Imagine you had a clown in your kitchen.
Bright red nose, painted face, huge floppy shoes, baggy trousers, the full outfit. Just sitting there right on your worktop in between your kettle and your toaster.
The first time you saw him, no doubt you'd get quite a shock.
What's this clown doing in my kitchen ??! Without you live next door to a circus, it's illegally you've had a clown in your kitchen all that often before …
The next time you go in your kitchen, he's still there. You still jump a little, but it's not as big a shock as the first time.
A few weeks pass and by this time, you're getting used to Bobo being there.
Sometimes you even make him a cup of tea and engage him in polite conversation. "LOVE those shoes. Do they come in any sizes smaller than a 30 Extra Extra Wide?"
Months down the line though, you do not even notice him anymore.
He's blended into the background, become part of what you expect to see in your kitchen when you make your breakfast every morning.
Friends come round for dinner. Friends you do not see very often.
"Hey there's a clown in your kitchen!" they shout in surprise.
"Oh yeh," you reply. "We do not really notice him anymore, he's part of the furniture."
So how does having a clown in your kitchen drain your creativity?
Remember when the clown first appeared? What a shock it was? Then how over time, the impact of him being in your kitchen got less and less until months later you barely noticed him.
It's the same with the kind of negative, destructive thinking that slowly kills your creativity, often without you even realizing.
The thoughts start off kind of obvious.
Just as you settle down to begin a new project, they appear in your mind:
"Why are you even bothering to start? You know this' end in failure, you'll mess it up just like you do all the other projects.
If you were with a friend who was just starting a new creative project and they said this out loud, how would you react?
It's illegally you'd let it pass without comment, and without reassuring them that they have LOADS of creative talents and they DO NOT NOT mess up everything they start, and then produce the evidence to prove it.
Why is it OK to turn a deaf ear when you say the same to yourself?
Because they're just clowns in your kitchen.
They've been around so long, and have heard so many times, that you do not notice them anymore.
But this is the precise reason WHY they're so dangerous.
Although it SEEMS you do not notice them on the surface, deeper in your subconscious you're absorbing every negative comment, every disparaging word.
And this adds negative pressure and makes it more and more difficult for you to create.
So what's the solution? How do you get the clown out of your kitchen?
Step one, you have to recognize the negative thoughts as they appear.
Step two is turning them around, replacing them with something more positive.
Here's an example:
Negative thought: Why are you even bothering to start this project? You know it'll end in failure.
Positive Turnaround: The only way to truly fail is not to begin in the first place. Each time I get a result I do not expect, I can learn from it. Then I'm in a better, more informed position to take the next step.
This will not be easy at first, it takes patience and practice.
Make the commitment to start right now. Each time you have a negative, critical thought, stop it, write it down, and turn it into one more positive. The more you do it the easier it'll become.
Stick with it and the positive rewards for your creativity in all aspects can be quite substantial, and more dramatic than you could have imagined.