Isolation Is a Dream Killer

One of the participants at my recent retreat shared this powerful quote from Barbara Sher, “Isolation is a dream killer.”

Similarly, my teacher Sonia Choquette says, “You cannot do it alone.”

How true!

As a sensitive woman, mother, home-based business owner, spiritual coach, intuitive, hand analyst, and ready-to-take-the-world-by-storm creative writer, I can tell you that the hardest days are when I feel like I have no one to turn to and there’s no one else out there who gets who or where I am. Luckily, I’ve learned a few things about this along the way.

When it comes to making your dreams real, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Your nascent vision is like a tiny seedling. Plant it in fertile soil, water it, nurture it, and protect it. Don’t put it somewhere it could be trampled on. Share it only with your best supporters.

2. Get the right support from the right people. You must have “believing eyes” to witness your project into wholeness. Do not allow the naysayers and doubters to topple your tiny creation before it learns to stand on its own two feet.Get in touch with your supporters when you need them, and do the same for them. Make sure you have a balanced, equal exchange with people who are emotionally whole enough to truly be there for you.

3. Dream big or stay at home. Don’t hold back from your vision — go all the way with it. Push yourself to your creative edge. Ask, “How can I take this to its next greatest level of expression?” If you need help pushing yourself to that precipice,  you’re in the right place. You’ll be seeing more from me modeling this very, very soon (stay tuned!).

4. Don’t take your critics too seriously. Like most of us, you probably make the mistake of listening to criticism (from yourself or from other people) far too early in your creative process. Your inner critics are speaking from fear and doubt, and your outer critics are doing the same. Very often, your outer critics are simply projecting their own fear and excuses onto you. So take it with a grain of salt. And turn to your supporters to get you back on track when you make the mistake of listening to the wrong voice.

5. Trust yourself, first. So often you dismiss your greatest, deepest truths because you think they are too simple, too complicated, too unrealistic, etc. But if you simply allow yourself the permission to explore what your inner voice is telling you, miraculous things can happen. You may want and need to have your inner truths heard and witnessed before you’re willing to give ourselves that permission.

That’s where your supporters or coach come into play. Either way, sometimes allowing yourself to voice your vision to the right listeners is just the powerful kick-start you need to make your dream become a reality.

 

 

On Fostering Innovation from Brad Bird at Pixar

From an article about Fostering Innovation using Brad Bird's lesson from Pixar.

(Note, these are renumbered from the original article because there were actually 10, not 9, as indicated in the text)

  1. Herd Your Black Sheep: “Give us the black sheep. I want artists who are frustrated. I want the ones who have another way of doing things that nobody’s listening to. Give us all the guys who are probably headed out the door.”
  2. Perfect is the Enemy of Innovation: "...there are some [scenes] that only need to be good enough to not break the spell."
  3. Look for Intensity: "Involved people make for better innovation"
  4. Innovation Doesn’t happen in a Vacuum: "...if we can interconnect all our strengths, we are collectively the greatest animator on earth."
  5. High Morale Makes Creativity Cheap: "...the thing that has the most significant impact on a movie’s budget—but never shows up in a budget—is morale."
  6. Don't Try To “Protect your success:” "The first step in achieving the impossible is believing that the impossible can be achieved..."
  7. Steve Jobs Says ‘Interaction = Innovation:’ "People are allowed to create whatever front to their office they want.... if you have a loose, free kind of atmosphere, it helps creativity."
  8. Encourage Inter-disciplinary Learning: "...encourages people to learn outside of their areas, which makes them more complete [and more creative]."
  9. Get Rid of Weak Links: "Passive-aggressive people—people who don’t show their colors in the group but then get behind the scenes and peck away—are poisonous."
  10. Making $$ Can’t Be Your Focus: "Walt Disney’s mantra was, 'I don’t make movies to make money—I make money to make movies.'”

What I love about these thoughts is the outside-the-box thinking that focuses on creativity, results, risk, and morale, simultaneously. As someone who is accustomed to coaching clients who "don't fit in," I love seeing such powerful results coming from NOT fitting in and not valuing fitting in. It's so refreshing.

It's my sense that we all have a lot to learn from these creative visionary types who see things differently, are willing to say so, and are willing to match their money and their efforts with their beliefs.

Jenna Avery
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