Talking To Ourselves

It's a standing joke : we talk to ourselves because it's the only way we get sensible answers!  I'm a great fan of talking to myself, it's a great way of developing work.  I ask myself lots of questions, when I'm working, and answer them while doing the work.  Sometimes, it's a conscious answer, sometimes, unconscious, it just appears when I'm working, and I'm not sure where it came from, that particular brush stroke that made all the difference, for example. 

But we also talk to ourselves to justify not working creatively.  And we then tell others why it is we 'can't' do whatever it is we're telling them we'd 'love' to have time to do.    I've got a list of the most common of those;

1. I don't have any/enough ideas 
2. I have too many ideas
3. I don't have any/enough materials
4. I have too much in the way of materials
5. I don't know how to make it look right; I don't have enough technique or skill
6. I've got lots of skill, but no ideas.
7. I don't have enough space/any space/the 'right' space
8. I don't have enough time/any time/ the right amount of time
9. I don't have any support. 

 There are lots of combinations of these, of course... the permutations are endless!  Have a think to yourself; which of these 'issues' are your favourite excuses for not getting on with the work?  Are there other issues that get in the way?  What are they?  Try making your own, prioritised list, with you favourite excuse at the top, and the rest in order, underneath.  If you really, really want to find creative focus, these are the things you're going to have to tackle.  Scary?  Oh yes.  Particularly if you're honest with yourself, and diagnose thoroughly.  But you have to know your enemy, to be able to defeat him/her.   And now is as good a time as any; if not now, then when?

If you have some additions to the list, please do leave us a note, here, so we can add it to our thought process.  Diagnosing the problem is important, and we need all the help we can get!