Who's Afraid of the Big Bad......YOU?!

As a Creative person fervently working away, honing your craft and attempting to make an honest crust in the process, it’s often difficult to find the time or the inclination to pop your head up out of the rabbit hole every once in a while to assess what it is that is making (or indeed breaking!) a success of the career you’re lovingly carving out for yourself.  It’s inevitable you’ll be in a constant state of changing, challenging and tweaking your skills, practice and end product but taking in to consideration what your other selling points are can be a real eye opener….and hopefully, will ultimately involve opening some doors too.  Yes you want to deliver the best possible body of work you can-one that you’re certain your audiences/clients/fans will devour and delight in. However what I personally have found is a real key in the world of freelance and being a Creative is your personality. Credentials and accolades aside, what gets your two feet in the door and under the table is the YOU in it all. Allowing your personality to come through in every aspect of your creative life I think is essential to achieving those successes you aim for. 

‘People buy people not products’ is a phrase that resonates with me. Yes I can dance, choreograph and teach well but a lot of the feedback I receive is not always focused on the content of my lessons or the work I present but how I was received by others when I was delivering that session or that particular project. If I allow myself to be the truest version of me, even in the most professional of situations or environments and remain confident in who I am, I know I will be better equipped to deliver the goods. This also rings true in scenarios where I haven’t even got the job yet. If I go to a meeting or interview about a potential choreography job, yes my knowledge and prior experience is paramount but of course, they will have been the driving force behind me getting the interview in the first place. The next step is to let my personality and the drive and excitement I have for the work I do shine through. If someone is considering working with or hiring you to do what you do best, they want to feel like YOU are the one they need, as well as your work being the perfect fit.

Now reading this back to myself, I fear it may appear that I'm somehow implying it’s all about charming your way up some career ladder or indeed that I consider myself to have this awe-inspiring, totes amaze-balls personality that folks just can’t resist!. It’s not that at all!  Most Creatives will tell you that they aren't preoccupied with any manner of climbing apparatus, after all what goes up, must come down. There is no ladder, no end point nor final goal for creative types and so, a life’s work is only about new experiences, new information and new connections.  In my experience, in order to take full advantage of one’s ability as a Creative it’s important to play to your strengths and worry less about what you consider to be your weaknesses. YOU are your own unique selling point and not being afraid to allow your personality stretch it’s (fabulous!) legs can be a real barrier between you and your potential. If you’re funny, caring, witty, whatever you feel is you at your best, it’s vital you don’t dull that sparkle for fear of appearing unprofessional or less committed or focused in a work setting. If you are being you, you are relaxed and feel more confident in even the most unfamiliar of settings. In turn, those around you will be motivated, inspired or comforted by how at ease you are and they will feel more able to be themselves. This creates the optimum environment for creativity to flourish! Simples!

We can all think of that one person that, whenever you're with them, they are always the same way. It's refreshing to be in the company of someone who is at ease and is confident that their unique personality will suffice in any situation. They don't feel compelled to mask or alter who they are for each new encounter and that's inspiring stuff right there. In a world that at time feels preoccupied with concealing who we are, in favour of a contoured, enhanced version of the truth, it's empowering to identify and celebrate what makes us the person we are. It isn't about nailing the interview, getting the job and making the big bucks- Que sera sera! Essentially,  if you be you, creatively sparks will fly and we all live for those kind of fireworks!  

Now go DO YOU! x

C.R.E.A.T.E

Every Creative's process differs from the next. Carving out 'your way' comes with experience and with each creative encounter new techniques are formed, as you discover your potential & the many innovative ways you have up your sleeve for creating your work! There's no 'right' way of doing things and accepting that is a huge step in becoming the truest version of your creative self. Here are some tips that I find particularly useful when creating: 

Connecting with the world around you is vital to sparking those light-bulb moments when you need them most. Using all the senses to experience what life is offering you minute by minute, day by day will continually charge those creative batteries, without you even realising it. Being aware of what's available to you and what you can potentially tap in to is a gift from the universe ready for the taking! Go to a city and walk slowly down a busy street, observing and absorbing everything. The voices, snippets of conversations and languages you can hear; look high and low at the signs, window displays and architecture you can see; breathe in the scents and try to identify their source; take your hands to the varying textures and feel the rough, the smooth and everything in between. Sounds a tad creepy perhaps but slowing down to appreciate and take stock of your surroundings can enlighten the mind. If you get one tiny speck of inspiration, it's worth your time. We can't expect our poor creative brains to churn out masterpiece after masterpiece without refuelling it, now can we?! As Creatives we are preoccupied with constantly making something new to offer up to the world but you must remember that, in order to knit the jumper, you need the ball of wool. If you're switched on to your surroundings, you're speaking less & listening more, you'll be more likely to hear what you need to! 

Recycling is good for the environment- your creative environment, that is! Never be afraid to reuse what you have previously tried, tested and bought the T shirt of. If an idea has worked for you in the past and seems a perfect fit for your current project, it shouldn't be deemed a cop-out to slip in to that 'one size fits all' concept one more time. After all, you may be sporting the same T shirt but you can customise & accessorize to remodel any previously worn look, producing something very different from the original. We all endeavour to create unique pieces of work that have been born out of brand spanking new sources of inspiration each and every time  but if that's forced, you could be missing out on a golden opportunity to up-cycle. Sometimes it's okay to go with a 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' vibe, if what you plan to do with it this time round is subject to  some tweaking. 

Experimenting is about taking risks, going with your gut and making mistakes that you can learn from. In the creative process a  'Try before you Buy' approach will ensure you get exactly what you are looking for eventually but, like with any new journey, you have to be willing to explore and potentially get lost before locating your desired destination.  An idea is one thing but in order to know if it's the missing jigsaw piece you've been searching for, you have to pick it up, play around with it and try to make it fit before you can know for sure it's the perfect match. Fear of failure threatens to stop awesome ideas in their tracks before they've even made it off the starting block. When an experiment goes spectacularly wrong, there's something to be learned from it, so you have to be up for trying it out. Where they say baking is an exact science, creativity is more like cooking- a pinch of this and a dollop of that won't always work out the way you expected but you're more likely to be able to cover up any mishaps with more spoonfuls of creativity. Who knows what you'll end up with and that's where the fun is! The power of the unknown is exciting & inspiring, so be more open to experimenting! 

Aim high! Pushing yourself and your work to be the best it can be takes hard work and determination but the rewards are worth the effort. It's okay to strive for what you deem 'perfection', as long as you enjoy the journey- there's no point in creating something beautiful if the process was damn  ugly, as it will be the latter you'll remember most. All your connecting, recycling and experimenting will help shape the ultimate goal you're striving for and then all that's left to do is more of the same to get it just right. The sky is the limit when being creative-so don't seek shelter when you have the chance to dance in the rain! 

Take time to create. Those light-bulb moments can be fairly sporadic so best not to expect to be able to turn your creativity on and off like a switch. Breaking the task in hand in to manageable chunks will avoid you feeling overwhelmed with the need to create something amazing on a deadline. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will all your masterpieces. When I'm choreographing a dance, I find myself working on it to a certain point but then having to step away from it for a while to take stock of what I've produced thus far, before being able to move forward with it. That's it to say I'm not lastminute.com with projects (I'm often found procrastinating over a To Do list until it's absolutely necessary to start creating!) but I know the process is more pleasurable when I can work at a leisurely pace & take pauses intermittently to mull over things.

Evaluating your work as you go will inevitably help create something you are happy with overall. Yes, there's always hindsight to flag up the 'what I shoulda/coulda/woulda done'  but if you're able to continually critique and question your creative choices as you're making them, the final product is more likely to meet or even excel your expectations. 

And there you have it, 6 pointers that may help you create more efficiently and effectively. I'd be interested to hear from you as to what your hints and tips are!

Lisa 

What’s LOVE got to do with it?

Arguably what every songwriter, poet and on-line dating applicant is motivated and inspired by, love and the pursuit of it can be no mean feat, yet it drives so many of us through life as we receive it, give it away and sometimes fend it off when we should embrace it. If loving yourself is the key to eternal happiness and the loving of another is best served when that love is reciprocated, then when do you find the time to love what you do? Isn't that also important and life fulfilling? 'You're a long time dead' they say but you're also a while living, so it's vital we all reap some pleasure from this journey called life that we are all on.   

Earning the big bucks and owning everything your heart desires may sound nice but in the long slog to achieving success, if you dread, loathe and positively fear the pang of the impending Monday morning blues, are you really ‘making it’? Clock watching longing for home time, finding yourself mumbling obscenities and expletives at your co-workers, your boss and the printer may feel like part and parcel of the working world, but does it need to be that way? Could you be doing more of something you love? Could you even earn a living doing it?

My parents always encouraged me to pursue what I loved to do. I was given boundless opportunity to experience the things I enjoyed and ultimately htis led me down the path to where I am now. Teaching dance and choreographing for a living was never something I considered to be a career option for me and not that anyone had told me otherwise, I just didn't put the thought out into the ether to allow it to develop into some form of a reality. I promptly quashed the idea and opted for what I thought was my destiny-studying something sciency! I dabbled with the notion of doing prosthetics, optometry and psychology applying for a variety of courses.  I was academic at high school and so was encouraged to aim for university which I happily did- got in, got the degree (of the English Studies variety (not science!) and then realised I still wanted to dance! So I did and several years down the line I'm doing what I love but NOT regretting that path I went down one bit. 

Sounds simple but it hasn't all been a walk in the park. Working in the Arts can often bring uncertainty as postilions are often not permanent and as freelancer it's a constant search for the next job.   'Find something you love and you'll never work a day in your life' is a  load of cack-a-lacka! Excuse me but just because it makes getting out of bed in the morning a little more bearable, does not mean that it cannot be called work! The hard work is real and the long (sometimes unsociable) hours a given. The  lengthy commutes and the inability to switch off (EVER!!) will always be a factor but any negatives are outweighed immeasurably by the positives and that's what makes me go on. Love, since the beginning of time, has always presented the good with the bad; the highs and the lows and every contradiction in the book but the joys of love always prevail. I'm willing to go the extra mile for what I love to do. 

All the cliches and mantras aside, finding love is for everyone-you just need to be open to it. A little bold and brave at times and ready for the prospect of rejection, you must not settle and you must never give up. The work-life balance can be a battle won, as both merge and each one compliments the other. 

Approaching it like an on-line dating application (which I actually have no prior knowledge of. Just surmising!), you: 

1. Have to be open to suggestion but always go with your gut instinct. 

2. Be yourself and confident in what you have to offer.

3. Seek the help of others in your search. Those around you will know you well and want the best for you. 

4. Don't panic when it seems to be going right!!!! It probably is all good and you should be happy with that!!!

Love takes guts and grit-it even hurts (according to Nazareth) but we're told with every love song that it's all we need. It's something you can't hurry, it's a battlefield and it's all around (Sorry, enough of the song lyrics!) but it's always worth aiming for. It may seem unrealistic to consider the notion of pursuing 'the dream' but a little of something you fancy can go along way, so why not start with doing more of what you love every day?! I'm not suggesting you quit the 9-5 tomorrow-my freelance dance tutor/choreographer's ass has got to pay the bills each month so I totally get it! You have commitments and obligations to uphold but ask yourself, "Could I do a bit more of what I love?". Dance around the house more, join an art group, start that blog....whatever it is, inject your life with that creative edge that's always been there but has been afraid to come out to play. If it never turns in to more than a hobby, is all lost? God no! Immersing yourself in creativity softens all of life's blows-that Monday morning alarm won't grate just as much if you know by 6pm you'll be shakin' your thang at dance class or losing yourself in writing a new song , guitar in hand!

I am fully aware that I may not always get to do what I love for a living-that's why I cherish it so dearly and never take anything for granted. I am extremely lucky to be doing what I love and building my career, but in the same breath, I've worked bloomin' hard and made many sacrifices to make it a reality. Low paid jobs, long commutes, redundancy due to lack of funding have all played a factor along the way but I guess that's what has made the journey more of an adventure. I'll always dance...that love affair will never fizzle out, even if it is no longer part of my work-life. 

What has LOVE got to do with it? 

Everything and I'm delighted with my love story thus far! Now, go start yours! 

Peace out x

Love

'I'm a Loser!....Now What?!'

Like a bad smell it punches you in the face when you least expect it, then annoyingly lingers far longer than you thought it could or that you think you can handle, gnawing away at any glimmer of confidence trying desperately to save your poor defenceless mind. Thankfully, 9 times out of 10, I find myself getting out of the funk that is self doubt,  as quick as I got in to it, seeking ways to distract my over-active brain from the overwhelming sense of doom and gloom. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when self doubt rears it's ugly head. I can be doing perfectly fine, producing work that I and those whom I'm employed by are more than happy with, then BAM!, it knocks me sideways and the mist sets in. Then there I am, curling up in to a ball, letting the fog consume me in seconds.  Sometimes you wallow in it a while and other times, you go into total 'block-it-out denial' mode,  springing in to action, peeing on the bonfires of those demons determined to rain on your parade. Ain't no body got time for that! I guess it's enviable that from time to time, Creatives feel a pang of self doubt when so much of what they produce is of themselves-their babies, if you like! Sending your offspring in to the world is fraught with danger and the promise of potential criticism. All it takes is this threat to spark your inner doubts. 

Am I good enough?

 Is what I produce of a high standard? 

Should I quit now? 

When will 'they' find me out? 

That last one is a favourite of mine. Like a broken record, I regularly play that old classic, 'Lisa, you're fraudster, you're an imposter!'. The verses are long and weary.....the chorus, even longer! It's on repeat and getting louder and louder! Avoiding it becoming the soundtrack to my day takes one, two or ALL FOUR of the following tactics....

1.If You Can't Beat Them.....

In finding ways to combat self doubt, I guess the first thing to remember is that indeed, EVERY creative goes through it. For me it feels a tad selfish to rejoice in the idea that your counterparts are out there suffering but there has to be comfort in the knowledge that it's totally normal. Strength in numbers and all that! The consolation of being part of a collective of like-minded individuals who are equally giving themselves a hard time without reason to, will help to ease your fears of being a loser and an alone one at that.  If you need further reassurance, speak to friends who are also Creatives-they'll not be long in telling you about their faithful old friend self-doubt, who shows up unannounced and unapologetically, starts to insult you the second they arrive and disappears in to the abyss with no warning of when they'll be back.   

2. Be A Detective

With every negative statement or argument against you trying to zap that creative energy, seek out the evidence to contradict them. And yes, the evidence will be there! You will have already proven, time and time again, to yourself (and others!) that you can do it, that you have the ability to do great things and create amazing work. You just have to remind yourself of all the times you totally smashed it!  Look through your diary, old photos, video clips, your portfolio...wherever there's a record of what you've done up to this point, go there and take note! 

3. Squirrel!

As kids, we are told that letting yourself get distracted is a 'bad thing' but sometimes that's EXACTLY what you need to do when you can't seem to shake off those blues. Force your mind on to a new topic that is sure to lift your spirits and help you get back on track. Plan an outing, think of that routine you love at your fitness class (why not even get up and  actually do it?!), pick up a magazine and read an article, put the wheels in motion to do something fun that you've been putting off. Send your mind wondering elsewhere...far far away from the realms of questioning your worth and the value of what you produce. That head space is way too valuable to be clogging it up with thoughts which are not conducive to your plan for world domination. 

4. Phone A Friend

Sometimes all it takes is to voice our feelings of self doubt to those who know and love us, only to be told that we are completely wrong and that it's literally 'all in your head'. We can all be our own worst enemies, flushing our own heads down that toilet bowl of 'I'm crap! This idea is rubbish! No one will ever hire me! and when you're head's down there sometimes all it will take is a friend to grab you by the hair, lift you up and dry you off with compliments and  reassurance that you're doing just fine! On this occasion they become the detective presenting the evidence that you could have looked for yourself but was nicer to hear coming from someone else. 

At least one, if not all of the above, is sure to help clear the haze enough for you to move forward and eventually rid yourself of the uncertainty that is slowing things down to a imminent halt and stopping you from doing what you do best...being creative! Like a rain cloud threatening to pour down right on top of you, self doubt will pass on by with time, but putting up an umbrella to shelter you won't do any harm in the meantime. You must remember that YOU are in control of your own thoughts and YOU have the power to bury the ones that don't work for you...just  reach for that shove! 

A pupil in my class last week when struggling with a pirouette reminded her fellow classmates (who were also finding it difficult) that it's not I can't but in fact, I can't YET. And it's that hope of a bright future, the endless possibilities just around the corner and remembering that which hasn't worked out is indeed making way for what is meant, is sure to help you realise that self doubt kills dreams......and that's bad business for us Creatives. After all, aren't we all about making them come true?!