How to Calm your Creative Chaos

What is Creative Chaos? Whenever I’ve asked my Facebook followers how chaotic they feel their lives and businesses are at on a scale of 1-10 most replied, 11, 13, 999! Not surprising that many, many of us creative people feel very chaotic much of the time. So if chaos is part of our creative selves, how to do we deal with it? Why do creatives feel chaotic and how do we reign that chaos in?

What I’m NOT going to do is suggest changing the creative, chaotic people we are but rather to say, “Baby it’s okay, you’re not alone!!”

So why does creative chaos exist? Well, I have a theory about that.

Passion and chaos go hand-in-hand! You see most truly creative people are passionate. We are driven to write, to paint, to create something out of nothing. Most of us are also multi-passionate. We have more than one talent we are excited about. We tend to start and stop various projects, scatter our options before us, outwardly making our lives look chaotic. It’s this excitement that can lead to the feeling of chaos and at some point will lead to anxiety especially when the chaos enters the business side of your passion.

• Businesses need some order and rules to run efficiently and successfully. Order? Rules? Constrictions? I can’t! I know, I know, my creative side screamed the same thing! How could I fit my creative round self into in to an organized square peg. How do I tame my creative excitement?? Well, here’s a few tips I’ve used to reign in my excitement in order to focus on the business side when necessary:

• Accept your chaotic-ness. Or as I like to say, Embrace your hot mess!!! You don’t have to change who you are to make others more comfortable around you. And you don’t have to change to be more acceptable to others. You just need to admit and accept who you are, then you will find peace in your chaos. Love you chaotic self, and remember this quote by Julianna Zobrist, “A passionate woman is WORTH the chaos.” 
• Quit comparing yourself to those neat freak, super-organized people. The world needs people from both areas, so let them be the organized ones, and you be the creative! You’re not lacking anything so stop feeling inadequate because you aren’t as organized as they are.
• Let go of trying to do it all! Hire people to do things you don’t have time for or are not that great at. Allowing yourself the freedom of not being responsible for everything is a blessing and will make you happier.
• Pray and Meditate. Try praying or meditating when you first wake up instead of letting your mind run through it’s to-do list. This definitely helps set your tone for the day. Believe me, this may not be easy, my creative mind constantly drifts back to my list, but be disciplined and reign it back in. The more you practice the easier it will become, and it is so worth the effort.
• Exercise! It helps calm the chaos. Even something a simple as taking a walk, will do wonders. I find exercising in the morning works best for me. Waiting until evening just makes it too easy to brush it off. Doesn’t matter when you do it, as long as you do it.
• Focus your attention on one thing at a time; you just can’t do it all at once. Creatives tend to feed their own chaos by trying to do everything now. Try focusing on just one business area this week. Learning about only one thing won’t be so overwhelming. Remind yourself often: You eat an elephant one bite at a time. Focus on what needs to be done right now, today. And please, Pause and Praise. Celebrate something you’ve recently nailed. This will boost your confidence and help you see how far you’ve already come.
• Remove yourself from some of the OVER stimulating environments when we really need to concentrate. For me, it’s places like Starbucks. I just can’t focus because I’m watching and listening to everyone! For some, it’s their studios; too much distraction. If there’s something you MUST get done, do it some place less stimulating, more calming. For me, it’s the public library. It might be different for you. Just go to any place that doesn’t excite all your senses!

So learn to accept that being a creative requires a certain level of chaos, and that’s okay! You don’t need to change your chaotic self to run your business, you just need to tame the chaos a little when necessary.

I have a new online course for creative business owners to help you get on track to growing your business online. Check it out here. There are many lanes out there to choose from … and this is the best roadmap to get there. Take the free workshop to help you get on track!

Blessings, Jen