How to Fail Successfully

Greetings Intrepid Creators!

Here's my holistic approach to making the most of our failed attempts at just about anything:

Practical Steps to Take
First, think through the risks involved before you embark on the project. What reserves will you need in order to bounce back if things don't work out as you planned? Money, energy, time, self-confidence, flexibility? What is your Plan B?

Also consider your timing...by this I mean your personal timing and rhythms as much as any external timing factors. Is this the best time to start from both of these perspectives?

If indeed you do need to resort to Plan B, don't put it off. Let go of Plan A, and trust that if it is meant to come back, it will, in its own way and time.

In the meantime, apply whatever you learned from the experience to Plan B. It's possible that what you thought was Plan B was the plan after all, so don't be too quick to shrug it off as a mere consolation prize. Make the necessary course adjustments and lead with your heart.

Also, review my post on transitions from April 12. A failed attempt, properly managed, results in a transition, not a dead end.

Reframe the Failed Attempt for Yourself Emotionally
Put your own vision ahead of worrying about what others will think of your tumble. Give yourself permission to fail without labeling yourself a "failure." It's just trial and error on a larger, more frightening scale.

Also, remind yourself what good company you are in! We often hear stories of successful people who built their successes on the foundations of what they learned from their failures. Edison is perhaps the most frequently mentioned because of the many, many ways he discovered for making a light bulb that didn't work.

Transform Your Failed Attempts Into Service for Others
Use the experience you gained from your mistakes to help others find a smoother path. You can do this through writing, teaching, speaking, mentoring, and other ways. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success."

Coaching can help in all three of these areas. Email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com for a complimentary trial tele-coaching session.

To your success,
Susan

P.S. Last call for Saturday's Dig-In project day via teleconferencing technology, from 8:00am to 10:10am Eastern. To register for this complimentary gathering, email me by noon Eastern this Friday at scleaver@dejazzd.com. Dig-In Days are fun and effective!

Creativity Has Gone Egalitarian!

What a great time in history this is to be a creative soul! Not only have science and spirituality aligned to give us a new look into the creative process, but technology has swung the door wide open for us! We have new choices and opportunities for collaboration, support, publishing methods, and getting our work into the hands of our niche markets!

And even if you choose to take a more traditional route, such as having a book published by major publishing house, you are still in a better position to help promote yourself and your work.

I'll risk dating myself by giving you a look into what publishing, for example, was like 20 years ago in my experience so you can see how far we have come. My disclaimer here is that I self-publish now, and I haven't submitted anything to a major publisher in about 10 years. I have no idea what it's like today in that area. This is just a bit of history through the eyes of a writer who spent way too much time in a soul-deadening game where choice was out of bounds.

Sure, you could self-publish, but back then it was called "vanity publishing," and the resulting books were poo-pooed by reviewers, distributors, and bookstores. So without the access to the marketing avenues we have now through the Internet, many self-published authors ended up with most of the requisite large print runs getting moldy in their garages.

I went the traditional route, marketing to publishers directly. (I was a children's writer, so at that time I didn't need an agent.) I didn't fare any better than my self-publishing counterparts, because instead of spending money on books to decorate my garage, I spent it on going to far-flung conferences to get contacts, critiques, and the ever-elusive, latest "how-to" information.

Today, not only is self-publishing respectable, but you can even arrange for print-on-demand, use the money you save for a down-payment on a new car, and even have room in your garage to park it!

Now I enjoy trying new, creative ways to reach the people who will benefit from my work, and my entrepreneurial spirit is blossoming!

At that time, however, only "amateurs" would dare to:

• be creative in their marketing approach
• put the the title "freelance writer" on their cards or letterheads
• use any type of letterhead that wasn't plain white or cream with black lettering!

It all seems silly to me now, but at the time, I was easily intimidated, and I followed these ridiculous, soul-deadening rules. (As you can guess, I would not be good corporate material!)

But let's get back to today, before this post turns into a full-fledged rant. (I guess that ship has sailed!) Now, not only can we post and market our own art, photographs, writing, etc., on blogs and websites, and on the sites of joint venture partners, but we can get really creative about that marketing. We can teach teleclasses, make podcasts, post videos, and much more.

Coach David Wood at http://www.solutionbox.com made a simple but brilliant video of himself lying in bed (looking kind of rumpled) in order to drive home the value of early-morning writing as he had adapted it from The Artist's Way author, Julia Cameron. The video was very clever, original, and instructive, and he probably spent next to nothing to make it and get it out there!

Just the other day, I watched a great movie called "Little Miss Sunshine." In the supplemental material on the DVD, the directors and the writer commented on how search engines have made it so much easier to do the research needed to create authentic environments for the scenes of a movie. They also discussed their creative processes and challenges during the birth of this movie. If you're at all interested in how movies are born by creative collaboration, I think you will find their commentary as engrossing as I did.

In the meantime, enjoy this wonderful new environment for creativity! Even creativity itself is beginning to get the respect it deserves! As the pace of our world speeds up, only the most creative responses to it are going to be effective. Our time has come! So let's keep pushing the envelope, both in what we create and how we bring it to the world!

Shine on,

Susan

P.S. See last week's post for details about April Dig-In Days, or just email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com. You may also request 5 sample pages from my guided journal, The Whispering Heart, and/or a complimentary trial coaching tele-session. Thanks!

Transition Can Be the Ladder to Higher Creativity

Hi All!

Transitions come in all shapes and sizes. Some we welcome, some we tolerate, and others...well, later we wonder how we ever got through them.

I'm sure that, like me, you can relate to more than a few of these examples (some more fondly than others!):

• career changes
• falling in love
• getting married
• becoming a parent
• physical, emotional, or spiritual illness
• shifting paradymes
• lifestyle changes
• geographical moves
• habit changes
• life simplification
• finishing a long-term project
• having an empty nest
• becoming a grandparent or great-grandparent
• overcoming a major obstacle
• breakdowns and/or breakthroughs
• value shifts
• midlife
• making and following through on a major decision
• settling into a fulfilling retirement
• personal development shifts

The bad news, as I'm sure you've noticed, is that even the welcomed transitions involve stress. But the good news is that we often bounce back from even our most devastating transitions with a renewed and improved access to our creativity and intuition! This is coming from me, a woman who would rather hug a porcupine than admit that her bitter medicine was good for her. But it's true.

I do NOT subscribe to the theory that we must suffer in order to create. However, there are times when stressful transitions do leave us on a higher rung of the creative ladder, where the view is amazing! And since we have to go through transitions anyway, why not acknowledge and employ this new level of awareness? Coaching can help! Email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to set up a complimentary trial tele-session.

Many people, like Christopher Reeve, have found creative ways for themselves and many others to benefit from their experiences. So if you find you've been bumped up a rung, voluntarily or not, take in the new sights and start brainstorming!

Good luck,

Susan

P.S. Complimentary April Dig-In Days are available two ways!

Via teleconference on Sat., April 28, from 8:00am to 10:10am Eastern, when we will tackle projects from our homes or offices with brief group support calls at the beginning, middle, and end. For more information, contact me at scleaver@dejazzd.com. Pre-registration is required by noon Eastern, Friday, April 27.

If this date doesn't work for you, email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to set up a one-on-one Dig-In Day at a time convenient for you!

"I got more done on this project in the first hour than I've done in the past month!" --Mary Beth Krawchuk, Dig-In Day participant

Creative Stewardship

Hi!

We have all been blessed with the wonderful gift of creativity. (Yes, even those of you who don't see yourselves as creative...yet!) We have been entrusted with a sacred stewardship of this precious gift. Here are a few ideas for nurturing and protecting it.

Roots and Wings

Your creative nature needs the security of a strong root system. This includes taking excellent care of the vehicle through which it emerges...you! Also, keep financial pressure off of it and you by arranging a dependable way to stay solvent while your creative dreams are developing. You may need to keep a full-time or part-time job and/or simplify in order to do this, depending on your situation. I know, it's a bummer, but you will be glad you did.

Learning and practicing your craft will help provide roots, too. So does patience.

Your creativity also needs wings! The wings can be developed and strengthened by the following, to name a few:

• intuition
• passion
• enthusiasm
• experimentation
• joy
• play
• authenticity
• spirituality

Trust Yourself

I love this quote from Dr. John Dimartini: "When the voice and the vision on the inside become more profound and more clear and loud than the opinions on the outside, you've mastered your life." Dr. Dimartini is one of the teachers from the DVD/book/audiobook The Secret (www.thesecret.tv).

Protect Your Ideas from Premature Criticism

Examine and adjust your self-talk and limiting beliefs about yourself and your work. Share your blossoming ideas only with those you can trust to give them the gentleness they need to thrive.

Review My Past Posts

Most of my past posts offer ideas that will also help you to best carry out the fulfilling responsibility of creative stewardship.

Share What You Know

As we support each other in this effort, we are taking the idea to creative stewardship to a higher level by supporting not just our own, but the creativity of our world community. So please share your ideas, comments, and questions here, and anywhere else that they will stimulate thought and elevate the positive effects of the creative process.

Thanks,

Susan