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Anxiety is a vital feature of our early warning system against threats and therefore a fact of life. Sometimes it is imperative that we feel anxious. An anxiety expert is someone who is aware when he is anxious, understands the underlying causes of his anxiety, chooses whether or not to heed a given warning signal, and knows what to do when he decides to show anxiety the door. If he is also a creator, he wants to acquire an excellent understanding of the significant place of anxiety in the creative process.

Why, to take one example, might nearing the end of writing his novel make a writer anxious?  For several reasons that writers tend not to notice: that soon he will have to read it and see if it is good; that soon he will have to write a novel synopsis, a task that most writers hate; that soon he will have to begin to contact agents and editors; that soon he will have to leave his characters behind, characters whom he may have grown to love; and that soon he will have to begin thinking about his next novel and starting the process (with its attendant anxiety) all over again. Little wonder that a writer can spend months avoiding finishing his current novel as anxiety courses through his system.

The less you experience the opinions of others as a threat, the less you experience entering the unknown as a threat, the less you experience making creative choices as a threat, the less anxiety you will conjure—and the less anxiety you will have to manage. As to the anxiety that remains: that is yours to handle effectively and even brilliantly by using the anxiety management tools available to you. Among those tools is my Ten Zen Seconds technique. To learn how to use this calming, centering technique, please take a look at Ten Zen Seconds or visit the Ten Zen Seconds website.

 
To better understand anxiety’s significant place in the creative process, including the sorts of anxiety that attend to each stage of the process, please take a look at Fearless Creating.

If you would like to learn more about becoming an anxiety expert, please take a look at Coaching the Artist Within.

For a complete program for dealing with the anxiety known stage fright, please take a look at Performance Anxiety.

To learn how to use your brain’s natural ability to think while you sleep to reduce your stress and anxiety, please take a look at my ebook The Power of Sleep Thinking, available only at this site.

The anxiety that you don’t notice may be the anxiety that stops you in your tracks. Become an anxiety expert and learn how to put everyday fear in its place.