Monday inspiration

Need some Monday inspiration? I do. These wise words from Holly at Decor8 really spoke to me this morning:

"Allow for some trial and error and nip negative thinking in the bud while you are capturing. Imagine that you are painting. While you are capturing, or creating, be careful to not become overly critical of your work or to allow what others may think to come into play. That’s the fastest way to shut yourself down. It’s fine to evaluate your work as you go along, but it’s best to not over-analyze while you’re in “the zone”. Trust your creativity, believe in what you are doing. Avoid allowing the opinions of others to form the one that you have of yourself. Trust your inner compass because it WILL lead you if you tap into it, listen, and obey. It also keeps you on track when others start to throw darts or challenge the authenticity of your work. Trust in your unique voice will help you to stay on track, focused and forward moving."

Trusting myself is something I struggle with daily. I am one of life's second-guessers (and third, fourth, seventy-sixth and millionth guessers, too), and my critical, over-analysing alter-ego is always looking over my shoulder. I don't think that I will ever quite conquer this, but I'm learning to work through it. Do you find this difficult, too? Have you developed any good techniques for dealing with it?

One technique I tried today worked wonders. LOML suggested it - he uses it at work sometimes when he really needs to focus on a project. It's called 10 + 2 x 5. You work for 10 minutes, take a 2-minute break, and repeat this 5 times, thus producing a good hour's worth of work. You are not allowed to skip either the work-time OR the break-time (a very good exercise if you're a work-through-lunch type like me!). It really does keep you very focused and energised. Might be a good one for Nanowrimo-ers to try - let me know how you get on!