Although many artists, writers and other creative types talk about “the creative process” as though there is only one, we can actually work with a goal-less process or with a goal-oriented process. Eric Maisel highlights this critical distinction in his creativity manual, Coaching the Artist Within. Working without a goal is way easier. It’s also […]
Are you committed to the process of making art, or are you one of those creative types who, as Eric Maisel describes in Coaching the Artist Within, would much rather imagine that other (lucky!) people’s creative projects finish themselves joyfully and magically by effortless genius while you, meanwhile, refuse to get out of bed? Dilemma: […]
In Coaching the Artist Within, creativity expert and psychologist Eric Maisel devotes an entire chapter to “Achieving a Centered Presence.” He describes a simple, six-step, one minute process for carefully breathing and thinking yourself into a grounded state of calm so you are ready to create and take the next right step for the project […]
In his self-coaching creativity manual Coaching the Artist Within, Eric Maisel offers four specific tactics or strategies you might adopt to help yourself create more consistently and more easily. “Don’t Snivel” Stop complaining. Take that time and energy-sucking, self–indulgent complaint/excuse-generating habit and redirect its power and intensity toward doing the work instead. Do you seriously […]
Creating in the middle of things is admittedly not easy and often difficult, fraught with all kinds of risks and fears and do-ability issues. If “Just do it NOW!” doesn’t push you to take action, then you may need to work on some strategies to help yourself get moving. In Coaching the Artist Within, creativity […]
According to creativity expert Eric Maisel’s Coaching the Artist Within, we must all learn to create in what he terms “the middle of things” — things being both external and internal constraints limiting what we believe we can accomplish. Facing External and Internal Barriers Certainly we must create while life goes on, whether we face […]
If you are a creative person and you are internally driven to passionately make meaning as Eric Maisel describes in his creativity book, Coaching the Artist Within, then you are a good candidate for developing what he calls “positive obsession” and “mitigated mania” in the course of doing your creative work. Positive Obsession, Negative Obsession […]
In Coaching the Artist Within, creativity expert Eric Maisel discusses the mental energy required to create. Unlike physical energy which is based on food/sleep inputs, mental energy depends on your interest, passion, desire, concern – the intensity you apply to creating. Your mental energy is depleted by mental activity, including creating – and not creating! […]
When you think about your creativity, do you think holistically? Or do you reflexively distinguish between, for example, being process-oriented or product-oriented? Do you split personal work from commercial work? Pit disciplined work against the flow of creativity? These are the kinds of dreaded polar opposites or dualistic thoughts Eric Maisel highlights in his self-improvement […]
According to Eric Maisel, psychologist, creativity expert and author of Coaching the Artist Within, the antidote to self-sabotaging negative self-talk is training yourself to stop the wrong-thinking and start thinking right. In other words, he recommends replacing block-inducing anxious self-talk with affirmations. You may be familiar with affirmations from other creativity books such as Julia […]