Last week, I had the pleasure of sharing a workspace for two days in London with 28 brilliant women and one brilliant man as we all ‘got schooled’ at ‘The Blogcademy‘. More about that experience in another post.
When I sat back down at my desk yesterday morning, after just over a week away (including a day off on Monday to get a beautiful tattoo), I immediately became panicked.
Not only was I a week behind in my work, with deadlines left, right and centre, but how was I ever going to make the time and brain space to apply the knowledge I had brought with me from ‘The Blogcademy’? The funny thing about panic and self doubt is that if you open the door and let a niggling little doubt in, the door soon gets thrown open and you can end up paralysed by it.
There I was sitting at my desk, feeling very unproductive, watching as my fellow blogcadets posted links to new blog posts, updated their websites and all in all were extremely proactive.
This morning I woke up with a resolve that today would be different. I made some tea and toast, sat down at my desk and decided to do something I hadn’t done in ages, open up my Google Reader, click on my ‘Inspiration’ feed and just read. The first post that popped up could have been tailor made for how I was feeling; it was ‘if you aren’t doing your thing because you aren’t “expert” enough…‘by Tara Mohr. This resonated with me as I realised I had been thinking of everyone else at the workshop as “experts” and felt that I was different, however reading the blog post by Tara and by also reacquainting myself with her ‘10 Rules for Brilliant Women‘, I was reminded that I am unique, nobody else has the same perspective on life because noone else is ME!
Self doubt could be the ruin of us all, which is why every so often it’s a really good idea to step outside our heads and gain a fresh perspective.
I’d love to hear how you overcome creative blocks or periods of doubt!
Great post! The Blogcademy was amazing but I spent lots of it worrying that everyone else’s websites were better than mine etc. You have to forget about what other people are doing and focus on what makes you and your work special!
I think everyone suffers from self-doubt, apart from Michael Bay maybe, and look what happened there. I see it as a necessary part of the creative process an it allows us to critique our own work. The key is recognise it for what it is and not allow it take over and stop you creating. What sometimes works for me is to just push through and start working on anything that comes to mind, no matter how dumb. At least if it’s awful you have a reference point and can improve from there.
Also, booze.
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