Troubleshooting Creative Chaos
Thanks to The Girl with the Unicorn Tattoo
By Jill Badonsky | Posted 9/11/12 | Updated 4/24/21
“Wear the delicious blend of pineapple, pink honeysuckle, tantalizing gardenia, fresh coconut, and warm vanilla wherever you go with this adorably stylish ring, shimmering with gold trim and sparkling with a fancy diamond bow.” —Hello Kitty
Exclusive Leak:
Trickyleaks, the runner-up Leader in Leaking stuff, strives to get you the latest, juiciest tidbits of publications that aren’t supposed to be out there yet. However, we were having a dickens of a time leaking another excerpt of the much-anticipated Badonsky publication, Owner's Manual to Your Creativity, available through Running Press.
We figured we’d have to hack into the files at Running Press but we have no idea how to do that, plus one of our members tried on his computer and now it plays only Barry Manilow music, (a definite indication that we need to outsource).
We tried contacting the girl with the dragon tattoo for help, but she keeps changing her email address, so we found the next best hacker-pro, the girl with the unicorn tattoo. Although she drives a moped, wears clip-ons, and carries a Hello Kitty purse, she was successful in scoring an excerpt from the much-coveted Troubleshooting Section of The Manual.
As you may recall from the last leaks, the book is a take-off on an owner’s manual for a car, so you can use it to keep your creativity running like a well-oiled machine.
Even the most experienced creative person runs into occasional blocks like procrastination, perfectionism, overwhelm, terror, and distractibility, so a Troubleshooting Section is vital to continue a love affair with creating. The girl with the unicorn tattoo obtained part of the solution page for Creative Chaos. There was some random stuff we think is from some of her own personal hackings, so just ignore those at the end
Creative Chaos
Description:
You start a creative adventure of any type and run into a gigantic roadblock.- You keep starting projects but don’t finish them.
- You can’t figure out how to bring the idea in your mind into reality.
What You’re Thinking:
- I don’t know what to do next; I’m confused, bewildered and hungry.
- This is too hard, I guess I don’t have what it takes to do this.
- What the … ?
Troubleshooting Directions:
Here are 4 of the 10 solutions offered in the book:
1. Ask yourself:
- How can I best relax and just let the process be what it is until some little thread of clarity pops up and pulls me in?
- What might work for me? Allow the question to percolate. If you get answers to those questions, plot their instigation.
- What idea is going to show up and direct my next step? Let it percolate.
2. Take a Break …
Step away from the project. PUT THE PROJECT DOWN and no one gets hurt. Get some perspective, renew, refill, meditate, sit so still that your Muse can whisper sweet-somethings in your ear. Take a walk, a shower, a vacation. If that’s what you need, you’ll get further by restoring your perspective than by tormenting yourself.
3. Lower expectations
If taking a break doesn’t work, allow yourself some justified floundering around in the process, knowing that flailing through it is better than giving up and often leads to a breakthrough.
4. Be Determined
85% of Creative Adventurers quit at this stage. Be a creative rebel. Go against the majority; be in the 15% that stay with their dream. Let the rebellion course through your veins — playing heavy rock and roll can help.
Affirm this: I am unstoppable.
©2012 Jill Badonsky. All rights reserved.
