The Thriving Christian Artist

410 | 5-Minute Mentoring: How To Break Through A Creative Block

Matt Tommey: Artist, Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur and Artist Mentor Episode 410

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If you've ever experienced “creative block” - and I can guarantee almost everybody has - then you know how hard it can be to overcome. 

You feel like you may never be able to regain your creativity.  You feel like a fraud for claiming to be an artist in the first place.  You feel helpless and hopeless, and you would give anything to get your spark back. 

Creative block may seem like an impossible mountain to climb sometimes, but it can be done - and I’ll tell you how!

So grab your climbing harness, put on those spiky shoes, and let’s conquer that mountain together in this episode of 5-Minute Mentoring!


By the way, have you registered for the upcoming Artist Cashflow Bootcamp?  If you’re ready to learn how to create consistent, faithful income for your art business, be sure to join us LIVE beginning January 20th!  Check out all the details here!  https://www.artistcashflowbootcamp.com

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When you’re ready to stop striving and start thriving, here are 4 other ways I can help:

1️⃣ Create Cashflow With Us! - Join us for an exclusive 5-day workshop where you’ll learn how to create a personalized plan to create a faithful, reliable income stream in your business!  Get all the details and register here!  ➡️ https://www.artistcashflowbootcamp.com

2️⃣ Learn a New Framework for Living: Watch this free 60-minute, on-demand workshop I created called “How to Start Thriving as the Artist God Created You to Be,” where I share a simple, Kingdom-based framework for living that anyone can use starting today. Click here for details and to enroll!  ➡️  https://matttommeymentoring.mykajabi.com/ew-optin-how-to-start-thriving

3️⃣  Connect with God: Discover how to connect with the Lord and discover His intention for you and your art in His Kingdom in my course, How to Connect with God to Create & Sell Your Art. Get more details here ➡️  https://thrive.matttommeymentoring.com/how-to-connect

4️⃣  Ready to truly thrive?  Join the Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program to discover how to build your art business and live the abundant life Jesus promised you as an artist in His Kingdom! Click here for details and to enroll!  ➡️  https://www.matttommeymentoring.com/artmentor.html


Thanks for listening!  You can also watch this podcast on YouTube at youtube.com/matttommeymentoring.  Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!

Connect with Matt online: https://thrive.matttommeymentoring.com/stay-connected

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SPEAKER_00:

If you're an artist, guaranteed you have dealt with this issue of creative block. And I'm going to give you the number one antidote to get that thing out of your life and get into the studio and start creating today here on 5-Minute Mentoring.

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SPEAKER_00:

God created you to be. Hey my friend, so glad that you're with me today here on 5-Minute Mentoring. Listen, we've all been there. You go to the studio, you get ready, you've carved out time and space and the kids are gone and husband or wife is gone and all this and you've got time and then all of a sudden you're like, man, I got nothing. It's frustrating. It can be really, really frustrating when you get all ready to go and there's nothing there. And you know, there's lots of different people that have talked about creative block over, you know, the years. I think there can be a lot of things, you know, internally that cause us to deal with creative block. There can be sin in our life. There could be mindset issues and identity issues and just, you know, fear and anxiety about all of, you All that stuff can absolutely block who we are and what we're doing. I think that's one of the reasons I wrote Unlocking the Heart of the Artist. As I began to get free on my own journey, I started realizing that I was a lot freer in the studio. I think that's been the case for a lot of people that learn to get free in Jesus as they're an artist and pursue what God's called them to do. All that being said, I think one of the practical things that most people do not cultivate nearly enough in their life that is really the number one antidote to creative block is inspiration. Most of us are not as serious about cultivating inspiration in our life as we are the actual creating in the studio. And if you think of your creative self and your ability to show up in the studio, you realize that your creations that come forth are the fruit of what's in your heart, and they're also the fruit of every inspiration that you've been inspired by, every song, every poem, every... Every book you've read, every wind that blows, every sunset that you've seen, every time with a loved one, every piece of art that you've seen in a recent museum or whatever, all of that, right, is going inside of this beautiful imagination that God has given us. And it's mixing and marinating, not only with other inspiration and with the skills and desires that God's put in our heart, but also with the movement and presence of the Holy Spirit inside of us in order to do what? In order to really begin to percolate inside of us. In fact, I wrote about this process in my little book, Prophetic Art, where I talked about prophetic percolation, how ideas come. But a lot of times, if you just take the percolation example, for example, we're looking for coffee, but we don't put the beans in. And from an inspiration standpoint, that's the beans, right? If you're not actively going after the cultivation of inspiration in your life and doing things that make your heart come alive, not only as a person, not only spiritually and relationally, but creatively, you will always be creating from a deficit, right? I was with my friend, Dr. Darlene Mayo, recently at our Unlocking the Heart of the Artist conference, and she's always blowing my mind with brain science stuff and that sort of thing, and how the brain works and how God's designed us. But one of the things that she said is that before the brain has a thought, there's an impulse from your heart, from your physical heart, that is a precursor to everything that goes on in your brain. That is, Inspiration, guys, listen, inspiration starts in the heart. What are you doing to make sure that your heart is close to Jesus, that your heart is being inspired and coming alive and you're doing things that give you that sense of awe and wonder? Listen, your mind and your heart, as we know from God's word, is a garden garden. And whatever you sow into that or don't sow into that is going to either produce fruit or not produce fruit, right? If you sow junk, you're going to get junk. If you sow the kingdom, you're going to get the kingdom. If you sow inspiration, you're going to get beauty from that. If you sow nothing, then you're going to get creative block. And so I would say if you're looking for a diehard, you know, ironclad remedy that you could probably see some quick results to break through creative block, I would say get out of the studio. Quit trying so hard and go do some things that make your heart come alive. Go experience life in a new way. Go take a hike. Go look at a sunset. Go be with friends. Go to the pizza place and have a beer with friends and just be like, I love what? Do things that make you come alive. And when you do that, you're connecting with joy. You're connecting with the presence of God. You're connecting with all the beauty and possibility that God has for your life so that when you're coming to the studio, you're coming full. You're coming with a sense of wonder. You're coming with a sense of desire. You're coming with a sense of possibility. And that will absolutely help you move through that place of creative block. All right. I love you, my friend. Go do those things. Think about me when you do. And let me know if you do some of those fun things. And let me know the result as well on social, whether you're on Instagram or Facebook or YouTube or anywhere you're following us. Let us know the things that you're doing. Let me know that this podcast is making a difference to you. And I can't wait to see what God does as you bust through creative block in your life. All right. Love you, friend. Until next time, remember you were created to thrive. Bye. Hey, my friend, it's Matt. Listen, real quick before you go, I want to invite you to a five-day challenge that I'm doing called the Artist Cashflow Bootcamp. Over five days of really simple lessons and an easy-to-follow worksheet, I'm going to be taking you through the five things that you need to be developing in your business to develop cashflow on a regular basis. We're going to talk about the picture that God has for you for what does your life and our business look like in this season of life. We're We're going to talk about the product. That is, what are you actually taking to the market? What does your art look like? How are you going to build your business? We're talking about the people that you're going to need to build relationships with that are going to buy your art. We're going to talk about promotions. What do you need to do so that they know about the art that you have? And we're going to talk about a plan, how to make cash flow start happening in your business all year long. The number one differentiator between people who are struggling as artists and people who are really thriving as artists. It's not talent. It's not even the favor of God. You know what it is? It's cash flow. When you learn how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and develop cash flow in a way that aligns with your unique design for the unique assignment that God has in your life, that's when you begin to see momentum happening in your life. And listen, we can do that in as little as five days. You're going to walk out of the Artist Cash Flow Bootcamp with a clear plan of cash flow in your business, no matter what where you're starting. Inside, we're going to be doing challenges. We're going to be doing daily exercises. You're going to come out with a clear plan. We're even going to be doing hot seats. I'm going to be doing individual consulting in people's businesses. You're going to be able to interact with other artists and talk about the things that are working in their business and getting ideas for your own and sharing the things that are working for you as well. It's going to be a great time and I don't want you to miss it. So click below for all the details and join us for the Artists Cashflow Bootcamp. I can't wait to see you there. Bye.