Posts Tagged ‘coaching’
We’re two weeks into 2017. Have you already broken one of your New Year’s resolutions regarding your creative life?
If so, you’re in good company as studies show that at least one third of people break their resolutions within the first week of making them. And, almost half of all people who make resolutions break them within a month.
Most of us don’t reach our creative goals without structure and accountability.
Doors are almost closed on my signature ‘Tone Your Creative Core™’ Program.
I have added a NEW BONUS just for you:
On Sunday, January 15th, I will host a LIVE group coaching call. I’ll be talking about what needs to be in your creativity start-up kit to set you up for success in 2017. I’ll do a powerful visioning exercise and share a few ways to “hack your brain” for increased creativity. The majority of the call will be me answering YOUR questions. Have questions about publishing, finding motivation, getting past the inner critic? ASK THEM and get helpful answers. I want to support you in dreaming about what you want to accomplish in 2017 and to planning how you will do it.
Check out the details here. A small investment with a big payoff.
Pop-Up Coaching Happening In About An Hour on Facebook Live–Get Your Questions Answered
Posted October 30, 2016
on:- In: creative writing | creativity | writing
- 1 Comment
Hi creative peeps,
I’m doing ‘pop-up’ coaching at 6:30 (EST) tonight on Facebook Live. Ask me ANYTHING about writing, making time for a creative life, and how to beat those pesky inner critics, etc. I’ll also share some tips about how to get your creative projects going full blast through the end of the year.
Come to my Facebook Page (Michele T Berger) at 6:30. I’d love to support you in meeting your creative goals.
How Can You Make the Last Quarter of the Year the BEST for Your Creative Work? Come Join Me On Facebook Live Next Week!
Posted October 24, 2016
on:Hi creative peeps,
We are deep into the last quarter of the year. Wow! It seems like it was just June and I was packing for the beach. A few days ago, I sat down and checked on where I was with my writing goals and creative projects and where I wanted to be by the end of the year. There are several goals that I could see would be met by the end of the year. And, there are a few goals that seem far from their end-of-the year target. I am both daunted and excited about this gap between where I wanted to be in October and where I am. But, there’s also many things that are going extremely well that I couldn’t have predicted in January. And, making that list clarified areas I need to take action in.
You might be in the same situation—wondering how you will make good on some of those plans and promises you made to yourself during the first quarter of the year.
You might be feeling that some of your most important goals are slipping away from you as you look at the calendar and see the end of the year fast approaching. (I don’t think anyone in the U.S. gets much of anything done after Dec 18).
It’s not too late to connect with what you most wanted to accomplish this year with your creative work.
I’ve found a perfect opportunity for me to serve you. I decided to learn Facebook Live so that we could connect about how you can make the last quarter of the year the best!
If you’ve never done Facebook Live it is EASY. You will just go to my Facebook page (on this page, you’ll see the icon to the right toward the bottom of the page—Michele T Berger) at the designated time and I will appear in real time. You can type in questions (please, or else I will just be talking to myself) and I’ll answer them live. Everyone on the page at that time can follow our conversation and join in. It will be FUN!
Next Sunday, Oct 30th at 6:30 pm (EST), I will be on Facebook Live answering YOUR questions.
You can ask me anything about writing, the creative process, etc. I mean ANYTHING. You know I love to provide coaching on how to make more time for your creative life, writer’s block, dealing with inner critics, fear, procrastination, perfectionism, etc., how to submit your work for publication more frequently, etc.
I’ll also share a few tips and resources that are helping me stay on track so I can reach the goals I outlined for myself.
I’d love to see you there. Feel free to go over and ‘like’ my Facebook page now. I’ll also provide reminders about the Facebook Live event during the week.
Mark the date in your calendar—it will be like a free coaching session!
Facebook LIVE: Next Sunday, Oct 30th at 6:30 pm (EST)! I’ll stay on about a half hour, or until there aren’t any more questions.
- In: creative writing | creativity | writing
- 7 Comments
Feeling worthy is a learned behavior.
—Beverly McIver
Happy New Year!
How lucky are we that we have another year to explore our creative passions and dreams.
Last month, I got the nub of a terrific idea from meeting the writer James Maxey. He is using the energy of 2016, being a leap year, to spur him on to write every day and aim for 366,000 words by the end of the year. Intense, I know!
I loved the idea of attempting something inspiring, mind-stretching and ambitious for my creative life in 2016. I thought about what I need in my creative life and what other creative folk might need.
I asked myself the question: What could I share with you on a daily basis that would support a positive mindset as we approach our creative work?
Answer: Affirmations!
I was lucky enough to meet renowned visual artist, Beverly McIver at a professional development conference. She talked at length about how important it is that creative people do the inner emotional work to support the (often) long path to professional success. Anxious and unhelpful self-talk and inner critics often stop us before we can even get to our projects.
What I need as a writer is lots of practice in self-kindness, plain and simple. I have technique, craft, discipline and perseverance in spades. Many creative people struggle with simply being self-accepting. As you know, we can think the meanest things about ourselves.
Over the years, I have found affirmations to be a potent tool in combating unhelpful self-talk/criticism. The use of affirmations has come a long way. An affirmation is a short, simple, positive declarative phrase that as Eric Maisel says, in Coaching The Artist Within, “you say to yourself because you want to think a certain way…or because you want to aim yourself in a positive direction.”
You can use them as ‘thought substitutes’ to dispute self-injurious thoughts (as a cognitive behavioral approach), or to provide incentive and encouragement when those seem to be in short supply. Affirmations as writer and coach, Rochelle Melanader notes in her book WRTE-A-THON: Write Your Book in 26 Days (and live to tell about it), helps to “challenge and reframe assumptions.”
Now that many psychologists, mental health workers and coaches advocate the use of affirmations, they’ve become respectable. Gone are the days that affirmations made you only think of Shirley MacLaine, flouncy scarves, and quartz crystals. (Though for the record, I’ve liked each of the above at different times in my life.)
So, my commitment to you and myself is to post an original affirmation every day through the end of the year. It’s a fun and daunting goal! Some affirmations will focus generally on creativity, but many will focus on writing. I imagine some will be serious and others will be a bit more whimsical. They will usually arrive without commentary, but occasionally I may offer some additional thoughts. I encourage you to use the affirmation as you see fit. You can say it to yourself several times a day, write it down or adapt the words to your liking. Periodically, I’ll be writing about the different ways creative people use affirmations and the current research on the use of affirmations.
My greatest hope is that the affirmations I write will be there when you need them most. And, that they will embody a tone and energy that can carry you past the sometimes insistent, unhelpful and inaccurate voices in our heads.
Affirmation #1- The more creative work I release into the world, the happier I am.