A Coaching Model By Kait Gallagher, Creativity Coach, UNITES STATES
Life Is at Its Best When Love, Money and Creativity Are Growing in Harmony. Gay Hendricks, the Big Leap
Most of us are familiar with the concept of “reduce reuse recycle” for recycling and sustainability. My model will take this well-known concept and apply it to our energy and creativity. This model focuses on learning how to reduce, reuse and recycle our energy in ways that allow us to reach our highest creative potential. This is not a model for output (i.e. product), it is a model for input and self-shifting so we can energetically thrive and create from our innate human design. This isn’t a model for doing, it’s a model for being.
As human beings, we are innately creative. It is this creativity that allows us to “learn facts and generate fiction. We master what is and envisage what-ifs.” We are innovators and creators, and our minds are built to reach beyond what we know…but this aspect of the human experience is often dulled by modern living – social media, constant technology, financial fears, comparison, deadlines, unrealistic expectations of self and 40+ hour work weeks are a few of the ways our authentic creative selves are crushed by modern life. We absorb and use so much energy on ideas, situations, relationships, and tasks that do not serve us and remain in a state of burnout almost constantly. Guess what? Creativity and burnout do not co-exist and most of us feel powerless over shifting this reality, feel we simply “aren’t creative” or believe that doing more will fix it. Not true!
When it comes to creative thinking and work, there’s a common misconception that to get UNSTUCK you need to just start creating, start acting, start doing. I disagree. I believe step 1 is to re-focus back on simply being. As a Writer, Director, and Producer based in Los Angeles, I’ve noticed that if I’m STUCK, there’s something energetically blocking me and if I try to just push through it, I reach burnout and overwhelm from overdoing and creating things that are not aligned with my zone of genius. As Gay Hendricks says in The Big Leap,” The goal in life is not to attain some imaginary ideal; it is to find and fully use our gifts.” This model focuses on sustainable energetics and thus more sustainable creative living.
Everyone has unique, authentic creative gifts and this model will help clarify what those are by shedding what is not energetically working and replacing it with what is; it will help clients build a sustainable system that reduces, reuses, and recycles their unique energy and gifts to re-connect them with their authentic creative selves.
Our primary creative force is our energy – it’s time we learn how to re-cycle, re-use, and re-imagine our soul’s creative force. Let’s go.
Reclaiming Our Authentic Creative Energy: The Re-Cycle Model
As I said, this is not a model nor program for output or graduating with a completed piece. I’ve noticed that most support for creatives and creative work is OUTPUT DRIVEN (write a screenplay in 8 weeks, join this program and network, film a pilot this summer, brainstorm 10 ideas, and execute within a weekend, etc). While all of these opportunities are exciting, it doesn’t address the energetic systems that fuel our creativity and authenticity. If anything, the pace we work, and the expectations we work under, deplete our energy. I can feel the energy drain from here.
My goal with this model is to work with artists and creatives on how to re-distribute their energy so they can create a sustainable system within themselves that is self-motivated, self-nourishing, and self-discovering. If we are in that space, we inherently reach for innovation and creativity in all areas of our lives. This is about the energy systems that fuel our creative work; it’s about rebuilding our relationship with ourselves and the world, so we have an energetically sustainable model for our future.
Reclaiming Our Authentic Creative Energy: The Phases
This model has been created as a blended coaching, 12-week program, but can shift and change as needed.
Month 1(Reduce): Gathering Information
- During this month, I will work with clients to become aware of where their energy is going so that they can reduce their output. We will achieve this goal using an energy/activity tracker, values ladder, Wheel of Life, and more.
- Once there is clarity on where energy is going, I will invite clients to become clear on what is working and what isn’t so they can get clear on what to reduce.
Month 2 (Re-Use): Shifting States
- After gaining clarity in month 1 on where energy is going, in month 2, we will focus on how to say no, set boundaries, and create structures to bring energy back to the source and ultimately re-direct it towards what matters most to each client. As we do this, fears, insecurities, and limiting beliefs will surface. We will use our weekly coaching sessions to process and allow each client to reach new levels of awareness and acceptance.
- As clients begin shedding what isn’t working, they will focus on what is working…and bring more of that in! They will gain clarity on what lights them up and begin creating structures to support their shifts towards more of this, and less of that. Examples include setting boundaries, building out a schedule, adjusting rest hours, etc. These structures will of course be based on what suits the client best.
- By the end of this month, clients will have reduced energetic output and learned more clearly how to re-use and re-direct their energy within ourselves towards activities that fill them up and create natural inspiration.
Month 3(Re-Cycle): Appreciating the Action
- Now that we have reduced and learned how to re-use our energy to create a more sustainable experience, we will focus on how to recycle, i.e. how to get into the cycle of this work, and begin looking at how this process can help to achieve larger goals in a sustainable, balanced way.
- During this month, clients will identify what their creative goals are, and using these new tools for energetic shifting, begin planning for how to achieve those goals. With newfound space in life, clients will get to re-familiarize themselves with their authentic creative self and begin to take action towards their goals in a real, sustainable way.
I want clients to feel set up for success and there is no greater way to do this than to understand and work with our unique energy in a way that fosters a deeper connection with our creativity. We are all created for genius and this model will help clients reach their highest creative potential and truest selves. I can’t wait.
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References
The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World, Anthony Brandt, and David Eagleman
The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks