Instagram numbers affecting your creative enthusiasm? This mindset will help.

Instagram numbers affecting your creative enthusiasm? This mindset will help.

by | Jul 26, 2020 | Creative Challenges

Instagram numbers affecting your creative enthusiasm? This mindset will help.

Creative Challenges

Instagram numbers crushing your creative vibe? Here’s how to change that.

I stumbled upon a mindset that helped me detach my creative motivation from those pesky Instagram numbers – the follower growth on IG that plagues any digital endeavour. Since this is a challenge that many artists who begin sharing their work publicly deal with, I wanted to share this analogy with you in hopes that it may shift you into an ‘appreciation of’ mindset over a ‘validated because’ mindset.

 

 

“While you’re still building your art house it seems like the rain matters more because you feel like it affects your progress to build.”

Top Pic by Anna King on Unsplash

Left pic by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash

 

The beginning of that toxic relationship with Instagram number

When I began my journey of painting daily, I watched eagerly as the numbers of people following my work climbed. I remember wanting to check my account first thing in the morning to see if the painting I had posted the day before had gained me new followers. It was a dirty little addiction and I didn’t enjoy the way it felt.

For many artists, myself included, there have been periods where, if the climb wasn’t happening rapidly enough, the motivation to paint just wasn’t there. The ‘who cares anyway’ thought would come to lurk on my shoulder.

I call this a ‘validation because’ mindset.

I would only feel motivated to paint because the external validation was pulling me to do so.

Why a commitment to self helps break the cycle of IG numbers feeding creativity

It was the decision to paint daily no matter what  that eventually helped break my addiction to validation. My commitment to my own challenge was more important than whether many followers latched on or not. Instead of stopping to paint, because of the unsatisfactory follower count, I pushed myself to paint through the feeling, paint in spite of the apparent low validation.

Then things shifted.

With daily work, the momentum of the art snowball takes on a life of its own. Once that happens the numbers stop mattering.

Your mindset shifts too.

I call this stage the ‘appreciation of’ mindset

Here’s the analogy I tap into to explain how daily work will break your attachment to the social media numbers:

With daily painting, that looming number on Instagram, the people following your account (ie your creative work), begin to appear like whether it’s raining outside or not.

While you’re still building your art house it seems like the rain matters more because you feel like it affects your progress to build.

Light rain or no rain (no new followers) = “eh, I can take it easy for a day, I can build slower. There’s no urgency to build the house because no one is coming inside. No one cares.”

Now, if you keep making despite light rain, hard rain or sunshine then suddenly you have a house to keep painting in and you care not for nought about the numbers. They’re just there. Pitter pattering on the window panes of your creative palace.

 

Now, about that shallow self-talk, when we feel like the numbers matter

 I don’t believe that in the heart of an artist, the numbers matter. That’s not initially why you sat down to paint, or to undertake a creative challenge. (and if it is, honestly, I’d suggest asking yourself if you really want to be an artist or if you just want recognition somewhere)

 When creatives look at the numbers, we think they matter, because we think high numbers = you’re a good artist.

 But what you’re really looking for is not approval, it’s signs of growth. 

That’s WHY you started painting. Somewhere deep inside, you, like me, are hungry for growth of self. We’re all just hungry for inner expansion and connection to our purpose. 

Here’s a beautiful Hopi Creation Story about the magic we can only find hidden inside

But it’s in the continuation of painting that we begin to see where the visible growth is happening. It’s in us. And it’s on that canvas or paper.

Stay committed to your creativity.

Before you know it, the numbers won’t matter.

What will matter is your art. And it will matter most to you.

Header image credits:

Photo by Yaro Felix Mayans Verfurth on Unsplash

 

QUICK RECAP

MY METHOD TO STOP INSTAGRAM NUMBERS FROM AFFECTING YOUR CREATIVE MOTIVATION

1. Decide why you want to paint.

2. Commit to painting daily.

3. Painting daily switches your mindset around Instagram number growth from ‘validation because’ to ‘appreciation of’

4. Through painting daily you create a momentum and accountability to self.

5. The growth you’re looking for in the ‘Instagram follower increase’ is really a growth of self.

If you liked this post, please share it with a friend who could use some creative inspiration. I’d be grateful and I’m sure, so would your friend. x

Want to make sure you don't miss any of my posts?
Sign up to my monthly museletters.

[/db_pb_signup]

Lessons from the Dandelion: How to navigate change

Lessons from the Dandelion: How to navigate change

by | Jun 18, 2020 | Creative Challenges

MINDFUL MININATURE

Lessons from the dandelion: How to navigate change

I have a feeling that conventionally we view ‘change’ as the BIG unknown and ‘acceptance’ as this little thing we eventually have to give into in order to make the change less uncomfortable.⁠

But what if there’s a different way of looking at it?⁠

What if ‘change’ is this really little unknown and ‘acceptance is the BIG known we can reach to every time a possible change of direction arises?⁠

Change is happening all around us on micro levels. Our hair is growing. The plants are blooming. The leaves are going brown. You meet a new person you didn’t know yesterday. You hear a new song that shifts things for you. ⁠

It’s not that change is the divergence from the consistent ‘normal’ routine. It’s that we tend not to notice the little changes, give them that little nod hello.⁠

I made some sense from it by observing and painting this dandelion.

Here’s how you could view Change
many unknowable little things you can’t control like the seeds of a dandelion⁠

Here’s how you could view Acceptance
one consistently available thing you can tap into to smooth your experience of the ride, like the warm breeze all around you⁠

Every time I see a dandelion – I’m reminded of this ability to focus on the warm winds carrying the seeds rather than focusing (and trying to control) where all the little seeds will land. ⁠
.⁠
Puts a whole new perspective on having an ‘Easy Breezy’ nature, hey?⁠

 

“Every time I see a dandelion – I’m reminded of this ability to focus on the warm winds carrying the seeds rather than focusing (and trying to control) where all the little seeds will land.”

Leave me a comment if viewing change this way could help your art process, or other perspectives and thoughts you might have on change.

Want to make sure you don't miss any of my posts?
Sign up to my monthly museletters.

[/db_pb_signup]

MINDFUL MININATURE

A key insight from a Hopi Creation Story to inspire you to paint

TRIBE STORIES

A unique gift for a surfer

CREATIVE CHALLENGES

How To Stay Sane During a 365 Challenge: My Creative Commandments

Top 8 take-aways from being interviewed by Crush magazine

Top 8 take-aways from being interviewed by Crush magazine

by | May 2, 2020 | 365 Challenge, Mindful MiniNature

MINDFUL MININATURE

8 creative insights I only uncovered after being interviewed

I recently did an interview with the lovely folks over at Crush magazine (who by the way create drool worthy recipe shoots) about my miniature painting journey, the 365 challenge and what it means to be creative daily.

I was surprised to discover that being interviewed can open up a lot of clarity about your own process. Questions you never ask yourself reveal aspects of the deeper ‘why’ in your journey that were, up until that moment, even hidden from you.

Here are my eight quick take aways from the interview that taught me something I didn’t know I had learnt through the process of painting daily.

 

1. Everything is far richer and more effortless to create and sustain if we cultivate a symbiosis.

2. Your art doesn’t have to please everyone. There are literally different (brush) strokes for different folks.

3. Making it as an artist will be tough but I would rather climb this mountain than sit behind a desk never having even tried. I have to believe that my hiking boots are made of the right stuff to climb my own mountains. If we have innate talents, then we also have the innate strengths to see those into fruition.

Photography by Ashly Newell

4. Nature is it. It’s the beginning and the end of us. She’s our greatest teacher. A silent and all-knowing one at that, who waits for us to find her.

“As they say – no mud no lotus. So even the lows become highs if you’re accepting of what is.“

5. Having a sense of momentum and purpose was powerfully focusing. 

6. A self-belief in what you can accomplish if you do it mindfully and  constantly looking for the learning curve – that’s been invaluable.

7. The people in your life who love and care for you, really do want to support you. They get reward out of helping you achieve your thing.

8.  I know the painting is done when it’s looking back at me. It reaches a place when it suddenly has a little life of its own.

Read the full interview and get the context behind all these insights head on over to Crush Magazine.

Big thank you again to Julie Velosa and her team for the feature.

MINDFUL MININATURE

A key insight from a Hopi Creation Story to inspire you to paint

TRIBE STORIES

A unique gift for a surfer

CREATIVE CHALLENGES

How To Stay Sane During a 365 Challenge: My Creative Commandments

How To Stay Sane During a 365 Challenge: My Creative Commandments

How To Stay Sane During a 365 Challenge: My Creative Commandments

by | Feb 21, 2020 | Creative Challenges

Some projects require you to make lists before you start them. Others again see you making post mortem lists after the project is complete to note down your accomplishments. I have a friend who calls these To-Do and Ta-Da lists. While lists are good for getting things done, some lists are necessary for not becoming undone. I made a list during my 365 challenge that I’m calling the Creative Commandments – and this list helped me stay sane and finish the challenge.

They were my own rules of the 365 challenge and things I had to remind myself to do or not to do in order to keep on doing the thing and more importantly – finish the thing I set out to do. 

Well, just in case you’re as big a fan of lists as I am or about to embark on your own big creative undertaking, I wanted to share this list with you. Mind you it’s not a rule book – well it was my rule board – but it gives you a peek into the kind of things that can derail the creative brain, the a-type person, the perfectionist and the in general giver of too much . Some of them you learn to navigate around, others you learn to dance with and yet others, well let’s just say some need to be taken over the proverbial knee and given a good spank lest they deter you from your creative journey any further. Either way – putting them on a list in a sort of commandment-esque kind of way helped me stay sane throughout the hard parts and the distracting parts of the 365 challenge.

I hope it helps you too.

 

A small note on the content of my 365 challenge commandments

 

A caveat before we go on. I know myself well. I know that I am hardwired to follow structure and rules (must be the German thing) and therefore I also know that my greatest liberations come when I figure out how to colour outside the lines of my own boundaries.

I’ve also come to like myself for who I am. I like that I can be thoughtful and tender and introspective and also swear like a sailor when the time calls for it.

As I mentioned before – these were the new rules, the anti-rules, that I wrote for myself on the white board that hung near my art desk during the challenge based on my own preconditioned notions and tendencies to do things. Yours might be different because you’re different or your 365 challenge is different.

But generally speaking I believe there’s some collective truth in them for how to stay sane when you’re doing a really big thing.

They have not been edited in any way or softened so as not to offend anyone. You have been warned.

Did you enjoy this list or find anything on it helpful? If one of them speaks out to you and you’d like to know more, pop me a comment – I’d be happy to give you some real life examples of how that rule made it onto my board. Us creative types have got to stick together!

As always, I’d really appreciate it if you shared this content with a friend you think might benefit (maybe someone considering their own year long 365 challenge?). 

 

Be kind to yourself and don’t stop being creative.

 

You might also be interested in knowing why you don’t need a fancy art studio to begin being creative (and probably why exactly what you have is better!)