Creativity and work, work and creativity
... and the journey to doing it all with Ease and Joy
Drawing by Tineke Tammes
I was very clear, when I started my journey as a coach.
What I wanted was to build a coaching practice, a business, with Joy and Ease.
Yes, capital letters.
Being able to work AND be creative. Do creative things AND work.
It’s just as well that I set that intention very early on. Some days I feel like painting a big poster with those words and plaster it all over my office walls.
Because building a business is a rollercoaster.
And it turns out that the biggest threat to the intention I set is residing firmly inside myself.
Or, I should say, ARE residing in me.
Meet my Saboteurs
I’d like you to meet MY Saboteurs. You might know them too.
Meet:
The Hyper Achiever - You know the one: it’s her that makes you into a workaholic. Her solution to things not going well is to work - even - harder.
She never celebrates success, because she is two, no THREE projects ahead. Well, no, not quite true, when she still had a team, she was TAUGHT to celebrate success, but found the celebrations annoying, an interruption, tried to wiggle out of it (yes, really). Celebrated successes, but for 2.3 seconds, max. (I introduced her before in this article: Are YOU a High Achiever?)The Restless - Look at the top of your screen if you’re on a desktop. Do you have many (many!) tabs open? Yes?
Yes, that’s what the Restless head looks like. Many tabs open. An idea a minute. Distracted easily. Creative? Yes. Many (too many) projects on the go? Yes to that one too.
I used to PRIDE myself on being Restless. I even let her write an entire article once 🙄: Three reasons to STOP being restless).The Controller - I don’t often talk about her. She’s the - well - Controller. The Ruler. The one with the whip. The one who RELISHES challenges. Who NEVER gives up. And who also is a - dare I say it - Control Freak.
The descriptions above are mine. Because I know them well. Until recently I’ve relied on them. I believed that - without them - nothing would get done. Yep, really.
Now, I know I’m making it sound like I didn’t know this before. But I did.
Because - perhaps like you? - I’ve done the tests too. The Myers Briggs. The Money Archetype quiz (yes: Banker, Ruler, Maverick - unsurprisingly. You?). DISC. The Big Five.
And they all come out the same.
I’ve done the coaching. I’ve read the self-help, psychology and neuroscience books.
So I knew this was going to be hard. IS hard.
What are Saboteurs?
Now, you might be wondering: What ARE Saboteurs? And what are mine?
You see, Saboteurs is another word for the little voices inside your head holding you back. Otherwise known as fear, resistance, coping mechanisms.
They are your way of dealing with the world.
They are your STRENGTHS on overdrive.
There are 10 of them:
The Judge: Everyone has a judge. The harsh one. The one that scolds you, tells you off, says things to you that you would NEVER say to someone else. Your Judge will work together with one or more of these accomplice Saboteurs:
The Avoider: Focusing on the positive and the pleasant in an extreme way, your Avoider will avoid conflicts and unpleasant tasks almost at any cost.
The Hyper Rational: Focusing on thoughts instead of emotions, she can come across as arrogant and intellectually superior.
The Hyper Vigilant: She’s the one who will have sussed out ALL the risks and dangers, LONG before others do. Fiercely loyal and hardworking, she is always anxious of the things that might - no WILL - go wrong.
The Pleaser: Will want to please others, and needs frequent reassurance. Her tendency to help, support, guide makes her lose sight of her own needs which can lead to resentment.
The Stickler: She wants everything to be PERFECT. And perfect takes time. ‘If you want it done well do it yourself’ you can hear her say. Leading to distrust of others and resentment for long hours made.
The Victim: ‘Poor me’, we’ll call her. A sensitive soul with a deep identification with her own (and others’) emotions, the victim takes things personal. ‘Poor me!’, she shouts.
And you’ve met the Hyper Achiever, the Restless and the Controller already.
Want to find out YOUR Saboteurs?
You can do that here:
For readers of my Career Freedom newsletter only, book a 45 minute Saboteur Assessment session FREE (normally £97). Use the code MeetMySaboteurs on checkout.
So now what?
Yes, I can hear you say, so what happened to Joy and Ease?
I’m getting there.
You see, in the first years of my business I TRIED to adopt this mantra or intention. But got major interference from my Saboteurs.
What I’ve found is that making a transition out of a 25 year career into your own business - like any change - has a MAJOR emotional impact.
An impact that your Saboteurs only have ONE response to: Be on HIGH alert. Use your Strengths, but on overdrive.
(‘No work would get done around here if it wasn’t for me!’ they’ll shout. Or ‘What ELSE can I do to make everything go quicker, bigger, sooner?’)
Your Saboteurs are your strengths on overdrive.
They pretend to be good for you.
But what they do is they sabotage your performance, damage your relationships, impact negatively on your wellbeing.
Whilst what you WANT is reclaim your strengths, and thrive with creativity and wisdom, your ‘Sage’ brain.
Introducing: the Positive Intelligence programme
This January I enrolled in the Positive Intelligence programme which helps you do exactly that:
Recognise and weaken your Saboteurs
Strengthen your self-command
Move into your ‘Sage’ brain easily
So that … you can create the life and career you WANT.
In my case, live a life, run a business, with Joy and Ease.
And yes, it’s a work in progress. And no, not every day is Joy and Ease. And yes, doing this takes practice.
But what I found is this:
You see, I knew about Emotional Intelligence, of course I did. So do you! You already KNOW about meditation and mindfulness, breathwork and yoga, journaling and Morning Pages.
So, why Positive Intelligence? Why bother with another programme, another tool?
Two reasons:
You know how sometimes, in the middle of your day, in meetings, when you're talking to someone, you can feel as if you're being 'hijacked' by something?
You can't think straight, you want to react - badly - and can only JUST stop yourself from doing that?
Yep. The Positive Intelligence programme gives you - gave ME - some REAL tools to help you feel that hijack coming and use your mental muscles to bring your inner wisdom, your WISE SELF to the table instead.
In the moment.
Instead of when you're doing your journaling or meditating.
THAT, I believe is one of the GREAT strengths of this programme.
Another one?
I notice it with my clients. This inability to access your inner wisdom, your sage, your CREATIVITY.
And when we’re talking about what you WANT, about the next steps in your career, your LIFE, you NEED your creativity, your ideas, access to the REAL you!
Except all the mind chatter - your Saboteurs - are keeping you firmly in your THINKING brain.
Which is NOT where creativity lives, NOT where ideas come from, NOT where your inner sage - the one who KNOWS what you want, who you are - is residing.
So, yes, I believe that the Positive Intelligence programme is a way of increasing your mental fitness. It helps you reduce the noise coming from your saboteurs, so that you can access your SAGE, your CREATIVITY, your INNER SELF easier and quicker.
So that you can access the 'what's next in my life' answer with confidence, ease and flow.
What’s next?
I’ve experienced the Positive Intelligence programme myself. It’s been a profoundly moving experience. One that has provided me with tools, exercises, but more importantly with a real visceral experience of what life can be like instead, when I’m NOT ruled by my Saboteurs.
The programme takes you to a place of real empathy and compassion for yourself. It gives you an experience felt in your BODY on how things can be different (read an account of that here). It takes you OUT of your busy brain to your inner Sage.
AND it has provided ongoing support to help you keep on practising. Because - like everything - change, profound change, doesn’t come overnight. Even if you really - REALLY - want it.
No, it works instead with setting a strong intention that is front of mind, a clear picture of what you want, real-felt experience of what that might FEEL like, and daily practice to help you keep on moving forward.
So that you can achieve YOUR goals of improved performance at work, increased creativity, better relationships and improved wellbeing.
Joy and Ease, if you want.
In June 2024 I’m bringing together a group of 3 to 5 women, who want to experience the benefits of the Positive Intelligence programme too.
If this is of interest to you, book a Saboteur Assessment (see above) and ask for the special discount for this FIRST programme, or set up a 30 minute call with me to learn more.
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Tineke Tammes is an ICF trained career coach, who supports professional women in making successful transitions to careers of Freedom, Flexibility and Fulfilment! Besides that she is also a lifelong feminist, part-time portrait artist, never-only-read-one-book-at-any-time reader, and obsessive doodler.
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