Do you ever feel like there’s an entire world of creative ideas trapped inside your mind, each vying for your attention? 

If you find yourself torn between multiple passions and struggling to decide where to direct your focus, you’re certainly not alone. 

Being a multi-passionate creative can be both a blessing and a challenge. The sheer volume of interests and ideas can be equal parts exhilarating and frustrating!

While it may feel impossible to put yourself in any kind of box, I can tell you for certain you fit the mold of a visionary! 

Your mind is overflowing with ideas that are innovative, fun, and sometimes wild. However, it can also feel overwhelming, discouraging, and seemingly impossible to quell this constant stream of creativity.

Figuring out what to focus on is SUCH a common issue with creatives, especially those with multiple passions, interests, and ideas. 

Your brain is in overdrive, and your creativity keeps flowing. You have endless excitement for all your passions, but unfortunately, you don’t have infinite hours, boundless focus, or unlimited resources.

It’s a great problem to have (remember that!), but a legitimate problem nonetheless. 

In fact, it’s a dilemma so many of my coaching clients face. As a result, I’ve had a ton of experience guiding multi-passionate creatives as they learn how to nurture their many interests in a way that is both fulfilling and feasible!

Now, I’m excited to share these strategies with you!

In this blog post, we’ll explore how to embrace your diverse passions while finding the clarity and structure you need to finally get those brilliant ideas out and into the world in a sustainable, actionable way! By the end, you’ll be equipped to harness your creativity, prioritize your projects, and turn your vision into your reality.

Embrace Your Multi-Faceted Creativity

The first step to harnessing your creativity is to embrace the messy, crazy passion! It’s probably a big part of what makes you, you! It’s like the well that all of your creativity pours from and I’m here to tell you it’s a GOOD THING.

I know at times the flood of ideas can be more paralyzing than inspiring. 

For this reason, you may start to see your creativity as your downfall, when in reality, it is your SUPERPOWER.

Despite what you may have convinced yourself, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you! 

Your creativity is a gift!

I invite you to give yourself some much-deserved grace so you can stop beating yourself up for “failing” to execute any (or all) of your ideas and start creating a system that will allow you to successfully tap into your brilliance!

In the next several steps, you’ll learn how to implement the right tools and systems to maintain this positive mindset shift and help you move things forward.

Get It Out Of Your Head

As a creative entrepreneur, your brain likely holds a ton of information, ideas, and grand dreams for the future. But, when you rely solely on your memory to stay organized, manage your to-do list, and not only remember but act on your inspired ideas you’re setting yourself up for failure.

You are wasting precious resources (your mental energy) trying to hold it all in your head. It’s depleting your brainpower, fogging up your focus, and extending the time it takes to accomplish tasks in your personal, creative, and professional life!

That’s why I urge my clients to brain dump, brainstorm, capture inspiration, dream, plan, scheme…whatever you want to call it… on a regular basis. 

And to effectively get your to-do list, tasks, and inspired ideas out of your head, you need to decide where you will capture them. 

Wherever you choose to store your braindumps, it should be a place that is easy for you to access and consistently use so you can let it go, knowing it’s there waiting for you when you have time and capacity to come back to it later. 

How you decide to do this is entirely up to you (there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to your unique needs). 

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Journal
2. Keep voice notes
3. Create a spreadsheet 
4. Sketch
5. Create a vision board (aka a mood or inspiration board)
6. Jot your ideas down on sticky notes (Hi, it’s me!)

Whatever works best for YOU is what you should adopt! 

Once established, use this tool to sort and simplify your brain dump into three categories:

1. To-do list (for tasks within a week) – See what’s on your plate so you can assess what does and does not work. If you can name it, you can tame it!
   
   
2. Parking lot (ideas for later) – Capture ideas for future projects that you can’t get to right away, but intend to dive into soon!
   
   
3. Scrap it list (low-priority ideas) – Keep them written down for potential revival later. It doesn’t have to be a never, just a not right now!
   

The key is to get it all out of your head and into one platform (not scattered in a million different places) where you can safely store and manage both your BIG ideas and small to-dos alike.

Clarify Your Goals

Next, it’s time to get crystal clear on your goals as a creative. 

Both the BIG, HAIRY, SCARY ONES and the smaller ones that often feel a bit more achievable.  

Your big goals are like a compass. They are driven by the overall vision you have for your creative ventures. These are those bold dreams you have for the future (ya know the “crazy” ones people often scoff at). A big-vision goal might be something like… 

“To become a recognized and respected brand known for unique, sustainable, and high-quality handcrafted jewelry, with a strong online presence and a dedicated customer base.”

Your small goals, on the other hand, serve as mile markers on your way toward that big vision you have in mind. I like to think of achieving these small goals as mini-wins. Not only do they help you gain traction, but they can also help you stay the course as you celebrate the progress you make along the way, even if your big-picture vision is out of immediate reach. For example, a short-term goal to support the big-vision goal above might be:

“Within the next three months, launch an e-commerce website to showcase and sell my handcrafted jewelry collections.”

When you are clear and specific about your goals, it’s easier to decide what is (or is not) a priority for you right now so you can either eliminate or press pause on the rest.

Because although you may WANT to do everything all at once, it simply isn’t realistic. 

I like to keep this quote from David Allen in mind, 

“You can do anything, but not everything…” I often take this a step further and add, “…and certainly not all at once!”

When you have your goals in front of you, you can then reference your brain dump of ideas and see where those ideas fit into your big-picture vision for the future. While some ideas may sound fun, they may not align with your overarching plan, so you may ultimately decide not to prioritize them.

Identifying which ideas do and do not support your goals can help you decide which ideas or projects you want to tackle now, and which you’ll leave in the Parking Lot of your journal, spreadsheet, or sketchbook for later.

Your big-picture goals will act as your True North, helping you navigate the countless ideas you generate, so you can focus on the most important and impactful ones that will get you closer to your big vision. 

Meanwhile, your short-term goals will empower you to take tiny but mighty steps forward, continuously building your confidence and making your creative journey both sustainable and successful!

Choose Your Top Priority

With your goals clearly guiding the way, zoom in on ONE priority and jump in. Stop overthinking it, second-guessing yourself, or flip-flopping. Just pick one that feels aligned with your goals and go for it!

This is often challenging for multi-passionate creatives because the analysis paralysis is REAL! Often creatives with lots of interest also tend to be high-achievers and perfectionists. 

They get stuck figuring out what to focus on or what action to take because they are looking for the “right” answer or the “right” next move. 

Rather than worry about what is “right” it’s time to reframe this as what is EASIEST. 

Then, you can get into action and build momentum.

And keep in mind: 

Just because you aren’t giving your attention to some things right now doesn’t mean they’ll never get done or that they won’t be a priority eventually. That’s why they live on your Parking Lot or Scrap It list that you’ll revisit regularly so those great ideas never get lost or forgotten!

For now, embrace one niche, one specialization, or one project you’re genuinely excited about and jump in! Maybe it’s something you explore for a short period of time and let go of, or maybe it sticks!

Commit to doing that one thing really well and with all of your energy and intention. If you decide to let it go and refocus on something else later on, you’ll feel good knowing you gave it your all and can lay it to rest without regrets! 

Then, as you complete the project or task, master the art form, or establish yourself in the niche, you can move on to your next priority, building as you go.

 Take Action

Clarity comes through action which means, like it or not, you will need to take messy action and show up consistently.

If you have perfectionist tendencies like I do, this may be the most difficult step. 

But creating, building, and getting things out into the world is the best way for you to focus on the right things for YOU instead of being bogged down by all the options that leave you stuck in analysis paralysis. 

Even baby steps are progress in the right direction!

Once you’re in motion, it’s easier to maintain that momentum. With consistent action, you’ll be able to see how others react to your ideas, test things out, and receive feedback so you can hone and iterate your ideas! 

If things don’t work out as you envisioned right away, don’t throw it all out. Instead, take what works and build on that so you can follow the flow of your creativity while also learning and refining every time you receive new information. 

Moral of the story:

Do the damn thing– because done is ALWAYS better than that “perfect” idea that never sees the light of day.

Build-in Structure

Now it’s time to ensure you can continue to take action and show up day in and day out. In order to sustain that action and your focus as you work to fulfill your big vision, there are tools and structures you can put in place!

Without putting the right supports in place, you’ll often find yourself spinning your wheels or constantly starting from scratch instead of from experience!

Here are some supports and tools you may consider implementing as you work towards your goals:

1. Implement Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are metrics that help you measure your progress towards your long-term and short-term goals. Despite being a business-y term, KPIs are just as applicable to your creative pursuits. They remove the guesswork from tracking your goals, providing a clear picture of where you are and the direction you need to go. An example of a KPI that supports the goals we introduced earlier could be your website conversion rates. You could measure the percentage of website visitors who make a purchase on your e-commerce website. The higher your conversion rate, the better you can assess how your small goal is bringing your big-picture goal to life!
   
   
2. Set rhythms. Once you know what metrics you’re assessing, rhythms can help ensure you don’t just set it and forget it. Rhythms provide consistency and consistency drives results. Essentially rhythms dictate when to do specific tasks and how often. For example, if your goal is to have that e-commerce website up and running within three months (a small, short-term goal), you might choose to carve out time to work on it for one hour every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until it’s complete!
   
   
3. Seek out mentorship or coaching. While you may not work with a mentor or coach in every season of your creative business, it can be an excellent way to propel yourself, your art, and your business to new heights. Often mentors can help fill up your creative cup (I recommend learning from someone in your industry who inspires you) while coaches will help you build a business that allows you to do the creative work you love (this is what I do best–and specifically for creative entrepreneurs)
   
   
4. Create accountability. Even people with the best work ethic and drive need accountability. I find that connecting with other creative entrepreneurs through professional events, masterminds, or industry-specific programs can be an excellent way to learn from one another, stay the course, and create a built-in network of supporters and cheerleaders who get what you are trying to do because they’re on a similar journey!
   
   
5. Manage your time. Make sure you understand where your time is going, where it is most effective, and where you can optimize it so that you aren’t wasting your most valuable resource. To start this process, I recommend using this FREE Time Audit tool to reclaim your time and finally step out of the overwhelm!
   

All of these supports will help you stay focused in different seasons of life and business so that achieving your definition of success as a multi-passionate creative doesn’t have to be such a heavy lift!

Never Stop Learning

One of the best ways to decide what to do next and strategically direct your creative energy is to continuously LEARN! Learn about your industry, your business, your art, and your audience.

I know this may sound counterintuitive.

You’re probably thinking…

“I already have too many ideas bouncing around in my brain, and you want me to add MORE?”

I hear you, but continuous learning, reading, listening, and questioning are actually super helpful when it comes to focusing your energy and attention as a creative. 

Why?

1. Well, first learning fuels your passion. As a multi-passionate creative, I’m willing to bet you thrive when you’re absorbing new ideas and pouring into your interests. This is the stuff that fuels your fire!

2. Second, learning new things will probably help you generate even more (or better) ideas. Again, believe it or not, this is a good problem to have especially now that you have a system to wrangle it all.

3. And lastly, when you get new information it may help you connect the dots between ideas you have for your creative business so you can find relationships between things that other people typically don’t see! Steve Jobs said it best, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because…they just saw something…they were able to connect experiences and synthesize new things.” Instead of having to choose between two very different creative passions, you may find an innovative way to marry them!

Trust Your Intuition

Learning is absolutely essential, but sometimes the answers you’re looking for aren’t in a book or another YouTube Video. 

While I encourage you to learn as much as you can, don’t forget to listen to your intuition or inner knowing. When you prioritize creating before you consume you’re better able to forge your own path without being heavily influenced by outside opinions, judgments, or limiting beliefs! 

It’s all about finding the balance that works for you!

At the end of the day, you can set goals, plan, and build in the support you need to thrive. But ultimately, as a creative, YOU know best. 

I know that right now you might feel like you’ve let yourself down every time you let an inspired idea dwindle or fail to bring that project to life. 

It may be difficult to trust yourself again (or for the first time). But I promise you, if you really lean in and listen, your intuition will never lead you astray. 

This freedom to explore, change your mind, and redirect your focus will only be strengthened by your newfound ability to capture your ideas, make aligned decisions, eliminate distractions, support your efforts, and take action!

I am passionate about coaching multi-passionate creatives!

Are you ready to jump-start this process and create the perfect plan to support your unique goals and passions, so you can finally focus on what truly matters in your creative business?

I’m your girl!

Not only do I have a knack for the business side of creative entrepreneurship, but I’m also a multi-passionate creative just like you (I’ll be over here juggling bread making, painting, graphic design, etc…) 

If you’re curious to learn more about what it’s like to work with a business coach who genuinely GETS the nuances of running a business as a creative, we should chat.
Click here to get in touch and see if working together could be a good fit.