Navigate the Creative Wilderness: Tips to Celebrate Your Successes

1. Welcome to the Stream of Success: [MUSIC] When success arrives on your creative journey, do you have a hard time accepting that it's meant for you? Do you actually slow down enough to recognize and celebrate your success? Or do you ignore it? Or maybe not even see it at all because you're so busy working towards your next goal. If this sounds familiar then today's talk on the creative wilderness is for you. Today we're visiting the stream of success and celebration pass, so you can learn how to recognize, accept, and appreciate the successes that arrive on your journey to gain more energy, inspiration, and confidence in your work as you move forward on your path. Hey, I'm Liz, I'm an illustrator, educator, and creative business owner in New Mexico. I've spent many [LAUGHTER] years navigating the highs, lows, and unknowns of the creative wilderness, which is why now I am so stoked to share my field notes and tips with you throughout this series. So that you can gain more confidence on your creative journey and know that you're not alone out there. Success for me it hasn't always been something that's felt really easy to recognize or celebrate on my own creative wilderness path. When I started my creative company in 2017 I was pretty focused on the shiny big wins like a collaboration with a huge company or a six-figure a year or going full-time, and yes, these are all super fun goals that are awesome to have. But at first, I was so focused on those big successes that I really forgot to stop and celebrate the small successes along the way. Those small successes, those are what add up to create a beautiful creative career, business, and life. When I slowed down enough to define my version of success and then stop to fully recognize, appreciate, and celebrate it when it arrives on my path, I actually have more confidence, energy, and momentum to carry onward. That's why in today's class, I'm sharing my main tips with you for how to define "your" version of success and how to fully celebrate it when it arrives on your creative journey. Because the thing is, as a creative you deserve to be successful. When you stopped to celebrate, you will not fall behind. You'll actually gain more momentum and joy to thrive on your journey. Are you ready to dive in? Let's get started. By the way, if you've taken one of the classes in this navigate, the creative wilderness series before, and are already well-acquainted with how it works and what you need, then you can jump right ahead to lesson Number 4 [MUSIC]. 2. Your Class Project: In this lesson, we're chatting about your creative wilderness class project. Your class projects for this portion of the navigating the creative wilderness series is to print off the creative wilderness field guide PDF, and fill out the stream of success and celebration pass section. In this section you're going to find the following prompts; One, transform your blocks to success. Two, define your version of success. Three, celebrate your wins. You're going to learn more about these prompts throughout this class so that you can fill them out in your field guide. You can find the creative wilderness field guide linked in the projects and resources section of this class. You can find that by navigating to the projects and resources tab and going to the right-hand side of the page where you'll see resources and you'll see the creative wilderness field guide linked and ready to download. Once you've finished filling out this class portion of the field guide, go ahead and upload it to the class projects section. You can do this by navigating to the projects and resources tab and clicking "Create Project". Once you're here, you'll see a few options to share your project. Go ahead and fill in the project title with the name of this series. In the project description, you can add images from your completed field guide by clicking "Image". This will bring you straight to your files where you can select the images you'd like to upload. You can also type additional observations from your experience in this portion of the creative wilderness into this space. Once you've included all of your images and observations, go ahead and go to the cover image section to upload an image for your project. Again, you'll be brought to your files where you can select your image click "Open" and then place it just how you want it in the corrupt space. Press "Submit". Make sure that when you're finished uploading everything, you hit "Publish". That way it'll go to the class project gallery. In the next lesson, we'll go over the materials you'll need for this class. I'll see you there. 3. Gather Your Materials: In this lesson, we're going over the materials you'll need for this class. For this class, you'll need your Creative Wilderness Field Guide PDF, a pen, pencil, or writing utensil of choice, and a phone to take a photo of your filled-out field guide to upload to your class project, and that's it. In the next lesson, we'll go over the five main clues to recognize when you've entered the stream of success on your creative wilderness journey so that you can use the space as a place to intentionally regain energy for momentum forward on your path. I'll see you there. 4. An Additional Field Note: Okay, I have another additional field note to share, and that is at the time of filming this bout of classes for this series, there are huge fires across New Mexico. I know that New Mexico isn't the only state to experience wildfires, but it's been pretty intense and really smoky and people are being evacuated from their homes and these fires are growing and spreading. Lots of wind, very dry, no rain on sight and since I'm filming in the wilderness in New Mexico and noticing smoke when I come up to film this, when I go on my drive to film this and when I go home at the end of the day, I just want to give a creative wilderness PSA that this earth is our home and I'm wrapping myself in this PSA too and that we need to take better care of it together. We need to honor this earth. We need to take care of this earth because we can't take it for granted. How can we show respect for this beautiful home that we have so that we can preserve the wilderness that is so beautiful and nourishing and life-giving. Create a wilderness PSA, let's care for our earth. Let's love her, protect her, give respect to her. This is our home. You don't really get another one. So let's take care of her. 5. Recognize the Stream of Success: In this lesson, I'm sharing the five main clues to recognize when you've entered into the stream of success on your creative wilderness journey, so that you can really, truly accept that this success is meant for you and celebrate it to gain energy forward on your truck. It is about time that we got somewhere super fun [LAUGHTER] on the creative wilderness journey, because if you look at where we've been already, we have been doing a lot of work together on this adventure. We've been through the cave of hiding, the dunes of doubt, the forest of fear. All of those spaces are so integral to build up strength to keep going on this journey, but all of that work can also feel really exhausting. This is just like all of the effort that it takes to hike. When you're carrying a large pack and trekking for many miles, a lot of which might be uphill, you can begin to feel totally exhausted and really question if you can do it at all. Your pack feels heavier and heavier with each step that you take. It's sometimes really tempting just to stop altogether. That physical exhaustion can mean that it actually turns into a mind over matter situation where your mental strength has to pull you through the physical challenge. That mental strength is what we've been working to build together so far on this journey. That mental strength that leads you to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going forward on your path, no matter how slowly. So if you find yourself feeling totally exhausted on your creative wilderness journey, you feel like quitting, giving up or stopping, or even opting out of the creative wilderness altogether, then that's actually your first big clue that you are likely about to enter into the stream of success, and I mean, what a relief. Because when you arrive there, it's just like finding water on a challenging part of a hike. You can take a break from the heat, take a break from hiking, and release the weight of your pack. The water, the stream, it's such a welcome stop on the creative wilderness journey, because you get to press pause on all of the work and strength building that you've been doing up until this point. You get to dive in, get rejuvenated, and remember that, yes, you can do this, you can keep going. This is one of the many moments in the creative wilderness where everything feels so alive and so expansive, and is a reminder that it is so worth it if you see it and accept it and know that it's meant for you. Because here's the thing that I see so often with fellow creatives and with myself is that, when success arrives we may not pause long enough to enjoy it. Because we feel impostor syndrome or like we don't deserve it, or like we don't have the time to stop and celebrate success because then we'll fall behind on our journey, and won't achieve our next goal. Personally, I'm an incredibly goal oriented person, so I'm always looking to grow, evolve, and work towards that next thing. I really do find that super fun and fulfilling. This means though that for a long time, I will just blow over successes sometimes without even seeing them at all, and start hiking immediately towards the next goal. I wouldn't take any time to stop and celebrate my achievements because I really didn't believe there was any time to do so. But over the years out here in the creative wilderness, I've really realized that celebrating success along this path gives me way more energy and joy and excitement to keep going. It really makes working towards the next goal that much better, easeful and more fun, which a majority of the creative wilderness is the journey rather than the destination. I think having fun is pretty important along the way. Because creatives, you are meant to thrive. Let's eliminate those common beliefs of imposter syndrome, not deserving success in flying past successes to reach the next goal. Celebrating your success and acknowledging that it is meant for you, for us as creatives as a whole collective, is one of the biggest ways to get rid of that really annoying starving artist myth, and live in creative abundance. On that note, the second clue to recognize the stream of success is to notice when you're resisting it. As creatives, I know it can be tempting to rush through the restful, nourishing moments on your path because it feels like you have to keep working or keep putting work out there. But when the stream of success arrives on your journey, pause, enjoy it, receive it. Don't ignore it, don't reject it, don't push it away or bypass it to keep hiking. It is here for you to enjoy. The creative journey isn't about pain improving and hustle because really what is the point of that? Where is the sustainability in that? Instead, allow yourself to be nourished by the stream. Your success is not a fluke, it's not an accident. You are intentionally creating your art or building your creative business and this success is meant for you. When it does arrive, pause and let yourself receive it and be carried by it. Let's just embody that for a minute. I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you're being carried by a stream. In that moment, you don't have to work for it or put effort into being carried, you were just being fully supported. The stream is holding you, cradling you, and flowing you forward. I know that feeling of support and nourishment might feel new or even scary. But practice allowing yourself to feel the comfort and ease that comes with the flow of success, and it will become more familiar overtime. Now take a moment in the stream of success section of your field guide to jot down any blocks that you typically have to success in the left column and transform those into empowering statements in the right column. For example, you might draw it down in the left column blocks like rejecting success, not believing you're good enough or worthy of success, or feeling like you're an imposter. In the right column, you might write empowering statements like, this success has meant for me, I am worthy of success, I am a practicing artist. Acknowledge your typical blocks to success, transform them, and then release them. Imagine them floating away from your downstream as your success floats towards you to nourish, support, and energize your journey. The third clue that you've arrived or about to arrive at the stream of success, is that you've recently visited Value Valley, which we visited in the last class in this series. If you haven't been there yet or you want a refresher, you can hop back to that section of the wilderness by going to my profile page and navigating to the creative wilderness section. It's incredibly important to visit Value Valley before you go to the stream of success because it will help you be more aware of success when it arrives. See Value Valley will help you feel more grounded in your work worth and value as a creative, so that success has a place to land and settle in, because you've really built your internal sense of value for your work and yourself. You don't gloss over success or let it pass you by because you know it's meant for you. The fourth clue to recognize when you've arrived at the stream of success is the feeling of when it rains, it pours. Success can be quiet for a long time, bubbling beneath the surface with no indication that it's actually there. You might just be in the working creating an output mode, questioning if this is going to work or if it's going to lead anywhere, and then with consistency, dedication, and intentional action over time, you take one more step and successfully appears in an abundant way that can actually feel truly supportive and sometimes even overwhelming. It feels like after miles of quiet, success can arrive all at once. This type of when it rains, it pours success can look like clients booking you, selling lots of art prints or publishing a new online class, it gets lots of student enrollments. It might look like finishing a painting or a series of paintings that you've been working on for many, many months. When success arrives like this in abundance and seemingly out of nowhere, it's actually a result of you continuing to consistently show up and put in the work on your creative journey. When success shows up like this later in your journey, after your consistent work, it can actually be so much more nourishing and grounding than if it was immediate instant gratification at the beginning of your path. The fifth and biggest clue to recognize when success shows up on your journey, is to know what it looks like and how it feels for you. Success takes many different forms. It could be a six-figure business or a part-time creative hobby that brings you mental peace. Sometimes success is thrown about as this umbrella catch all term when in reality, success looks different to everybody. That's why it's so important to define your version of success so you can truly recognize it when it shows up on your path. To recap the five main clues to recognize when you've entered the stream of success on your creative wilderness journey are: number 1, you're exhausted and feel like quitting, two, you're resisting success, three, you've recently visited Value Valley, four, when it rains it pours, and five, know what success means to you. In the next lesson, I'll walk you through how to define your version of success for sustainability over time. I'll see you there. 6. Define Success: In this lesson I'm sharing how to define your version of success for long-term sustainability. Success just like external value can feel really fleeting. Success can also feel really invigorating and exciting when it arrives on your journey, and then when it dissipates or leaves and things seem to go quiet again, it can feel discouraging or even sometimes a little heartbreaking. For example, if I've been working on and showing up consistently and then a lot of successes start flowing in, it feels like such a relief, so much fun, and like I'm being supported for my creative work. Then when those successes stop or quiet down or seem to float away, it can feel a bit discouraging. When this happens, it's time to just keep working quietly, steadily, consistently, and patiently until success comes again, which it will and that's the rhythm. Life is transient, life changes, life itself is fleeting and success can be the same way. It's just natural, this ebb and flow. It can come in all at once and then go away for awhile. Know that this rhythm is normal and success will come back to you. That's why it's called the stream of success. Not only is it a place to cool off and rest and get rejuvenated, but it flows. Just like the ripples of a current and a stream, success flows in and out. So allow yourself to be carried and supported while it's present and then allow it to leave and flow on. It can feel really tempting to try to grasp onto these successes and then in that grasping, totally forget to continue doing the quiet, consistent work, that daily work, that leads to the success. Let it go once it seems like it's gone because it will come back to you. This tip to let go applies to short-term success, which might look like winning an award, getting a huge grant, a client booking you, selling a lot of prints in your collection, all of those are amazing big successes, but they're in the moment. They're short-term. That's why it's imperative to develop and define your internal personal definition of long-term success. So that you're not only relying on short-term successes as fun as those are, and you have the sustainable long-term visions to fuel you forward. Let's define your personal version of long-term success. The main tip when you do this, is this. Don't base this solely on societies version of success. Don't define it by what you think you should be doing or how you should feel, or any catch-all definitions of success that are marketed towards you. This is your life and your creative wilderness journey. Find and define success in a way that feels like it fits you and is authentic to you. To do this, take out your field guide and free write your responses to these questions. What does success mean to me? For example, success to me means freedom. It means being my own boss, setting my own schedule, and integrating my life with my work. What does success look like to me? For example, based on that last answer, success to me looks like owning my own creative business that allows me the freedom to work anywhere. It means not working weekends. It means going on camping trips and working from the road. It means having quality time with my family and my friends. It means serving creatives in my business to empower them on their creative journeys. What does success feel like to me? How does it feel in my body? For example, success feels like freedom, and freedom feels like expansion and peace. In my body, freedom feels like a deep breath. Like I am balanced, calm, and present for the beauty of life. What does a successful day look like to me? For example, a successful day looks like waking up early to journal and sip coffee. Moving my body in a way that feels strengthening and joyful. Starting work around 10:00 AM in the morning where I create artwork for products around the world and online classes that empower creatives, and I'll take a full hour for lunch and then log off of work at 4:00 to be fully present with friends or family. I go to sleep early and get full rest and take care of my body. Now free write your own responses to these questions to really dig into what success looks like, feels like, and means to you personally. The power of defining this long-term version of success on your terms is that this definition is within your control. You can make choices and create work over time that aligns with your version of success. From the example, the long-term version of success meant owning and running a creative business, which has been my personal long-term version of success for many years. I could intentionally make choices over time that align with that. I could take online classes and read books that teach me how to reach this goal. I could launch one product at a time to see what works best, what I enjoy, and what serves my customers. I can make choices both within the business and within my wife that align with those feelings of freedom, expansion, and peace. For me, this means scheduling time for trial runs and time in nature every week. It also means meditation and spending time with the people that I love. What's really beautiful is that everybody who does this will have slightly different answers. Of course, there's going to be some crossover, but defining success for yourself is going to give you the grounded, rooted, sustainable, long-term version of success. So that when the beautiful, fleeting, exciting, short-term successes flow in and out of your life or creative business, you can really enjoy them, appreciate them, and then release them. Because you've defined this longer-term vision that you have control over and can use as a compass to continue forward on your journey. I encourage you to repeat this success definition, journaling exercise once a year because your personal definition of success will likely evolve and change over time. Now that you know your version of success and what that means to you, as well as how to recognize when it shows up on your path, we're digging into this super fun part, how to celebrate. Join me in the next lesson where we'll enter into celebration paths and I'll share the first tip for how to celebrate your success fully when it arrives. See you there. 7. Plan Your Celebration: In this lesson, I'm sharing the first tip to celebrate your success on your creative wilderness journey. The first step to celebrate your success is to schedule your celebration ahead of time, before the stream of success or celebration pass even arrives. That's right. Scheduling your celebration ahead of time gives you something to look forward to and a goal to work towards. This is like going for a long hike, and before you begin, you look at the map and see that in seven miles you're going to come across a stream where you can rest and relax, knowing that the stream is in your near future will be your fuel forward when the hike gets tough. Similarly, knowing that your fun and intentional celebration time is coming, can help you keep going on your creative journey when it feels challenging. Also scheduling your celebration ahead of time will ensure that you actually take time to stop, acknowledge, and be present for your success, which will give you more energy and momentum to move forward on your journey. Now let's get specific. Start by brainstorming a list in your field guide of fun ways that you like to celebrate? This could look like going on a camping trip, going out to dinner with friends, having a movie night at home, baking a cake, getting new art supplies, whatever feels like a fun celebration to you, jot it down as an idea. Next, sit down with your calendar right now and schedule a day and time when you are going to celebrate your success, no matter how big or small. Pick a celebration activity from your list that you're going to do during that time. For example, one thing I like to do, especially since a lot of my work is project-based with branding and creating classes online, is if I have a big project, then I schedule something that is time off of work. Not always a full week necessarily, just time away from the studio where I'm going to celebrate and really integrate the big project that I've just finished. For example, when I look ahead in my calendar, if I'm working on a long six-week project for a client, then maybe the weekend after, I'll schedule a solo camping trip or dinner with a friend. Scheduling the celebration ahead of time is a way to keep my focus moving forward instead of getting totally overwhelmed or burned out in the current project. Then when I've reached that scheduled celebration time, since I've already blocked it out on my calendar, I intentionally take time for it rather than rushing past it to the next project. Taking time to celebrate your creative journey is incredibly important because it allows you to pause and look back at how far you've come, which can be such motivation to keep moving forward and know that you can keep going. You can do this. In the next lesson, I'm sharing the second tip to celebrate your success. See you there. 8. Track Your Wins: In this lesson, I'm sharing the second tip to celebrate your success on your creative wilderness journey. The second tip is to keep track of your wins on the way towards your big goal or big success. Get a small journal that you can carry in your purse, backpack, or pocket, or use the notes app on your phone to jot down any and all wins that you've experienced on your journey on the way towards your celebration. At the end of each day, take a moment to jot down three wins you experienced that day no matter how small they may seem. Make sure you list three each day even if you don't feel like you accomplished enough. Because if you list three each day, then you'll see how much traction you're making step-by-step. Examples of wins might look like, you posted a photo of art to your Instagram account, made a list of class ideas for Skillshare. Sent an email to your email subscribers, made an opt-in freebie for your email list, or published an online class. When you keep track of your wins and physically write them down, you'll see that you are making traction each and every day, and consistency does compound. This practice also gives so much more enjoyment and gratitude for the process rather than just the end result. This is mega important because so much of life and career and creativity are spent on the path, not just at the end destination. So it's really important to enjoy it. Take a moment to practice this right now. In your field guide list, three wins that you've already experienced today, even if you're sitting there saying, but I haven't done anything, three wins, just write them down no matter how big or small. In the next lesson, I'm sharing the third tip to celebrate your success. I'll see you there. 9. Celebrate Others On the Path: In this lesson, I'm sharing the third tip to celebrate your success on your creative wilderness journey. The third tip is to celebrate and cheer others on along the way. When you see another creative out here in the wilderness who is experiencing a big success like launching a new class, publishing a book, collaborating with a dream client, or licensing their art with target, or any other big win, cheer them on. The world is abundance and there is enough to go around. Know that their success is an example of what is possible for you too. Their success doesn't mean you won't succeed, it's actually an indicator that you are well on your way to your big success too. The creative journey, it feels isolating and lonely at times. When you do see another creative win big, cheer them on, on their Instagram post, send them a congratulatory DM, or if you're close enough to them, give them a call and say congrats and how stoked you truly are for them. Build community and a solid support system on the path to success, to see and celebrate what's possible on the creative journey, to uplift and empower other creatives, and to know that success is on its way to you as well. The reverse is true for you too. People want to see you succeed, and in seeing you succeed and celebrating your successes with you, they can have the encouragement that this type of success is possible for them too. Sometimes it can feel like that old paradigm of competition and business and creativity is still around, but remember that your community, your clients, your family, your friends, they want to see you succeed. They're just waiting to cheer you on. If you don't feel like any of those people are waiting to cheer you on, I'm waiting to cheer you on. When they do uplift you, when I uplift you, when somebody uplifts you in your big success, receive it. When you have that success, share it, and when somebody else has success, celebrate it. Collaboration over competition every single time. When we can uplift and support each other out here, we all do better, the creative wilderness does better. A rising tide raises all ships, so be the tide. In the next lesson, I'm sharing the fourth tip to celebrate your success. I'll see you there. 10. Enjoy It!: In this lesson, I'm sharing the fourth tip to celebrate your success on your creative wilderness journey. The fourth tip is to be fully present for your celebration. This tip relates back to being goal-oriented or an achiever. Even if you've planned out your celebration in advance and you show up to celebrate, is your mind 20 steps ahead? Are you there physically, but mentally miles away at your next goal? When you read your time to celebrate and success comes to you, allow yourself to rest, pause, and fully enjoy it. There is always more on the to-do and to-achieve list. But if you don't take time to be fully present with the stream of success, or a celebration pass, then you won't gather the fuel you need to keep going. Not being fully present for success or celebration can also add to the sense of imposter syndrome because, when you don't take time to stop, acknowledged, and fully celebrate your success, it really might not integrate as well on your journey, and you might continue to doubt if it's really meant for you. But when you slow down, recognize your success and celebrate it with full presence, success has a place to land, to integrate, and settle in as fuel for you to keep going, and know that you are worthy of this success on your journey. So when success does arrive and when it's time to celebrate, be fully present. Now, another tip within a tip here, being fully present for the celebration means, don't ignore it or make the celebration too short, but also don't drag out the celebration to be so long that you forget to hop back into your work and keep on trekking through the creative wilderness. I know Celebration could get real company and we want to stay [LAUGHTER] there, but this is also a tip to keep moving forward because I don't know about you but sometimes that transition into or out of a task is actually the most challenging for me, so if I'm in work mode, it can be hard for me to shift into relaxation mode and if I'm in relaxation mode, it can be hard for me to shift into work mode. An object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest. This means if I'm in celebration mode and fully present for it, it can be hard to shift gears back into work mode. To help with this and make sure I'm not celebrating for too long or too short, I like to set a timeframe. For example, I might say that I'm going to celebrate this weekend with a camping trip and then on Monday and back in the studio for this class project, or maybe I'm going to celebrate this evening with a movie night, and then tomorrow I'm going to create a new piece for my illustration portfolio. This can help to increase presence for the celebration because you know that you'll be returning to your work soon, so you can use that moment of rest and celebration as energy to fuel you forward. In the next lesson, you're going to fill out your field guide and publish your class projects. I'll see you there. 11. Publish Your Class Project: Once you've completed this section of the creative wilderness, take a photo of your completed stream of success and celebration pass portion of the Creative Wilderness Field Guide. Then upload that photo to the class project section of this class. Remember that you can upload your class project by going to the Projects and Resources tab and clicking the Create Project button. Once you've uploaded your photo, be sure to hit "Publish". Also, be sure to check out other class projects from your fellow creatives in the project gallery. We're all out here together in the creative wilderness. So let's show support for each other's journeys. Lastly, be sure to let me know in the discussion section what success you're enjoying right now on your creative path. I'd love to cheer you on. In The next lesson, I'm sharing the next stop we're going to encounter together on the creative wilderness journey. I'll see you there. 12. Thank You & Next Steps: [MUSIC] Thank you so much for tuning into this class in The Creative Wilderness Tip series. I hope you're feeling more equipped, confident, and totally stoked to keep trekking into the wilderness together. I know that your work is worthy of the successes that you're receiving, and I hope that after this class, you know that's you. Allow yourself to receive and celebrate the successes that show up on your creative journey so you can use them as fuel to confidently move forward on your path. In the next class in this series, we're visiting the field of failure, where I'll share my tips for how to reframe failure on your journey. So it can actually be a helpful tool and guide for you on your creative wilderness trek. In the meantime, if you want continued encouragement for your journey, you can download a free pep talk that I've recorded just for you to listen to, any time you need to get pumped up and confident about your next steps forward. You can download that at printsandplants.com/peptalk. [MUSIC] Lastly, be sure to follow me here on Skillshare to stay up-to-date on new classes by hitting that Follow button. Check out more of my work at printsandplants.com and come hang out with me on Instagram, @prints_and_plants. Stay wild, stay creative, and I'll see you soon. [MUSIC] In the meantime, if you want to continue. In this lesson, we're going over [NOISE] I was focused on achieving the big win. [MUSIC]