Authors face a lot of self-doubt and fear. One of the biggest questions authors ask themselves–and I’m no stranger to this one either–is am I doing the right thing? We worry about our marketing strategy, whether we’re not doing enough or not enough of the right things. Everywhere we turn someone is ready to sell us a system guaranteed to fix all of our problems, if only we fork over some number ending in 97 or 99. When we’re worrying about doing the wrong things, we often can’t do the right things. And honestly, this kind of makes the problem worse.
Only you’re asking yourself, what are the right things to do?
In return, I’m going to ask you one question: what are your creative core values?
Core values aren’t something we think about a lot unless it’s in a therapy or business sense. Sure, you might read about a company’s values, but let’s be honest, how many of us actually believe most companies follow those values? So how do core values relate to your creative nervous system?
Your core values are well, integral to the core of who you are. They are a part of you, and they act as a guiding compass. If we do something that runs counter to our core values, it creates dissonance. That dissonance is a large part of writer’s block or what keeps us from writing.
If there’s one truism about marketing our books, which is a great example for this topic, what works for one person may not work for another person. There are a lot of variables that go into success, not the least of which is what success means to you and if you’re measuring it against someone else’s apparent success or lack thereof. (Don’t do that. It’s like comparing rutabegas and frogs. You just can’t do it.) So we often worry that we’re doing the wrong thing.
There is no such thing as the wrong thing when you are true to your creative core values.
As long as you are true to your values, and true to yourself, then you are making the right moves. And your creative nervous system will thank you for it.
Curious about what your creative nervous system type is? Take our free quiz. Learning what your creative nervous system type is will help you determine the best way to find balance and stay inspired.