, which is our community and co work space where we offer opportunities for connection, accountability and intention setting.

It's a great way to be able to brainstorm with other people to get ideas to kind of keep up that momentum and that inspiration. And you can check out the link in the show notes for any upcoming meetings and sign up for the email will you'll get updates on all of the prompts throughout this jumpstart your year.

And if you'd like more personalized support, feel free to reach out for private coaching or contact me to get updated when there are other programs or support opportunities available as well. So I hope you enjoyed this episode of parenting and productivity by design, and we look forward to seeing you next time.

Bye.