Hi. Much to my delight, Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Certification program is ten years old this year. I'm celebrating with a newsletter that's here.
And people from the newsletter will be clicking here for this PDF of some of my favorite KMCC tools to help bust through resistance.
In 1997 I wanted to write a book about creativity that had about 37 Muses in it -a worthy amount to help me deal with my formidable procrastination skills. What a relief when I found out there was only nine Muses in Greek Mythology, so my task was to squeeze 37 Muses (or creative tools) into nine upgraded modern day muses... (and a bodyguard).
But I procrastinated.
I was also resistant, easily distracted and activated impressive avoidance strategies when it got hard. Additonally, I let myself get discouraged by family members and hindered by the uplifting sentiment “Who the hell am I to write a book?" oh, and the ever popular "This has already been done." I also ate a lot of sugar that fuzzed my brain out and I was addicted to on-line card games.
But I wanted to write the book .. so badly that I actually asked for help which is unlike me . A life coach would turn me into a devoted, disciplined, notoriously beguiling writer. That’s what I figured.
But I got more blocked and less beguiling.
My moody, sensitive, rebellious, prone-to-sabotage temperament didn’t respond favorably to checklists, high expectations, linear goals and ESPECIALLY being told what to do.
As a perfectionist, when I didn’t complete EVERY SINGLE one of my tasks I felt IMPERFECT and didn’t want to be reminded of this by some coach lady so I skipped sessions. When I did show up I got overwhelmed about 15 minutes into the session, steam came out of ears, a fog horn went off and I didn’t want to play anymore.
What I eventually discovered is that these abnormalities are not that weird at all. They IN FACT are what sensitive creative people experience regularly. They're not not signs of hopelessness or criminal behavior.
Irony not lost on me, the book I was trying to write was ABOUT getting through creative blocks. Ha ha [deadpan, hold the giddiness]. So I wrote as I experimented and I experimented in order to write. A Bodyguard kept me from abandoning my passion and as requested nine Muses showed up.
I was more cooperative with myself when I took the simple off-the-wall tools I was discovering and imagined they were Muses (upgraded from the outdated and negligent nine Greek Muses). They became the keepers of what worked: Here are four of those things in a PDF you can hang in your bathroom.
The whole concept of imaginary friends always worked for me and these Muses were a lot like have ten imaginative coaches who, by the way, were fun, available when I needed them, shrewdly understanding and BACKED-OFF if I was feeling overwhelmed. With their help the book got written and became the foundation of Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Certification program. Add to that the genius of Robert Maurer’s Kaizen approach and hundreds of people have been creatively liberated.
Through Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching I have met talented, funny, wise and warm real-life Muses who “get” that coaching can be fun, intuitive, imaginative, and kind --which requires they have a playful, eccentric way about them – my tribe! How grateful I am that they found their way to this coaching training.