CREATIVE BLOCK? READ THIS

No artist is ever completely happy with their work, and every artist has moments where they believe they're out of their depth. This is what makes us creatives; this is the definitive characteristic that drives us as artists to continue creating work. And that continual creation of our work - that is the process of improvement.

Don’t value your work in the wrong way - as soon as you attempt to parallel it with the work of your peers, as soon as you perceive the artwork in terms of what it can do for others rather than what it does for you, the meaning behind your creative work will usually begin to fade. Don't lose your way as an artist - I could sit and tell you about all the people out there who probably love your artwork, but I could very well be wrong. The point is, that’s not the point - your own resilience and commitment to your work is what will make you shine.

Image sources: spied, soierose, internetmotel

MIDYEAR CHECK-IN PART 2 - RE-PROGRAM + FREE DOWNLOADABLE WORKBOOK

Perhaps one of the largest pitfalls even the most well-meaning of us can fall into, is the obsession with planning and ambition met with a lack of follow-through. How often do we tell ourselves we will achieve something, work hard and take the plunge, commit ourselves to some kind of path to greatness, and end up 6 months later having made no progress at all?

Here’s the thing; there’s no magical answer. There is no instant potion of motivation you can drink, there is no pill like in that Limitless movie (though I often wish there was). And while your personal mindset, discipline and own unique circumstantial obstacles may clamour your path to success, what you absolutely can do is mitigate those limitations and give yourself the best possible chance to turn your dreams into reality. It’s an act of optimisation, if you will.

Following on from last week’s Life Audit (click here to check it out), you’ll probably be feeling a little clearer about where you’re at right now and where you want to be. We briefly touched on that dastardly part in the middle - you know, the whole thing of actually “getting there”, connecting the present to the desired future - but it’s time to develop on that.

This certainly isn’t a one-size-fits-all method, so feel free to customise it to your own experience. Whether your goal is to become a world champion in your chosen field, or maybe just to cut down on some minor bad habits, it’s not about how ‘big’ or ‘small’ your goal may objectively seem. Rather, it’s proportional to your own personal story and what’s meaningful to you. This doesn’t have to be anybody’s business but your own - make yourself proud, this is something you can do purely for you.

This Re-Program workbook will give you a comprehensive and meaningful framework within which to plan the next 6 months of your life. It will give you the tools to take one of your goals and create an action plan to achieve it. We’ve all heard the advice “break down your goals into smaller goals”, and this is a tangible iteration of that tactic.

Break your goal down into 6 distinct objectives, one for each month. Your job for each month is to focus on that one objective alone - it can be easy to get lost in the bigger picture of your ambitions, so this will help you lock in some tunnel vision on one step at a time. From there, you'll define a weekly task for yourself in order to achieve that objective (yes, breaking it down even further), allowing yourself to check in every week to keep you disciplined and on track - playing on the strategy of 'habit building'.

Be forgiving; part of being human means that perfect consistency will be near impossible, which is why you can allow yourself a mid-month check in to review your activity. There is also a section at the end of each month to give yourself an opportunity to reflect before you move forward, which is crucial to ensure you're honestly assessing your progress and growing meaningfully.

Remember to keep this workbook somewhere you'll be able to easily reference it!

x E

MIDYEAR CHECK-IN PART 1 - LIFE AUDIT + FREE DOWNLOADABLE WORKSHEET

I know for a fact that I can't be the only one feeling this way. Midyear makes everyone feel somewhat stagnant in one way or another - the slow creep of winter settles in, it gets a bit harder to get out of bed in the morning, the first few waves of cold and flu season are doing the rounds. If you're studying, you'll be working hard on getting those last few assessments or exams out of the way, even though the motivation you needed to do that has already well since departed. Unless you're on the other side of the world and you have a fun summer break to look forward to, midyear is kind of a slump. It's like the hump day of the year.

It's also around about the time you begin to lose faith in those well-intentioned goals you set for 2017 at the start of January - and while it feels like you have every reason to bin those goals, midyear is actually more like your saving grace. It's a second chance, and a perfect opportunity to reflect and conduct an honest life audit for yourself to get back on track.

There are a lot of free downloadable worksheets, YouTube videos, and blog posts out there that are great to consult for this kind of thing, and having consumed and used so many of these tools for the past few years, I feel like I've been able to develop my own version that works best for me.

If you don't know where to start, here's a FREE downloadable worksheet I've put together for you to fill out. For it to be most effective, remember to be as honest with yourself as possible when filling it out. Not all of the subsections might apply to you, so certainly customize it to what's suitable for your own situation - and keep it somewhere you can access easily and quickly so that it's not forgotten about!

Part 2 coming next week will focus on REPROGRAMMING to put this Life Audit into practice; because you can plan for weeks straight, but you'll need action to follow up in order to achieve anything.

2017 ACTION PLAN - NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

New Years Resolutions can be seriously underrated, because when they're done right, they're nothing to laugh about - I started 2016 with 3 main goals I wanted to achieve in the year, and found myself pleasantly surprised by September when I stumbled across the list and realised I had already ticked all of them off. Although you've probably heard a lot of underwhelming statistics - "Only 10% of people achieve their New Year's Resolutions" - it's up to you at the end of the day to make sure you belong in that 10%.

There are two keys to making shit happen - motivation and willpower - that drive your resilience and consequent success. But it comes down to your habits and daily rituals for you to see those successes through. To best prep yourself for 2017, I've put together my own New Years Resolutions 2017 Action Plan for you to follow. After spending the past year pouring over self-help worksheets and researching this kind of thing, I hope I've been able to come up with a schema that might help you as much as it helped me.

GOALS
Decide on 3 GOALS (too many more than three will be overwhelming, but up to five can work). Your goals can fall into whatever category you like - for instance, if you feel like your Personal/Self area of life needs more attention, most of them might fall into that category. Otherwise, come up with a goal for each of the following:

Personal/Self
IDEAS
- Meditate for 10 minutes every morning
- Put in volunteer hours for a charity or cause I feel passionate about
- Learn a new instrument or language

Career/School
IDEAS
- Get Distinctions or High Distinctions in all my classes
- Apply for exchange to study abroad
- Get a job that is more closely in line with my envisioned career pathway

Financial
IDEAS
- Buy a new car
- Invest in my first home or property
- Implement a weekly budget strategy to help me save money 

The idea is to ensure all your goals are SMART -

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely

So "Buy a new car" turns into "Buy a new Mazda 3 by September this year by working at least one part time job alongside my uni commitments". This technique means that your goal will become far less abstract as you are specifying the details (none of that ambiguous "In 2017 I will be more healthy!" bullcrap), and will force you to really reflect on your current situation and what you might have to change to achieve your desired end goal. Ironing out all the creases, so to speak, means that you won't have any excuses to give yourself half way through the year regarding why you haven't been able to make leeway on your journey. 

Courtesy of my blossoming addiction to Kikki K. products

WHY?
Pair every goal with a few sentences answering the question -
Why do you want to achieve it?
Reinforcing the motivation behind these goals can help you better understand yourself, and will allow you to appreciate the values that make you who you are. Self-awareness is rad, and will support you immensely on your journey.

STEP BY STEP
Here is your 5 Step Action Plan, where you turn those goals into logistical steps that you can take in order to achieve your dreams.

This is where everything suddenly becomes realistic, which is often the most exciting part. What are all the steps you will have to take to reach your final destination? Here's an example;

GOAL: Travel across Europe for a month in June-July period

1. Save 7k in the bank
2. Book return int'l flights
3. Book internal transport and accomm
4. Get travel card and travel SIM card
5. Document travels on my blog

TIMELINE
Sounds a lot less intimidating than "deadline", doesn't it? I believe a huge factor in failing to meet our New Years Resolutions comes down to cracking under the pressure of an ever-impending December 31st deadline. Elect a date for each step within each goal to check in with yourself and monitor your progress. If your Action Plan isn't completed by the end of the year, worry not - re-plan and let your goal-achieving roll into the New Year. 

Life isn't a series of stop-start achievements, or moments of have or have-not - we're constantly growing and changing, and our trials and errors are perhaps the most authentic aspect of our human condition. So go easy on yourself - you're gonna do great, pal.