Garrison Keillor, author of The Prairie Home Companion and host of the radio show of the same name, said the most brilliant thing about writer’s block, and it sheds a lot of light on the “I don’t feel like it” bug.
He said (and I’m paraphrasing here) that there’s no such thing as writer’s block and that we never, ever hear about surgeon’s block or bricklayer’s block, etc, etc.
Can you imaging a surgeon showing up for work and saying that they can’t operate today, that they just don’t “feel right”?! Never!
Garrison says that writer’s block comes from writers putting pressure on themselves to create at a level beyond their current abilities.
So whatever we’re working on, it’s as though we’re always looking for that “perfect state” that will cause our work to turn out like a master’s, even though our skill level can’t take us there yet. It’s kind of a fantasy, really.
And we have to remember that the masters became masters by showing up to their craft every day no matter how they felt.
I believe that “I don’t feel like it” is often a code phrase that means “I’m afraid this won’t be good enough”.
And then, in order to avoid facing our sense of not feeling like we’re good enough, we buy the reasoning that it’s all because of our current state and if we wait until later we’ll magically be good enough then! (Even though by not doing it now, we’re throwing away any possible chance of improving our skills for “later”.)
That’s some kind of crazy reasoning!
So what to do?
I’ve found 2 things helpful:
1) Get good at being able to sit with the feelings that are sitting just under the surface of “I don’t feel like it.”
Make sitting with the feelings part of your action step on whatever you’re moving towards. Give yourself a time limit at first – no more than 30 seconds, if that’s all you can take. Work your way up to 5 minutes and those feelings will permanently stop holding so much power over you.
2) Slow WAY down and do each step or action as though it’s simply for it’s own sake.
When you get extremely present with what you’re doing at this moment, and you start to notice the subtle sensations and nuances of the task itself, there’s no room to be making moment to moment calculations of whether it’s any good.
And remember, this is supposed to be the thing you love, the thing you want…right?
Lastly, take a good solid look, like Garrison says, at your exact skill level right now and be honest about how good you can expect anything to be at this moment in time. And then let that be completely OK!
And now ask yourself – do I still want to get better at it? And if you do, make a choice to practice or take an action just for the joy of getting better at it.
How has this pressure to be better played out in your life? Share your thoughts, questions and comments below.
And if you missed it, you can still catch the free e-course, called Ignite Your Desires to take full advantage of the energy boost we’re getting this week when the planet Mars goes direct starting late Tuesday.
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What I tell people is this: do the best you can, with the resources you have, under the circumstances you’re given.
Sometimes I forget to remind myself. But it’s still true.
Stacey Cornelius´s last blog ..How to write your bio and About page without driving yourself crazy
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post. This is exactly what I needed to hear! I’ve been stuck for a while now, and I think this is exactly why. I read blog post after blog post and ebook after ebook, hoping it will make me produce better content for my blog, but really, I just need to accept my current skill level and do the best I can. Blogging is truly a work in progress.
Kathleen K. O’Connor´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at
@Stacey – The classics just never go out of style do they?
@Kathleen – This is such a great point! Sometimes I think that all the information I read about how to do it better just serves to remind me of all the things I don’t know how to do yet, when it’s time to actually sit down and do it.
It’s ironic, yes, that we need to study and research to improve, but the act of improving is quite natural with practice and I’ve had to make a point of not using what I learn in my studies to put more pressure on myself.
Wow – how obvious should that have been to me? It makes perfect sense. It’s all those little things that are at the root of resistance. Thanks for making it so crystal clear.
@Lisa – It’s true, it seems so obvious when we see it written like this. But our safety brain is designed to switch off our logical brain when it’s trying to protect us from feeling bad. So the moment when we’re feeling this stuff, is when it’s the LEAST likely we’ll be able to think about it clearly.
What a difference than trying to fight resistance with resistance. Thank you!
Marsha Stopa´s last blog ..Winter’s Quiet Starts to Fade
I went through this exact thing when writing my blog post this morning. I started a couple times to just delete it altogether because I didn’t feel quite comfortable with it. But the more I remembered it, the more I knew it was something my audience would really like to hear about (or at least, I hope so!)
Sherice´s last blog ..How Much is a $1.75 Customer Worth?
That’s so funny, my favorite writing mentor always used to say “Plumber’s don’t get plumber’s block.” It’s so true.
I also find it really helpful if you focus on the very specific thing you’re trying to get across, when you begin with the end in mind it quiets down the peanut gallery in your head.
Thanks for this great post.
@Marsha – It’s always a relief to just end the battle, isn’t it.
@Sherice – Great point. Remembering who this is really for can completely get us moving and out of “navel-gazing” mode.
@Kelly – It is true! And getting really specific with any action, not just writing, really does help. Thanks!