Stop Putting Pressure on Your Creativity
A new "note-to-self" podcast episode
Hello, it’s been a while.
You know when influencers say “okay wow… it’s been a minute!” or “felt weird not posting for so long, but here I am!” (…when you never noticed they were gone).
I think we all feel a bit like that sometimes - overstating how central we are in other people’s lives. In a meta way, today I am writing about this very topic: and that sense of feeling guilty for not doing something you were never obligated to do!
I find it happens with creative work.
We accidentally turn JOY, FUN & CURIOSITY into OBLIGATION and SHAME.
Like those over-apologetic influencers, with creative projects we need to intentionally choose where we apply discipline and where we might genuinely be letting people down (and how we can build systems to avoid that), and also recognise where joy and fun and doing something on our own terms is enough.
Yesterday morning, I sat down for 5 minutes and did something unusual. I recorded a one-take note on the madness of how humans - including me - so quickly turn joy and freedom into obligation.
You can listen here if you relate.
If you are a fan of the Out of Hours podcast you may have noticed I’ve not released an episode in a few months. I feel bad about that.
But more likely? You didn’t even notice. And I had other things I needed to prioritise!
Call it capitalism, call it protestant work ethic, call it whatever. We often put pressure on ourselves that we are not doing enough… but doing enough for who? And for what exactly? So often we don’t define this. We forget that WE can define what is enough. That our chosen creative projects in life are often for growth, for fun, and for us. We make the rules.
Pressure is an inevitable consequence of being ambitious + creative + wanting to fulfil your potential in life. And it's often useful. We need discipline and consistency to make most things happen.
But we also deserve to live a life that is not just a list of chores. And for creativity, pressure is often not helpful. We should move ‘towards’ things - decide on our values and make values-informed decisions on how we live and what we do, not default to ‘growth at all costs’ for every part of our life. I sometimes work with coaching clients on this.
Why am I sharing this? Because I think it’s very common to put too much pressure on ourselves, in a way that is disproportionate to how much it matters to others, and I don’t think people talk about it enough.
On the podcast, and linked below, you can hear the full ramble. I hope it’s useful for someone. Let me know if you relate.
New (normal) podcast episode is also coming very soon - for joy, not obligation!