The life lesson: even if you love to write, paint, dance, or learn – it’s still a struggle to find the time, energy, and motivation to do what you love! The successful woman: Julia Cameron.
Cameron wrote this funky little book called How to Avoid Making Art (or Anything Else You Enjoy).
It’s a quick read, with drawings that illustrate her point that there are millions of things we do instead of chasing our dreams. The illustrations represent all the stuff we do when we know better, when we should be doing what we love. It’s stuff that steals our energy, time, and life…and our dreams.
I’ve taken Julia Cameron’s tongue-in-cheek advice for avoiding doing you love, and turned each statement around. It’s now motivation to do what you love, my friends!
Finding the Motivation to Do What You Love – Julia Cameron
“Be available to everyone at any time. Do not nurture yourself or set boundaries.” Finding the motivation to do what you love means you have to take care of you. It’ll be hard to do at first – for both you and your people – but once you all get used to it, you’re on your way!
“Acquire a high maintenance relationship.” By this, I think Julia Cameron means hooking up with a partner or friend who needs your constant attention. Some people need more time and energy than others (high maintenance!), if you invite such people into your life, you’re stealing your own time and energy.
“Talk about it so you don’t have to do it.” Finding the motivation to do what you love means stop talking about your longing to be a doctor or writer or mother. Start taking action steps towards small, specific goals.
“Surround yourself with jealous, blocked, negative companions.” Oh man. Julia Cameron must have personal experience with “friends” like this. To find the motivation to do what you love, surround yourself with creative, inspirational people who support, love, and encourage you.
“Let others’ problems become your problems so that your time and energy are depleted.” Instead of taking on other people’s problems and expectations, let them work out their own stuff. That’ll give you the time, energy, and motivation to do you love. Read Letting Go of Other People’s Expectations – Maria Shriver for help letting go!
“If your pets aren’t high maintenance enough, get more of them to take up any extra free time or money you might have.” To find the motivation to do what you love, draw the line at high-maintenance pets (just like high-maintenance friends). Simplify your life, and focus on where you really want to go.
“Tell yourself you can’t afford art supplies. Buy five expensive cappuccinos while you discuss this with friends.” Ha ha ha, Julia Cameron. It’s funny because it’s true! Where do you spend your money? Are you losing the motivation to do what you love because you’re buying too many shoes or hats or cappuccinos? Budget your money so you have the resources to do what you love.
You know when you’re letting life, friends, kids, work, or tv drain your time and energy. You know when you’re not acting in your own best interests, or when you’re ignoring your gut instincts, or when you’ve lost the motivation to do what you love.
You know when you’re wasting your life.
Get to it, my friends. Find your way back to your artist’s easel, school, exercise routine, travel adventures, or writing project.
Get back to your life.
And if you’re not ready to get back to your life yet, read How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart!
What are your thoughts on these finding the motivation to do what you love? I welcome your comments below!
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These were funny, Laurie, and great tips. I have one to add: Listen to the critical voice in your head that tells you a multitude of messages like: “you’re not good enough”, “you’ll get rejected”, or “that’s a stupid idea”. That voice creeps up just when I’m being motivated by a sensational idea and sucks the juice right out of it. Until I stop listening to it of course. I recognize that voice now so I don’t take it seriously – but I’ve been imobilized by it in the past – no more!!!
Thanks for adding yours, Gini! And here’s mine:
“Play with your blogs so you don’t have to write the chapters the publisher is waiting for. Convince yourself that your blogs are more important as writing your books.”
Instead of researching my women who weren’t well-behaved for my sample chapters, I decided to upgrade my See Jane Soar blog. Isn’t it beautiful?
Honestly, I’m beginning to wonder if my blogs are a substitute for writing my books…
Oh yes, finding something else that seems more important than what you really need to do to move forward in another area is a great one. Don’t you find the dishes and laundry become very important at certain times too!
Well, if writing blogs is a substitute for writing your books, now that you’ve named it, you’ll see through it and move past it – awareness is so helpful.
Gini Grey´s last blog post..Boundaries
These are hilarious…because they speak the truth!!
There will be plenty of opportunities to complain when external factors that we have no control over enter into our lives. But in the meantime…set yourself up for success. Give yourself a leg up whenever you can with things you can control…drink water instead of a 4th cappucino, stop talking and start doing, and put up a fence to keep the dream-suckers, time-suckers and emotion-suckers out of your life!
With every excuse comes an option to do something.
Deborah´s last blog post..Ouch…what was that?!? II Deborah
Deborah, thanks for stopping in. I love that you said “set yourself up for success.” Isn’t it amazing how often we sabotage ourselves?
“Stop talking and start doing” — yes, yes, yes! I gotta go check out your blog, Deborah
Gini, does awareness always work that way — naming things, seeing through them, and then moving past them?
Maybe part of becoming aware of something is the realization that you don’t WANT to move past it….like, maybe my awareness that I use my blogs to procrastinate will make me realize where my heart really lies. Blogging, not writing books.
(But that’s not the truth for me — I DO want to write books. I just want to blog, too!)
Hmmm…but now that I’m aware of what I’m doing, I do feel a much stronger pull to write my sample chapters and get off my blog!
Laurie
Hi Laurie – I find that awareness plays a huge role in moving past things. Just naming something gives some separation from it so you see it is not you – that critical voice that I used to think was my truth, now that I name it, has less power as I see it is not my truth, just a critical voice I picked up somewhere along the way. It’s like with addiction – the addict first needs the awareness that they have a problem and have been giving their power away to it before they can get help.
Yet as you said, awarness is about truth, so if blogging is where your heart is, you will know that because you’ll feel a strong yes inside of you. If writing books is where your heart is you will feel the yes there. If it is both, well, you know how it works. I do find though it is hard to spread my energy and focus on too many things. That is why I have to take a break this summer from coaching so I can focus more on writing. With both of my books, I had to take time away from clients then too.
You seem good at multitasking and scheduling though so I’m sure you can do both – how does it feel to make a commitment to both?
Gini Grey´s last blog post..Boundaries
Yes, Gini, committing to both is what I’ll do — but it’s exactly what you said: I’m reluctant to spread my energy too thin.
I’m curious how you’ll feel about going back to coaching in the fall! Will you be eager to get back, or reluctant because of your summer of writing? I guess only time will tell..
I know other readers are reading this…if you feel inclined to jump in with any thoughts on choosing specific things in life to focus on — and letting other things go — please feel free! I welcome your thoughts.
For me, I think the freelance writing will have to go — I’ll just have to turn down assignments. That’s tough to wrap my mind around because I worked so hard to get to this point, and after this book is written I may have to start freelancing from “scratch.”
But, I don’t have a contract yet so there’s no point in worrying about it too much yet…
Thanks for being here, Gini!
Laurie
Laurie PK´s last blog post..5 Tips for Managing Medical Debt
I love these words from Julia Cameron!
My de-motivating problems is surrounding myself with blocked, negative people. They totally drain me and then I have no energy to do what I love. But, I do this all the time.
How do I stop sabotaging myself?
Thanks,
Janice
Hi Janice,
Great question, about self-sabotage. I started making suggestions here, then realized I was writing a whole article! So, I turned it into an article
Here’s the link:
4 Ways to Stop Self-Sabotage and Self-Defeat
I hope it helps,
Laurie
Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen´s last blog post..8 Best Ways to Lose Weight – Healthy Eating Tips
I know exactly what you mean, because I LOVE making up my own crossword puzzles, it’s sounds nuts but it’s so much fun, yet I never take the time to do it. Making time to do what you love is crucial to being happy.
Thanks for this reminder and motivation to MAKE time to do what you love!
Sammy