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Unstuck: the artist’s way
A life-explorer’s guide to making exceptional
things happen with less willpower and more grace
(in business, in the arts, in life)
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
To my son Aidan.
You’re pure, raw life.
To my wife Sabine.
You bring beauty and
poetry to everything we do.
Both of you,
thanks for always
showing me the way
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
“If you hear a voice within you saying
‘You cannot paint’ then by all means
paint, and that voice will be silenced”
- Vincent van Gogh
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
We all know the feeling of "being stuck".
This is something that happens quite often in professional settings, whether it's in our own business or our career. It happens in creative
endeavours. Truth be told, it happens everywhere in life.
This is especially true for all people who are up to something "different", trying to create something unique, authentic and meaningful with their
lives.
This is a guide for explorers of life: artists, entrepreneurs, visionaries who have the desire to make wonder-ful things happen.
It doesn’t matter if you are already in over your head in your business or project. Or if you haven't yet taken any step towards this unknown, yet
terribly attractive direction which seems to be constantly calling out your name (ie. you have just a gut feeling you could be doing something else
with your life, or maybe you have a clear idea of what you'd really like, but in any case you haven't jumped yet). We all eventually find ourselves
in a slump. Things are not progressing nearly as fast as you'd want them to, you feel pressure and/or you have no idea on how to move forward
effectively.
By far the most common reaction to this feeling is trying to "think our way out of it". We think, consider, analyse and think again. We seek
advice, we look around at what other people are doing and try to reverse engineer their process hoping it will work for us too. We talk our
stuckness through in our heads, with our friends, with our partners and
pretty much anyone who'd listen. Essentially, we stare at what looks like a bland soup on our plate and we keep stirring hoping that suddenly a
new ingredient will appear to spice up the dish. We close our eyes and focus really, really hard, trying to squeeze every little drop out of our
brain, then we open our eyes and... nope, still bland soup, try again.
Sounds familiar anyone?
Ok, now you can lower your hand and get ready to take notes because it turns out that the solution might be easier than you think (isn't it
always?).
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
We’re all artists For a while now, I got into the habit of listening to successful artists
describing their processes and their own experience of creating. And recently I found myself particularly fascinated by how similar all this
stuckness thing is to the (in)famous writer's block. Most of the things I'll
share with you come from bits and pieces I heard from the most prolific creators in the world.
And if you think about it, why would it be any different? At the end of the
day, it's still us drawing a blank when turning to our brain for new answers. Unfortunately, when we are working on a project we tend to
think that the feeling we're experiencing is coming from the project itself. We misunderstand it as a sign of "something is wrong with what I'm
doing" rather than a made-up very thick fog in our head. And so we run in circles: trying out or considering new options, new ventures, new pivots
in our plans.
I know this first hand: you have no idea of how many imaginary shoes I had to throw away because of the stains and damage inflicted by the
unpredictable quicksand of thought!
But I consider myself lucky: I don't really know why, and I could never
really stake a claim to it, but somehow I woke up to the reality of how the creative process works quite early in my career. And this allowed me to
make things happen with disarming ease.
Publishing an album with my band? Check. Starting an association and propose a new law to the Italian parliament in favour of people with
diabetes (like myself)? Check. Creating a non-conventional communication campaign for one of the world's top NGOs and export it
across the globe? Check. Moving abroad and opening an innovative space where authentic Italian cuisine meets multi-cultural integration from the
ground-up? Check. Getting married to the most amazing woman in the world writing our own ceremony, baking our own wedding cake, making
our own wedding favours and pretty much breaking all the rules of what a
wedding should look like? Check. Becoming the official catering of a TEDx event? Check.
The list could go on, and I'm not writing this to brag. I'm doing it so that
you know where I'm coming from and, maybe, you'll give what I have to share with you a fair shot instead of labelling it as "too simple" or "that's
it? It'll never work for me". Because, trust me, you will definitely be tempted to discard what I'll tell you: it really does sound too simple.
But I hope you'll move past that, and really make it your own. Try it out, see if it fits. Play with it and find what works for you in your life.
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
The thing is, I can hardly think of anything more powerful than learning
how to be free to make things happen in your life with ease and creativity.
Oh yes, creativity. Before we move forward I have to ask you to leave willpower out of the door. Take your time, I'll wait.
Done? Great! So what are we going to use if we cannot force and push
and struggle and hustle our way to success? You may have guessed: creativity is the answer!
Now, let's get to it!
Here is my life-explorer’s guide to making exceptional things happen with less willpower and more grace (in business, in the arts, in life)
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
1) It always takes much less than
you think.
Once I heard best-selling author David Baldacci say something like "most young writers freeze and don't know where to start because they're trying
to write a book all at once. But there are too many moving parts in a book. It's too big of a concept to hold in our head all at the same time.
You focus on the pages, on the chapters. Without being able to produce gripping, well-written pages and chapters, there won't be any book" (I am
paraphrasing, he clearly said it better and more eloquently, but the meaning was the same).
You can't start a business but you can make a phone call, or send a
proposal. You can't make a record, but you can write the lyrics to a
chorus, or arrange a riff.
And here's the part that never fails to blow our clients and me away in its simplicity every single time: when you stop dealing with an "idea" (a
book, a business, a record) and start engaging with reality in its most basic forms you realize that it always takes much less than you think.
Even if you would only write 1 or 2 pages a day, you could be done with your book in a few months. Even if you'd only reach out to 1 or 2 new
prospects a day, your agenda would be full of leads in weeks.
Practical exploration: As you read this you may think that my examples
look too simplistic (and you'd be right, they purposely do!) and that it wouldn't work in your case. But I invite you to try this: take a seat and
start writing down what the most important core elements of your project
are. Focus on the ones that would really move the needle (connecting with potential clients? sending proposals? writing articles? making videos?
darkening pages? coming up with great chord progressions?). Ideally, you should be able to identify no more than 2 or 3 (if you have
too many, chances are that you're including things that are not the most impactful. In that case pick only the top 2 or 3 things on your list).
Ok now try to see what would happen if you'd do these things even just once or twice a day? Can you see the incremental impact after a few
weeks? A few months? Now, depending on your specific project the numbers might look a bit different. Maybe you'll find that you need 5 a
day for 6 months. But still, doesn't it look so much simpler now?
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
2) Stop taking your emotional
temperature.
Another big tendency I see in freelancers, entrepreneurs and artists alike is the idea that you need to be inspired to make good progress.
And in these cases, what's really happening is that sometimes they don't necessarily feel like doing the thing and mistakenly equate “feeling
like” with their level of Inspiration. This misunderstanding brings them to check their emotional temperature
before each task to see where they stand.
But please read this carefully: your emotional temperature has nothing to do with your project! In fact, it has nothing to do with
Inspiration and with the quality of the output you can have at any given
moment. The fact that you "don't feel like it" doesn't tell you anything about how good the email/song/article you're going to write is going to
be. And it doesn't tell you how inspired you'll feel once you start.
Write down this little known but life-changing distinction: feeling like Vs Inspiration.
Once I heard one of the best jazz players of all time, Herbie Hancock,
say something like this: “The only secret is to play the first note. Just start and see what happens. Sometimes I have no idea where to start.
But I decide to play anyway even if it sounds horrible. And you know what? It might really sound horrible. But then I play another note, and
maybe another and suddenly I hear something. A doorway opens and the whole progression starts to make sense.”
Inspiration lives in the moment; Inspiration is not there to get you to start doing something, but it shows up the moment you're actually
engaging with your life. Showing up and getting on the boat is your job, carrying you effortlessly by filling your sail is Inspiration’s
task.
Practical exploration: What I'm saying is quite radical in its simplicity:
I'm saying that next time you're going to create something, you can completely skip the step of wondering whether or not "this is the right
time" or "if you're inspired enough". It's irrelevant. Just sit and start. Only this way, you'll open the door to Inspiration and allow it to carry
you. So, like with all the other points, all I'm asking you is to give it a try. If you're serious about what you're creating, can you really afford to not
even try something that might change your relationship with Inspiration
itself? So, next time you catch yourself considering how you feel, try not
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
to take that thought too seriously and write the first word anyway (or open your business plan, strum your guitar, make the first call, etc..).
Deep down you already know it's true: I bet it happened to you more
than once to start enjoying something you were very hesitant to start in the first place.
What if it was no coincidence? Do you dare to find out?
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
3) Self-confidence? No thanks
When it comes to creating meaningful results, there are a lot of opinions around the concept of "confidence". How do you develop it? Should you?
And what if you don't manage? Pretty much everything and its contrary have been said around this topic.
But everyone seems to start from a similar premise: confidence is helpful,
if not essential, when creating innovative results. The problem is that this premise is flawed.
"Wait a minute!" I hear you say, "are you telling me that a confident
writer/entrepreneur is not better than a non-confident one?", "And what about all the times that insecurity stopped me from doing the things I
needed to do?".
Read on, I'll explain.
You see, the big issue with this debate is that it puts "you" at the centre. It makes the book, or the song, or the business, or the event about
"you". And that's a problem. It creates self-consciousness, which is like a giant ball chained to your leg (it makes everything harder and it's the
opposite of grace and creativity).
And it gives us an easy way out: "I just can't do it, I'm not good enough". Or confident enough. Or whatever else. That's when we hit pause. We
stop working on our project and we start working on ourselves. Our business (or our work of art), instead of becoming a unique
expression of the power of creativity, becomes a self-improvement project. And suddenly the stakes are higher: if it fails, it's me who's
failing. And as you can imagine this is not conducive to the freedom of thought and action that is required to make amazing things happen.
What if your project wasn't about you at all? So rather than wondering if you have what it takes and if you're confident enough, why not try getting
yourself out of the way and focussing on your project? How could you tend to it? How could you nurture it and nourish it? How could it be even
better? What if it had a life of its own and it absolutely didn't mean anything about you?
Practical exploration: Look, I get it. I heard that voice a million times in
my own head, and then I heard the same rhyme another million times being spoken by our clients. It is a genuine mistake. After all, if it really
was about you, it would make perfect sense to work on yourself and your confidence. But the moment you see with your own eyes than the
premise is wrong, everything changes. That's what I invite you to do for the next few days: suspend the judgement and wear the explorer's hat;
try to live like your project really has nothing to do with you.
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
What new ideas occur to you? What behaviour makes no sense any more?
What's a better idea instead?
Just one note: there is no other way to get a real feel for this other than really trying it out. If you're tempted to "play it out in your head" and
imagine what conclusions you'd get to, please don't. It doesn't work that way. If you're at least slightly curious to find out if what I'm saying is
true, give it a few days and see if it stands up to scrutiny.
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
4) Read a lot, but never read more
than you write
I once read those words by an exceptionally productive writer, Nicolas Cole, and they stuck with me. He also added: you don’t want to be a well-
read aspiring writer. You want to be an effective writer who is well-read. I believe that these words are an opportunity. And I invite you to step
beyond their literal meaning (as you can imagine the best way to become a writer is not the point of this guide).
The way I heard them was as a reminder of the importance of engaging
with life. I think nowadays is extremely easy to “read” life rather than “write” it. We look around, consider things, make plans, get involved in
meaningful conversation about life and too often we forget to live it.
Don’t get me wrong, I see enormous value in philosophical exploration (it happens to be one of my favourite things to do!). But not if it substitutes
“real life”. There is something unique in getting your hands dirty, feeling the sweat on your skin, the sun on your face.
When I travel, I love imagining my trip months before I leave. Watching videos, reading guidebooks. It’s incredibly fun! But it only makes sense if
eventually I actually take the plane and experience those places directly.
How’s this relevant in terms of getting unstuck? Sooner or later we all fall into the trap of looking for yet another book to
read, another piece of information to have, another course to attend or another opinion to ask. Research is important but none of it makes sense
without action. And I found out that after we experience things directly all the information and research actually become much more useful.
I remember when I took my first course to become a coach. It was
divided in two parts with a couple of months break in between. During those months I had the chance to actually coach real people. You have no
idea how much more sense the lessons made once I started coaching. Now I had a real reference point. And this way I made progress quickly.
Practical exploration: when you feel stuck or unsure about where to go
next with your project, chances are that you’ll think that you are missing
something. You may then have the temptation to start looking around for
something or someone who could give you what you’re missing. Here’s
what to do instead: take the pen and write one more verse, grab your
guitar and play, open your email account and send one more proposal;
finalise that business plan, go to that conference, record one more video.
Seriously consider: where in your life are you reading more than you
are writing? What could you do differently? Have fun with it!
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
5) Surround yourself with other
explorers but…
This is probably not the first time you read something similar: we all know
the importance of sharing the journey. The impact of being able to be
challenged and supported along the way is impossible to measure. And
having a network of people on the same boat as you are is probably the
fastest and most effective way to get unstuck.
But…
When we hear “people on the same boat” we usually go off searching for
people doing what we do. We surround ourselves with other writers, other
entrepreneurs in our same industry, other designers, other coaches and
consultants. And this is not a bad thing. It’s actually a good first step.
But if you stop there, you risk to actually get stuck in your thinking.
Closing yourself off from the rest of the world. You may start thinking in
terms of “us” and “them”.
I would like to suggest to you a slight tweak on that saying about being
on the same boat:
Surround yourself with people steering boats like yours, but
navigating different seas.
What I mean by this is that you’ll find the biggest impact in immersing
yourself in a network of people who, like you, are explorers of life. People
trying to do something remarkable and unique with their lives. Those are
the people who are steering boats like yours, going through the same ups
and downs, sharing the very same doubts and excitement.
But they are navigating different seas, they are bringing that same
creativity and aliveness in different fields. Can you imagine how deeply
you could inspire each other? Come up with innovative solutions and
challenging each other to expand your thinking?
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
Practical exploration: seek out at least 2 people who, like you, are
trying to create a path of their own, but they are doing so in very
different areas. If you’re a writer, look for an inspired entrepreneur and
vice versa. If you’re a coach maybe reach out to a professor, and so on.
If you want to bring it one step further, you can join A campfire at the
edge of the world, the online community for people who want to create
their own life, one step at a time. We built this group exactly as a
powerful tool to help you progress steadily and gracefully in the
direction of the life you know you want to pursue.
At the Campfire, you’ll have the chance to be coached, challenged, inspired,
supported, and to make deep connections with like-minded explorers along the
way. And you’ll find yourself experimenting freely, making things happen with
more ease, and maybe discovering that that thing you had never thought possible
was just around the corner. Click here to learn more.
Unstuck: the artist’s way
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How does it sound? Can you already imagine the impact
that trying these things out could have on your life and projects?
Usually, there is one idea that for some reason resonated with you more
than others (even if ever so slightly). My suggestion is to pick that one and give it an honest try.
Remember: there won't be any test at the end so doing it half-heartedly won't really make sense. If you're curious to try, then give it your all.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Coming alive: what’s really on offer
One of the biggest reasons why I do this job is that I genuinely believe that things really are much easier than we make them up to be in our
head. And it is priceless to see the hope, excitement and aliveness printed on our clients' face once they get a glimpse of this truth. And everything
starts to change.
Nothing we can come up with in our head can ever beat life.
I hope this guide managed to give you a little sense of the possibility for an even more creative, less complicated life. A life full of wonder and
magic. A life that is interesting and textured.
That’s what’s really on offer when you take the way of the artist. The way of the explorer.
Unfortunately, for some reason, we often prefer to argue for complexity.
We argue for difficulty and hardship. When someone or something points us in the direction of simplicity and purity we get triggered and we jump
off our seat, waving an endless list of reasons and proof of the inherent unfairness and unkindness of life.
At the end of the day, nobody really knows how this game works.
But I rather keep arguing for possibility and wonder, rather than for
limitations and struggle. And I wish the same for you.
At least we won’t have to hope we're wrong. And we’ll be free to explore life unconditionally.
Thank you so much for reading this far, I appreciate that.
To wonder! To life!
Nico Olivieri
Unstuck: the artist’s way
easiercoaching.com
About the author:
Nico Olivieri
I’ve been fascinated by the idea of doing
things “my way” ever since I was a child.
Along the way, I learned how to make
“impossible things” happen: from publishing a
record and tour the country with my band to
starting an association and to bring a new law
proposal to the Italian Parliament.
I had the blessing to travel and to live in three
different European countries. I encountered
marvellous people and had the chance to take
part in adventures I’ll never forget, including
starting a variety of businesses: from a
catering company which worked for the TEDx
conference and the Italian Consulate in Amsterdam, to winning best food
start-up of Ireland with my international health brand in Dublin.
Creating innovative projects and obtaining extraordinary results never
scared me. Eventually though, I reached a breaking point both mentally
and physically. This led to big changes and the exploration that followed
helped me to better understand how the human mind works and to
radically transform my experience of being alive. Things became
effortless, richer and more vibrant.
Now I help my clients to create their own impossible results, in a way that
is natural, balanced and pleasant.
UN L E A S H E D B Y WOND E R 1 8
We believe that when we are connected to the best part of us life
becomes easier and results are outstanding.
Are you an entrepreneur, a manager, an athlete or an artist?
We can help you bring more of yourself into everything you do and
turn your truest desires into reality.
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