“I just SAW my project as A big chocolate chip cookie! It was real and sweet”
– Anna, Gilbert, AZ
This is a “first-thought = best thought” exercise, and so there’s no right or wrong way to do it so just stay loose and let the answers to the questions bubble up from the bottom of your belly.
I know some people have a hard time “visualizing,” and if you are one of those people, no worries – just see if these questions spark anything for you.
Step One: Plug In To Your Intuition
First, get into a comfortable position and take a few deep breaths to clear your mind and plug in to your intuition.
Once you are feeling focused and relaxed, allow an image of your project to appear in your mind.
This image might be sort of abstract, or perhaps it’s literal or maybe some of both. Whatever jumps to mind first is perfect, even if it seems a little weird : )
Step Two: Noticing Your Project’s Unique Image
Holding this image of your project in your mind’s eye, ask yourself the following questions:
What does your project look like?
Does it have a shape? A color?
Is it shiny? Dull? Sharp-edged? Soft?
Reach out and touch it – what happens?
Does it glow? Does it move when you touch it? Does it bend?
Notice some of the special details – whatever it does or doesn’t do.
Step Three: What Does Your Project Want To Tell You?
Now listen carefully – does your project have anything to say to you? Let it speak. Don’t argue – just listen.
Good.
When you’re ready, take another deep breath to ground yourself again, and make some notes about what you noticed.
Share below what your project told you. I would love to know!
Whatever you learned today about your project, I hope it’s information that will move you forward –
“It’s big, R.J.! Big!” says the screenwriter to the old-time Hollywood producer.
Your vision may also have first appeared to you in breathtaking Cinemascope and stereophonic sound.
But you may be paralyzing yourself with the grandiosity of your vision.
Reducing the size of your project might free you up.
So rather than trying to create an international convention of lute lovers complete with presentations, performances, and a trade fair, perhaps you could host a gathering in your home for ten to twelve lute lovers.
This strategy is especially effective for test-driving Big Ideas.
I once had a client named Virginia who had dreams of opening a dance studio. Before she knew it, she was knee-deep in commercial real estate brochures and cumbersome questions about insurance and employee compensation. She was, to put it mildly, discouraged.
After some discussion of what about her initial idea had so engaged her (“working with young artists,” “bringing spirituality and dance together,” and “giving real, practical help and advice — after all, I was a dancer, too — I’ve been there!”), she realized that she could begin by offering a one-day intensive workshop.
Her church would be happy to rent her a space very inexpensively, and suddenly the idea of only having to get fifteen dancers in a room for one day seemed very doable.
Eventually, Virginia did open a dance studio that focused on the intersection of movement and spirituality, but she ended up doing it through her church, thus saving her a million administrative headaches and allowing her to focus on the part of the work that truly inspired her: teaching.
Increase the Scope of Your Project
Maybe you’re stuck because you’re bored. You’ve been thinking too small.
Perhaps rather than trying to sell your jewelry at local craft fairs, it might be more exciting to sell your items online to a global audience of moneyed fans.
Maybe rather than auditioning for the local community chorus, you’d like to book an evening at a piano bar and offer your very own one-person cabaret show.
Try this: Write down a number-related aspect of your goal, then add a zero.
So if you’ve been thinking you’d like to make $10,000, what happens when you open up to the idea of making 100,000?
If you’re working on selling five or ten of something, what does selling fifty or a hundred look like?
Rather than trying to grow your email list a person at a time, what if you found a way to grow your list a thousand people at a time?
Thinking big gets you out of your self-imposed limitations. You stop thinking about what’s possible for you to accomplish on your own, and you start thinking about what’s needed for this quantum leap to happen.
“What does the project need?” is a much more fruitful question than “How do I do this by myself?”
Ask any successful creative entrepreneur her secret and every single one will tell you, “I got out of the way of the vision.”
Action Step
Write down three to five variations in scope of your project and see which size project feels like the best fit.
(Note: Don’t worry about what you think you are capable of doing; just pick the one that makes your heart go thump thump thump and live with the idea for a while.)
After you’ve done the exercise, come back and leave a comment. I would love to see what you came up with!
Play along with me and let’s see what happens in this visualization exercise.
Take three deep belly breaths and imagine yourself walking somewhere pleasant.
As you walk, you realize that you are near a large creativity center where all kinds of artists are working, playing, performing, practicing. . . and you are welcome to go exploring.
Notice what your creativity center looks like.
Is it a warehouse? An old brownstone? A Renaissance Fair–type atmosphere? Hear the sounds of people working, and as you walk through the space, notice what’s around you. What draws your attention?
Now, coming across the way and waving wildly at you, is your Creative Twin.
Your Creative Twin is like you, but also different. First of all, your Creative Twin is rich. Really rich. Super-crazy rich. And your Creative Twin is also a bit impulsive and free-spirited.
Your Creative Twin has been known to do things like buy a villa in Tuscany sight unseen and then lend it out to a friend of a friend. Your Creative Twin has gone off for six months to study traditional Japanese dance and has created art installations in the desert that can only be seen by helicopter.
Notice what your Creative Twin is wearing, and how your Creative Twin walks and moves through the world.
Your Creative Twin greets you with great enthusiasm and perhaps calls you by a special nickname. Together you walk around the creativity center, admiring the artisans and catching up.
Suddenly your Creative Twin stops short — inspiration has struck! Your Twin says, “I know! We must do a project together! This is perfect!” And your Twin begins to outline the project. Notice how you feel about this idea.
The day is winding down, and it’s getting time for your Creative Twin to jet off. As you say good-bye, your Twin gives you a word of advice. Then your Twin gives you a gift that you didn’t know you needed.
Notice how you feel about the advice and the gift. Place the gift somewhere for safekeeping, and wave good-bye to your Twin.
Take one last look around your creativity center, noticing any final thoughts or niggling feelings. Take another deep belly breath and come back to the present moment.
Now complete the following sentences about what you noticed. Perhaps one small idea will bubble up, or maybe the ideas will percolate and tomorrow you might have some blazing insight. Or maybe not. Either way, just let your mind stay blank as you write down your thoughts. My “creativity center” was: What caught my eye was: My Twin was: My Twin’s name was: The project my Twin suggested was: My reaction was: My Twin’s gift to me was: My Twin’s advice to me was: A real-world version of this project might be:
Other things I noticed were:
Some students have wept with relief at encountering this freer, wilder version of themselves. Others have felt a little put-off, or just plain jealous that their Creative Twin had so much money and was so blithe about it.
There’s no right or wrong way to feel.
Take the parts of this exercise that inspire you, tickles you, or maybe seriously annoys you and play with them. See what comes up.
Perhaps your Creative Twin will lead you down an unexpected path toward a glorious new future.
Have you said this sentence to yourself about your creative projects, your clutter or getting your business off the ground?
“I know what I need to do…I just have to make myself do it.”
Yep.
I’ve said it, too.
And it’s a huge, horrible lie.
The truth is this:
You are aware of one method that you could use to get your project moving and…you’re not interested in it.
It’s like you’re standing down at the bottom of a mountain….
You can see the top and you think, “Oh! I really want to go there!”
From where you are, you can see one big path up the mountain. Lots of people are on this path.
But for some reason, you don’t want to take that path. You think about it, but you don’t move.
It’s just…not for you.
You may even start to wonder if there’s another way up the mountain.
But then your big “rational” voice says, “Don’t be silly. There’s the road up the mountain. Just do it. Just make yourself do it. What’s your problem? Are you lazy? Why don’t you just do it already?”
This voice is amplified by helpful magazine articles and practical-minded friends and well-meaning fools who keep telling you, “There’s only this one way up the mountain and you know you need to climb the mountain so get on with it, why don’t you?”
And yet you don’t move.
You start to feel worse and worse — because you really do want to get to the top of the mountain. So maybe you work on your self-esteem or you say affirmations or you try enforcing your willpower… but still…
Nothing.
Zip.
No movement.
Here’s the truth:
You aren’t moving because, honey — THAT ISN’T YOUR PATH.
There IS a way for you to climb that mountain and accomplish your goals… it’s just not the way you think.
After all, you are a Creative Genius.
You think different.
Your life is about art and self-expression and healing people and laughter and loving and doing the kind of work that doesn’t even feel like work because you love it so much and you don’t even notice the time passing.
(And if it turns out to not be the right thing for you, no worries – just let me know before May 8th and I’ll cheerfully refund your tuition. No questions asked. No hassle. No problem.)
I’m ready to help you find YOUR way up the mountain, so let me know – are you in?
P.S. Feeling ambivalent? Here are three steps you could take right now:
2) Schedule a free 15-minute “evaluation” call with me here: https://www.timetrade.com/book/WWDYQ
3) If your intuition is tugging on your sleeve and you don’t feel like doing the “evaluation” call, then why not just jump in and register for The Monster Get It Done Teleclass
You can get started for as little as $199 — if you discover it’s not right for you, just let me know by May 8th and I’ll cheerfully refund your tuition, no questions asked.
