There are two things that consistently get in our way of being creative entrepreneurs — and with a little bit of intentional effort, they can both be avoided.
If you re a writer or a designer, creative block and envy can easily limit your productivity. So what s the best way around this?
It starts with being intentional about taking care of yourself. Perhaps it s time away from the internet or simply removing the distractions that seem to work their way into our lives.
In this 24-minute episode Allison Vesterfelt and I discuss:
Her new gig with Donald Miller at Storybrand
How she packed a day s worth of writing into 60 minutes
The creative one step back, two steps forward mentality
Being distracted vs. having creative block
The impact of a 7-day internet-free retreat
Creative envy and how it weighs us down
The biggest mistake that writer s make
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The Show Notes
Anne Lamott
John Steinbeck
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The Transcript
How to Deal with Creative Block and Creative Envy
Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, the digital marketing podcast network. It s built on the Rainmaker Platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at RainmakerPlatform.com.
Brian Gardner: I m getting better at identifying when I trip over my words, stopping, and then just leaving a space because I know I can cut it.
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the No Sidebar podcast. I am your host, Brian Gardner. I m here to discuss the struggles around being and becoming a creative entrepreneur. Together, we ll identify what s standing in the way of you building and growing your online business. No Sidebar is brought to you by the Rainmaker Platform, a complete website solution for writers, designers, podcasters, and other online entrepreneurs. Find out more and take a free 14-day test drive at Rainmaker.FM/platform.
This week, we re back with Allison Vesterfelt. We ll be sharing our thoughts on creative block and creative envy, me as a designer and her as a writer. Before we get going, Ally, let s catch up on a few things. It s been a few weeks since you ve been on the show, and there s a reason for that. We don t get to talk as much as I d like to, but again, that s okay, because a lot has changed on your end. Just give us a snapshot of what s happened over the last couple of weeks.
Her New Gig with Donald Miller at Storybrand
Allison Vesterfelt: For the last five years, I have been running my own company, doing the entrepreneurial thing. It started as freelancing, and then grew into this bigger thing where I had people working for me and with me and that s been really fun. I guess it s been about six weeks ago now, a writer friend of mine, who is also one of my heroes in the writing world — his name is Donald Miller — asked me if I wanted to come join his team and be a writer full time for his team. The offer was out of left field.
I wasn t planning to quit what I was doing and start a full-time job, but it was also such an honor to be asked by him. I ve worked closely enough with him and with his team to know that they are a blast to work with, and they re a really, really fun team. I took a few weeks to think about it and finally decided to say yes. The last three weeks have been my first time in five years working a real 9-to-5, show-up-at-work-every-day, 40-hours-a-week kind of gig, and it s been a blast. It s been so much fun.
Brian Gardner: That s really good to hear. I ve been talking to Daryl about that, and you and I talked a bit about the decision you made and whatnot, and so it makes me happy to know that you re happy. It also makes me happy to know that you told Don that you had to be part of this show still, and that was part of your deal, so we don t get to miss out on you. That s a good thing.
Another thing that s changed since you ve been on last was the idea of going unscripted. Robert and I spent the last two weeks cutting my teeth on doing the unscripted thing. Again, that s what we re doing here. I have questions and notes, but under no circumstance will I be reading. You and I have discussed this as well, just doing the conversational riffing thing, because we have a lot in common, and we share a lot of the same mentalities on certain things. With creative block and creative envy, I think that bodes totally well for us just going back and forth.
I also like the idea of going off topic sometimes, because that s where golden nuggets in life get found. When you stick to a script, you have a tendency not to go down places that may uncover interesting thoughts and opinions about things.
All right. Let s talk about creative block. Creative block is this thing that gets in our way of when we want to be creative, right? It s something that keeps us up late at night. There are times of the day we don t want to even be working, but we have to work and get through it.
As a writer, you obviously have it in a different form. For you as a writer, it looks differently than me as a designer, so what are the types of things that you do when you get to a point where you just can t think, you just can t write? Talking about the fact that you have a job now and work for Don, and now that you have a job where you have to write for someone else, there may even be some more pressure that comes along with that. What do you do, or how do you get through that kind of thing?
Allison Vesterfelt: Yeah. In the last five years, as I ve been working with a lot of writers, I have not met a writer yet who hasn t had to deal with writer s block. It can be one of the most frustrating things you deal with, especially when you depend on your writing for your income, you don t have the option of just saying, Oh, I ll just wait until the inspiration comes. You have to sit down and write right now.
The thing I ve learned from my own life about writer s block is, I always say, Writer s block is not just writer s block. It s life block. Usually, for me, when I sit down and I try to write and I can t write, it s usually because there s something I want to say, need to say, someone I need to talk to, something I m not admitting to myself, something deeper that I haven t tapped into yet.
The most effective tool for me has been to step away from the computer and to go for a long walk, or a run, or to a park, or somewhere where I can get away from all the noise, and my phone, and my computer, and everything that s asking for something from me, and listen to the intuition I have inside of me or follow where that leads me. Almost always, that leads me to something that will help me clear the blockage.
How She Packed a Day s Worth of Writing into 60 Minutes
Allison Vesterfelt: I think it was like six months ago or maybe a year ago now that I was working on a huge project, and I was bumping up really close to the deadline and was really worried I wasn t going to finish. Every day for a week, I would sit down on the computer, and I would try to get the words out, and they wouldn t come out. And they wouldn t come out. And they wouldn t come out. I was so frustrated.
For a few days in a row, I went on these long walks. By the third day I did this, I was walking around my neighborhood. As I was walking, I just was thinking to myself, Okay. I ve got to figure this out. I was saying a little prayer to ask for guidance as to how to get past this blockage, and the words that I heard in that moment were, Take care of yourself first, and then others second. It was like not an outside voice. It was an inside voice. It was like that little intuition, the conscience, or whatever you want to call that inside of you that guides you out of problems.
I heard those words, came home, sat down on my computer to get some more writing done, and immediately when I sat down, my husband walked in the door. It s like 4:30 in the afternoon. He s like, Hey, what are we going to do for dinner tonight? What do you want to do tonight? I got a text message from a friend who said, Hey, do you want to hang out tonight? Then, I had gotten an email from a client who was really concerned. They needed something ASAP. They needed it right that second, and I just repeated those words to myself, Take care of yourself first, and others second.
It was like the minute that I did that, I realized, Okay. I said to my husband, Hey, we ll talk about this in one hour. I just need one hour to get some words on the page, and replied to my friend and said, I can t hang out tonight. Let s catch up tomorrow. Then, I closed my email and decided that I would respond the next morning during business hours. In the next 60 minutes, I got more writing done in that 60 minutes than I had in the whole day.
I think sometimes, it s something like that, that there was something going on inside of me that I couldn t quite put my finger on or couldn t explain. But once I went on the walk, and cleared my head, and heard those words, it guided me out of the problem, if that makes sense.
Brian Gardner: Yeah. Have you ever seen the movie The Social Network?
Allison Vesterfelt: Yes.
Brian Gardner: You know that scene when Justin Timberlake comes to the house for the first time when they moved to San Francisco, and they re walking around and introducing people, and he goes up to this one guy, and he s like, Hey, and he s like, No, no, no. Don t talk to him. He s wired in?
Allison Vesterfelt: Yeah.
Brian Gardner: It s like it s the visual I got when you were talking about that, when you had that moment where, Hey, I got to work, and Daryl coming home and giving him the, Uh-uh, no. My headphones are on, and I m wired in.
Allis
