Releasing the Pressure to Produce
We put too much pressure on ourselves to produce. (Remember the 3 P’s of pressure? Click here to review.) But guess what, you get to just exist! So let’s talk releasing the pressure to produce!
Releasing the Pressure to Produce
My creative spot is my bed. (One of them.) It’s where I chill when I want to think up new blog posts, social media posts, etc.
So, I found myself in bed one night after a particularly unproductive day of writing. Well, two days actually. I hadn’t written a blog post in two days. And I was feeling particularly despondent and frustrated. Especially, knowing that a move was coming up and I wanted to be prepared ahead of time.
Do you see what happened?
The pressure of productivity and producing had crept in.
I had been telling myself all day that I needed to write. In fact, I needed to write multiple blog posts each day if I wanted to make my goal.
“You need to write.”
“You need to write.”
“You need to write.”
It repeated over and over again.
Does that sound familiar?
It’s a dangerous motivation tool. Pressuring ourselves into doing the thing. It creates frustration, anxiety, procrastination, negative self talk, and more. So kind of a bad habit to have, huh?
So what do we do when we feel pressure? We investigate it through journaling. (You know, other than relieving the pressure, lol. But this helps us get there.)
Journal it out.
I journaled a bit on why I thought I was feeling blah about writing. I postulated that it was because I was uninterested and I needed to find a way to make it more exciting.
And sometimes it is true that I’m uninterested in writing in that moment.
But the truth that day was – I was pressuring myself to produce and to be productive.
And somewhat ironically, once I realized it, I was then able to write – and the first draft of this post was created.
Pretty funny huh?
But it makes sense. The pressure and energy associated with it was clogging up my creative flow. Once the pressure was released, the creative energy could flow again.
So, when you’re feeling the pressure to produce and be productive – Stop! Let it go. Give yourself permission to not be productive and to not produce something in that moment. And, if you can before inspiration hits, go do something nourishing – like maybe give yourself permission to do nothing or go fill your needs! (you don’t have to “earn it.”)
To review –
- Journal on where the pressure is coming from. Is it something you’ve learned? From where? What is the purpose? (Want more journaling inspiration? Click here to peruse my journaling Pinterest board.)
- Walk away. Give yourself space. Possibly do this first.
- And if you still don’t want to do the thing, you still aren’t feeling creative, don’t do it.
And be at peace with that! <3
