You know how it is: hopes, ideas, and projects build up—clog up—and the flow stops up. Are you also suffering under a pile of unfulfilled projects and promises to yourself that you'd like to sort through?
Help is at hand, dear reader, from encourager and good-question-asker, Michael Nobbs, who will be running a 3-week course online in September for the very purpose of walking you through Resurrecting a Creative Project. I want you to know about it if, like me, you need help thinking through the pile, sorting out the difference between the projects that should be released to the sleep of death, or those that you can invest in.
The One Thing Today Podcast
I've posted before how Michael Nobbs has learned to find time for art in the midst of illness and difficulty. And how that helped me as I was overcoming post-concussive syndrome. First I began to listen to Michael's frequent free podcasts, that encourage a daily 20-minute creative practice. Then last November I took a three-week online mentoring class Michael was offering at the time. This spring I joined his Creative Circle, a delightful year-long mentoring group whose members plan and carry out realistic daily creative practices and connect together online. You may find the Circle suits your needs more than the more specific three-week course I describe below. A few spaces are opening up: join the waiting list or find out more here.
Below are some of my goals since joining the Creative Circle.
But I will also be taking the Resurrecting a Creative Project course and would love to see you there. I'm looking forward to clearing the decks, tossing some 'just won't happen' projects that are only inducing guilt, choosing something that will get done ... and then doing it!
The Secret
Yes, there is a secret and I will let you in on it. The secret is choosing.
Through all these years of procrastination and perfectionism, I have put off what is really in the end a simple course of action.
Know your options.
Simplify by choosing.
Keep doing one or two small next actions that will bring about what you chose.
Of course, you don't really need a course to help you do that. But the reality is that we don't act on what we know. I have found that Michael asks good questions which cause me to change and bring about actual results. The momentum builds. Done in a group, the encourgement and motivation is multiplied.
The Course & the Workbook
Along with an optional physical workbook that you can order from Amazon, the Resurrecting a Creative Project course itself will be taught via email and private Facebook group over the span of three weeks. Video instruction will be included on the Facebook group through Facebook Live worksessions.
You will get to benefit from the group energy as participants post their quandries, decisions and victories. Finding like-minded creative friends has never been easier.
Michael says that both the course and the workbook are in three parts:
Take stock of your abandoned creative projects.
Declutter your projects to help you see more clearly which project(s) to pursue.
Pick a project to work on and building a regular creative habit through daily 20-minute work sessions.
By the close of the three weeks you will have cleared the decks and seen significant progress on the project you choose. Or if possible, even completion. The workbook, if you choose to use it, will help you work through the course and provide a wonderful record of your progress.
Resurrecting a Creative Project.
Workbook Still Available
While the above course has ended, you can still benefit very much from the inexpensive workbook that Michael made for participants.
I love the book's hand-drawn vibe and helpful questions. Its 48 pages contain plenty of space to brainstorm your answers. Mark up a copy and narrow down your focus to find your own creative project to resurrect.
