The power of creative resource wells

Last week I told you that the new guide I’m working on (Stay Unstuck: A Guide to Awareness and Action) will help you “create a well of resources that you can turn to whenever you feel stuck.”

I’m guessing you understood what I meant, but I wanted to dive a little deeper (heh, pun intended) into why I called it a well of resources…and why I think having creative resource wells is so important.

Picture a well for a moment. It’s a cool, dark source of water, something that gives life. Any time you need that water, it’s there, waiting for you. You just have to lower in a bucket and take what you need.

I believe that as creatives, we need cool, calm reservoirs like that. But instead of being filled with water, our creative resource wells are filled with tactics, ideas, reminders, and more—things that we know will support us in our creative work and life.

We all have a lot going on, and as lifelong learners, we’re always absorbing new information from books, articles, podcasts, creative conversations, social media, and more, relating to all the different parts of our lives.

And while we do sometimes scribble notes or add things to our to-do lists as we take in all this information, more often we try to keep it all in our heads, unconsciously believing that we’ll simply remember it when we need it. It’s so fresh in our minds right now; why wouldn’t it be later?

This happens again and again. We read a beautifully written post about what to do the next time we feel fear, we give advice to a friend who’s hit a creative roadblock, we listen to a podcast full of great ideas that we think could make a real difference in our businesses. In how many of those situations do we stop and carefully record that tactic for facing fear, the advice we gave our friend, or the ideas we heard in the podcast?

Yeah. Not that often. Not with any consistency. And this is where I think the creative well can make such a difference.

If you don’t write those ideas down, the next time you feel fear or hit or your own creative roadblock or are working on the aspect of your business that was discussed in the podcast, there’s no guarantee your mind will call up those specific ideas—and combine them with all the other ideas you’ve gathered about dealing with or working on that situation.

So while you have the information, you’re not really using it.

But what if you had a guarantee that all those ideas would be collected into one place—because you had done it yourself?

What if, when you felt fear or got stuck or started to work on a certain part of your business, you had a list of resources, ideas, tips, tactics, and more that you had already collected to turn to? How much easier would it be to pull yourself out of fear, to get unstuck, or to really tackle that aspect of your business in a meaningful way?

I’ve talked before about moving from knowing to doing. In this case, the knowing is taking in valuable information and believing you’ll remember it when you need it. You're not taking action...you're just consuming.

The doing is committing to creating a resource well of the tactics you know can help you in situations you face often.

And that’s why I’m creating Stay Unstuck. To help you with the doing.

Inside, you’ll find all my best ideas about how to get unstuck along with guidance for choosing which of those ideas resonate with you, adding in your own, and creating a resource well you can come back to again and again.

But of course, creating the well isn’t the same thing as using it—so Stay Unstuck will also guide you through a four-part process to help you build awareness around when you’re stuck (it’s not always obvious!) so you can turn to your creative well more quickly and easily. This part is where the real work comes in—it’s not easy, but it’s so worth it in the long-term.

Stay Unstuck is really about helping you do the things you want to do rather than losing ground when you’re stuck. It’s about increasing awareness and taking action.

It will be available for you soon!

Until then, let’s build on the work you did last week. You used the How You Get Unstuck worksheet to start thinking about what you do when you’re stuck. Now let’s pull those ideas together:

  • Create a list somewhere you can access easily (I use the Notes app on my phone and I’m obsessed with it).

  • Review the How You Get Unstuck worksheet and write down any aha moments you had about ways to get unstuck in the future.

  • Write down advice you’ve given friends who were stuck in the past, or imagine advice you’d give a friend who called you today saying that she’s stuck and then write it down.

Yo u just started your own creative well! Add to it over the next week or so, until we meet again.

In the meantime, I would LOVE to hear stories about times you were stuck and how it all turned out if you’d like to share! You can reach out right here.

With much love,
Erica

Intentional writing is a great tool to add to almost any resource well.


When you're feeling fear, facing a creative roadblock, or working on your business, writing about it can help you sort through your feelings and ideas to gain clarity and decide how to take action. And if you're in the habit of doing that kind of writing, you can often move through those things more quickly and with greater ease.

Explore: 31 Days of Intentional Writing can help you make intentional writing a resource you turn to again and again. The next round of Explore starts April 1, and registration is open right now!

When you sign up, you'll get immediate access to a welcome guide that will help you set a powerful intention for the experience. I'm doing the March round of Explore, and I shared my intention on Instagram if you're curious.

You can always reach out if you have questions, and if you're ready to dive into intentional writing, you can sign up for Explore right here!

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Erica Midkiff