Creative Process
How this Creative Stays Focused and Gets Things Done
Question from Client: You are a Potential Empathy, so what makes it possible for you to get so much done…or should I say stay focused? Is it because you are in familiar territory?
Short answer: I decide and decide quickly! People flounder when they’ve made anything other than a 100% decision. I decide 100% and start moving forward. As Kristin Sweeting Morelli says,
The antidote to overwhelm and confusion is to pick a horse and ride it. You’re never going to pick a perfect horse, but just pick one and ride it. – Kristin Sweeting Morelli
Longer answer: I seek inspiration by praying specifically for answers. I expect an answer and wait for what feels like a “download” to my mind about what action to take. Then I IMMEDIATELY set to work on it. Over time, the practice of asking, receiving and acting immediately develops some kind of connection where line upon line I get the actions I need to take. Many times I don’t even have a big vision or a focus. Or perhaps I have one, but don’t remember it!
For example, I started IdeaMarketers in 1998 as a place to promote people I believed in. It didn’t have enough traffic. It was missing something. The idea came for an article directory. I shifted my direction and built it. Over time, I modified and tweaked until by 2007 the site was big enough that it became a publicity engine for experts. Originally, article marketing felt like a change of direction or a detour, but it still took me where I wanted to go.
In 2007, I remember thinking, “Oh, I see now Lord! This is where we were going all along!” I didn’t honestly piece together or remember that it was my original intention to promote people, because I only tried that for a couple months and gave up. It took me a few years after starting our expert program to have that aha moment of, “Hey, I’m doing what I originally set out to do!”
So bottom line — I might consciously lose my big vision, but my heart knows it, and God knows it. If I seek His help every step of the way, He takes me on a journey to make it happen.
Interestingly enough, not until I just wrote this did I realize that now more than ever I’m doing what I originally set out to do … promote people I believe in on IgnitePoint. I’m not interested in promotiong “just anybody.” They have to be folks I believe in, and that’s what this site is about. Yeah, fun!
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
Collaborating with the Divine
I love this Ted Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert (of “Eat, Pray, Love
So enjoy this video. It’s a wonderful presentation on the Quantum Collaboration that occurs when spirit and artist are aligned… or as I say… when the artist has tuned her heart to the channel of inspiration.
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
Are You Ready to Make Your Big Vision a Reality?
When my children were little, I worked a lot from home. While I was getting things done in my business, they were trashing their bedrooms. One of my boys (who is now a novelist in the making and an inspired creative) had trouble when it was time to clean his room.
I’d tell him to clean, walk away, and come back to find nothing done and him standing there staring at the mess. Finally, I realized it wasn’t that he was disobedient or lazy. He was overwhelmed about where to start. So I’d get in there with him, a trash bag in hand, and say, “First we’re going to pick up the trash.” He’d get right in there with me and work to pick up the trash. He wasn’t afraid to work. In fact, this boy will work until he drops.
Then I’d say, “Let’s pick up your dirty clothes now.” By the time the trash and clothes were off the floor, things were starting to look a bit more manageable. We’d then focus on putting the toys away, and so forth. With me by his side, breaking things down, we could clean that room in fairly short order.
I’ve found that my clients (who are also inspired creatives) often feel a lot like my son in their businesses. They are willing to do the work. They aren’t lazy. They just feel at a loss about where to start or how to do what needs to be done.
Over the last few years I’ve been traveling to some of their homes or meeting with them at retreat locations. I work alongside them for 2-5 days and help them make huge strides in their businesses. This is a fun experience for me and them. We both come away with a great sense of accomplishment, and I’m absolutely thrilled to see them getting their brilliance out in the world.
But traveling to people’s locations isn’t always possible or affordable for the client. That’s why I’ve started a new service which I call my VIP WOW Days where I assess your project and work alongside you to get it done. I bring my full range of experience together on your project.
My expertise lies in content creation, information product development, tribe building, collaborative creation and marketing, book writing and publishing, social media launches, and technological assistance. Mix in my certification in belief-shifting work with my 23 years in business, and there’s not much I can’t help you accomplish with your business online.
If you’re interested in learning more about my VIP WOW Days, click here. Another option is to join one of my next group accountability and mentoring programs like the Big Vision to Reality System.
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
Remember Who You Are: Conquer Amnesia
I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the last few days. I recognize it as the “Rest Phase” of The Creative Cycle. The typical symptoms are: I start to doubt myself, think negatively, and develop a good case of “amnesia” about who I am and what I’m here to do. In this phase I tend to procrastinate things… the smallest details can overwhelm me.
I’m coming out of this phase, thanks to
a) Time. Remember when you’re in a funk, “this too shall pass.” In fact, what follows the Rest Phase is a Flow State. So the best part is just around the corner! Look forward to it!
b) Relaxing into the rest. I took a 3 hour nap yesterday and watched 3 episodes of one of my daughter’s favorite series (Merlin) with her.
c) Implementing a few tools I use to “remember who I am” when amnesia sets in.
It’s these tools for overcoming the amnesia that I’d like to share with you.
Dream Work Profile. Back in August 2012, I had a Dream Work Profile session with my friend Anastasia Montejano. I came away with crystal clarity about my strengths, what I’m here to do in the world, and how I can choose to show up in life. Specifically I had a clearer understanding of where I am right now and how the last year and this year fit into my overall path. Anastasia recorded our session, and anytime I start to feel the amnesia coming on, I listen to this audio and “remember who I am.”
A Vision Map. Monday evening I came home from my daughter’s music lessons to find a cylinder container in my office. Inside it was the Vision Map my friend Laura West made for me a few months ago. I’d already seen the digital copy, but she just mailed the physical one to frame and put on my wall. Its arrival could not have been more serendipitous. The amnesia had begun and this gentle reminder was just what I needed to remember my big vision.
Meditation. When I’m in the Rest Phase, and I’m starting to forget who I am, I like to take time to meditate and ponder upon my life and where I’m heading. I’ll be honest with you, most of the time, all I get from meditation in the Rest Phase is a peaceful assurance that all is well. But when your mind is prone to negativity and self-doubt, that peaceful knowing is priceless. I get my best inspiration and answers from meditation when I’m just coming out of the Rest Phase and cycling back around to Flow. I might add journaling in conjunction with meditation is extremely powerful.
Gratitude. Even though I don’t feel particularly grateful in the Rest Phase, I force myself to go to gratitude. I’m grateful for my warm, dry car with a toasty heater on a dreary, rainy morning. I’m grateful for my children, for a roof over our heads, a warm bed, food to eat. The basics! A lot of people don’t have these things. When I’m prone to get into a gripe fest, I count my blessings and the negativity stops.
Read a Book That Reminds You Who You Are. For me, it’s Tribes by Seth Godin. This morning I was reading it on the elliptical at the gym and I could feel myself starting to remember what it’s all about for me. One line in particular resonated so strongly, I felt like an amnesia victim with a flood of memories returning, “Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.” Oh yeah, I remember! That’s who I am! Find a book that helps you remember who you are and read it often!
Music. Sometimes I feel I chose to come to earth in this time period just because I wanted music on demand! I shudder to think what my life would be like without music! Yesterday, I was in the gym and a Kelly Clarkson song came on. I used my Shazam app to discover the title, “Catch My Breath” and clicked to go to iTunes for her Greatest Hits album. After listening to a few songs, I felt a strong impression to buy the album (for only $8.99). I rarely buy entire albums. I’m more of a this-song-that-song kind of gal.
This morning as I was driving home from the gym, listening to “Breakaway” I felt myself shift out of the Rest Phase and into a Flow State. I instantly remembered who I am, why I’m here and what’s possible when I step into my highest, best self.
So there you have it, my tools for combating amnesia. I’d love to hear what you use to remember who you are! Please share your thoughts below while you enjoy Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway.”
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
Actively Create the 2013 of Your Dreams
Imagine you’ve walked into a restaurant and have been seated by the hostess. You’re given a menu and a few minutes to ponder your selection. After an appropriate amount of time, the waiter arrives to take your order and you say.
I’d like the halibut … wait… no…
I know I don’t want a hamburger. I really hate steak. Please don’t bring me steak, and the baked potato was dry the last time.
I know what I want, I’ll take the …. Wait, no, I’m not sure …
You go on like this for some time.
How likely is the waiter to know what to bring you until you make a decision?
Many of us approach life like this. We primarily gripe about what we don’t like or what’s not working. But we don’t get specific about what we do want. And even when we do narrow our choices, we vacillate indecisively.
How likely are you to receive quality results in life with this type of double-mindedness? I believe inherent in the admonition, “Ask and you shall receive” are three important assumptions we can make:
1) God cares about our needs, wants and desires. He wants to know them!
2) Inherent in the equation is that we need to make a decision and get specific about what we want.
3) There is a correlation between what we’re asking and what we’re receiving.
If you don’t ask, you often don’t receive. If you change your mind incessantly, you get unstable results.
I hope as you start 2013, you will get clear about what you want to happen this year. Actively co-create your life with the Infinite. That clarity will propel you into focused action so that you can achieve the desired results.
This is what we’ll be working through in the “Create the 2013 of Your Dreams Audio” which is part of my Ignite Your WOW Mentoring Program. If you’re ready to get noticed, get clients and build a loyal following for your business in 2013, I hope you’ll join me!
Either way, I wish you the best in 2013 and beyond!
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
Tap Into Your Passion and Make the Impact You’re Here to Make!
Are you ready to make an impact, but you have so many ideas that you’re not sure where to start? If choosing one direction seems daunting to you, then I have a treat for you…
Be sure to register for the FREE teleclass with Laura West here. Even if you can’t make the day/time of the call, register anyway so you can get the audio recording.
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
Taking Focused Action Just Got Easier
If you’re serious about taking your business to the next level of success, I highly recommend attending this upcoming teleclass with Laura West. She’ll be helping you decide on the project you’re most passionate about so you can tap into that energy and propel yourself forward in the next 30 days.
I’ve gone through this training myself and it’s a treasure I want to share with anyone and everyone who is serious about taking their message and getting it out to the world. This is the “focused action piece” that most people never step into fully. As a result, they flounder for years, never fully stepping into their greatness.
So, stop sitting on your dreams and attend this free teleclass coming up September 18th. Details here.
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
Prevent Burnout with Passion
“You don’t have time to be both unhappy and mediocre. It’s not just pointless, it’s painful. Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you need to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin, “Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us”
In this video I explore how to prevent burnout by focusing on your passion.
Find out what your passion is — take Lisa Rae Preston’s STEP Into Destiny Test.
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
Joy Is One’s Fuel
I’ve been reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged: (Centennial Edition)
Her work was all she had or wanted. But there were times, like tonight, when she felt that sudden, peculiar emptiness, which was not emptiness, but silence, not despair, but immobility, as if nothing within her were destroyed, but everything stood still. Then she felt the wish to find a moment’s joy outside, the wish to be held as a passive spectator by some work or sight of greatness. Not to make it, she thought, but to respond; not to create, but to admire. I need it to let me go on, she thought, because joy is one’s fuel.
She had always been — she closed her eyes with a faint smile of amusement and pain — the motive power of her own happiness. For once, she wanted to feel herself carried by the power of someone else’s achievement. As men on a dark prairie liked to see the lighted windows of a train going past, her achievement, the sight of power and purpose that gave them reassurance in the midst of empty miles and night — so she wanted to feel it for a moment, a brief greeting, a single glimpse, just to wave her arm and say: Someone is going somewhere…”
I love that passage because I can relate to Dagney. I find immense joy and happiness in my work, but there’s something magical in watching someone else succeed, observing another’s creations, knowing there is majesty elsewhere on the planet. I think that’s why I love promoting people so much and why nature is the air I breathe.
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
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Leverage Your Creative Cycle to Work for You
Have you ever felt disgusted with yourself when you didn’t run with a big idea fast enough and a few months later saw someone else turn the same idea into a screaming success?
Have you experienced the exhilaration of a new idea only to have your zest for it wane when it came time to implement all the details to make it happen?
It doesn’t have to be this way. You can take your brilliant ideas to income when you’re able to understand your creative cycle and work with it instead of fighting against it.
I’m passionate about helping inspired creatives like you impact the world. That’s why I’ve put together a resource especially for inspired creatives called “Leverage Your Creative Cycle to Make More Money, Get More Done and Follow Your Bliss.”
If you’re ready to take your ideas to income and tap into the potential lying within your creative genius, this is for you.
About Marnie PehrsonAre you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.
"Marnie shares her intelligence and talents with wit, she shares them with patience. She's articulate, she's organized in her thoughts. She doesn't lose us. We follow along and we get it. Lastly, we know we can do it. She infused us with the confidence to know we can."Victoria Fielding
Light Sojourn
