5 Steps to Reconnect to Your Creativity, Reclaim the Lost Parts of Yourself and Design Your Next Adventure

Are you a successful professional woman at the top of your game in your career or business?

From the outside looking in, your life looks pretty amazing.

But inside your soul is longing to create something meaningful, beautiful, and inspired.

That was my story about a decade ago. I was running a publishing company, winning awards and was well known in my community. But I hit a moment where I realized my heart wasn’t in it. My lack of passion and commitment showed in my finances, my relationships with my family and my health — I found myself eating too much and drinking too much because I was unhappy and I didn’t really know why.

My identity had been so wrapped up in my business goals and achievements that I lost sight of myself. Once I sold that business and moved on, I still felt lost.

I feel like I have finally found my way back to myself. It didn’t happen overnight and I have learned so much on my journey.

The number one shift I made that changed everything was to nourish my creative spirit and make time for regular creative play. This had a huge impact on my creativity and my productivity.

In the 6 years since I sold my first business in 2012, I have published 3 books, created a coloring book and a planner, built a successful coaching business, started selling my original artwork and completed 4 different certifications related to coaching and creativity.

People ask me all the time, how do you get so much done?

I started to dig deep into the answer. How do I get so much done?

Which isn’t the right question.

The real question underneath that is, What am I committed to?

Because what I am committed to gets my attention and focus.

There are still areas of my life that need work. I am not perfect. But I am very clear about what matters to me most.

And I have determined the exact 5-step sequence I have followed every single time I wanted to start something new whether that was right a book, start a business or create a new habit like writing and painting daily.

The process is simple at first glance.

Step 1. Clarity

This first step is a doozy. Nothing new can happen unless we get crystal clear about what we want to create. A fun first step when it comes to reconnecting to your creativity is to think back to what brought you joy or provided hours of endless fun as a child. What do you no longer make time to do that you would love to be doing?

It sounds simple but just starting to color and draw again, something I loved to do as a young girl, was a huge first step towards kindling my creative fire.

Here’s a video I created about step one of the process: https://youtu.be/ttjAAjmSNEg

Step 2. Congruence

When we are out of alignment with our core values or feel like we are off kilter when it comes to living our purpose, we don’t feel good. The lack of harmony often impacts our sleep, our health and our relationships and can impact our career or success in business.

When was the last time you too a deeper look at your core values and thought about the work you are doing currently in relationship to creativity?

What do you want more of in your life?

How could you feel more aligned? Usually a few small tweaks can have a big impact.

Step 3. A Clear Course of Action

It’s a lot easier to get from point A to point B when you have a clear road map. Knowing where you are going and the steps needed to make it happen boost your confidence and give you reason to celebrate.

What does this mean in the context of creativity and igniting your creative fire?

Maybe you’ve had a dream to write a book, lead a retreat, take a year off and live abroad, start a new career, go back to school or take up a new hobby like piano or painting.

Each one of these can feel daunting if you don’t know why you want to do it and what the steps are to make it happen.

Step 4. Commitment

Once you have clarity, congruence and a clear course of action, you need to commit to making it happen. Sounds easy. You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t want to create something new.

And yet, you could stay stuck at step 3 for decades. It took me over a year to go from saying I wanted to sell art to actually creating a simple plan and posting my art online for sale. There was a big gap for me, caused by fear of failure, some procrastination and a lot of excuses about why it was too hard to do.

But eventually I realized I was more committed to the journey than the result. I had shared publicly that I would be selling my art. I was out of congruence by not following through. I made it happen and my art sold. Because I followed this same 5 step process.

Which brings me to the final step and perhaps my favorite.

Step 6: Curiosity

When it comes to creativity we all have stories, scars and fears about our creative talents. We tend to conflate creativity with art. The truth is that we are all creative and creative expression is not limited to art, writing, dance, etc.

When it comes to reconnecting to your creativity, get really curious.

Curiosity is one of the hallmarks of creative brilliance and is a powerful tool for unblocking what’s in the way of embracing your innate creative skills.

How do you get curious? Ask questions. Here are a couple of my favorites:

What might be possible if…

What if we looked at it this way…

If I tried _______, what might happen?

Who can I ask for input?

What am I not seeing?

In the case of selling my art, my husband asked me, Why are you making this so hard? I got really curious and realized I was terrified of offering my art for sale and no one wanting to buy it.

Which isn’t why I started to make art anyway.

I make art because it makes me happy. It nourishes me. It keeps my creative fire burning bright which infuses every other area of my life and work.

If you’d like some support igniting your creative fire and designing your next adventure, I’d be happy to chat. I offer a free 30-minute Breakthrough to Creative Courage Consultation where I walk you through the 5 steps and help you decide on your course of action. Visit www.MinetteRiordan.com to schedule a call with me. Let’s get those creative fires stoked and burning bright.

#creativity #creativeleadership #womenleaders #womeninleadership #designthinking