I’m one of those people who has lots of advice for other writers, podcasters, and creators. It’s the entire basis of my podcast Write Now with Sarah Werner, as well as the vast majority of interviews and public speaking gigs I’ve done over the past several years.
Advice such as:
- It’s OK to rest when you need to — in fact, rest is a crucial part of the creative process.
- Stop comparing yourself to other creators — you’re running your own race, not theirs.
- Don’t let yourself be intimidated by large projects — take them one step at a time and your progress will add up.
- Your worth as a human being and a creator is not based on your productivity.
I’ve been struggling a lot lately with my own creative work, and I was complaining about these struggles to a fellow writer — how I feel so exhausted and burned out all the time, how I’m not as productive or successful or deliriously happy as Person A or Person B, how I’m so intimidated to move forward with Season 2 of Girl In Space because the project is JUST SO HUGE, how I feel like a worthless human wreck because I don’t do enough to justify my existence…
Wow. Yeah. Astute readers will notice that I’m struggling with the exact same stuff that I’ve given other people advice about. “I’m just not productive enough!” I whined via text to a friend, a mere month after recording a Write Now episode entitled “Being Productive Enough”, in which I address this very issue.
Does this ever happen to you? Have you ever found yourself struggling with an issue that seems so easy to solve for everyone but you?
Why is it so hard for us to take our own advice? Are we just able to be more objective about the plights of others? Are our own emotions/doubts/second guesses getting in the way of better decision-making? Have we become mired in our own lifetime of bad habits?
Writer Oliver Burkeman tells us that “There’s a huge gulf between grasping something intellectually and really feeling it in your bones,” and that in order to internalize our own great insights and advice, we need to actually act on it enough times for it to sink in.
So… it sounds like, in order to better take my own advice, I need to… actually take my own advice. (And maybe listen to my own podcast.) If you have any ideas on how to do this, I’m all ears. But it sounds like just regular old growth and learning — no silver bullets here.
What about you? What is a piece of life or creative advice that you give to others — and you really need to learn to take for yourself?
Words & warmth,
Sarah