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The Big New Idea: creative hibernation

This time last week, it finally hit home after weeks of anguish and confusion: I need to actively put myself in creative hibernation.

I’d kind of told myself that I wouldn’t be taking on new clients or actively promoting my mentoring services while I set up my content studio here in Cambridge. Well, somehow I still managed to have new clients to call, pieces of work to do, and plenty of non-studio stuff to do. I had told myself this, but I hadn’t really put anything in place to enable me to carry it out.

Then, I was in a spin, because a couple of mentoring clients, for their own different reasons, have paused or reduced their mentoring time with me. A coincidence, and something I know is all about them (because I know them and their businesses well), and yet, because I was relying on income from my current mentoring clients to sustain me during these building months, it hit me hard.

Here’s my thought process: Do I change course and start advertising my mentoring services? I’m pretty sure I need the cash, and I can probably handle the additional hours. [Insert breakdown here.]

Even the thought of taking on more work, investing in new clients, and thinking about quick-win money making threw me into some dark, deep layers. Because it would break me, and I’d feel badly about launching something new that didn’t have my careful thought behind it.

Just adding more workload is something I’ve inherited from other people – it’s not my natural way of working, and I know it doesn’t cultivate my best work. But the messages are so pervasive in the work culture. We compete with busy-ness. We hold our worth by how tired we are. Well, it really doesn’t work for me.

Adding more work would also be self-sabotage, which my fear of success is really invested in! The truth is that I’d delay setting up something new because I needed to make money now, and I’d keep doing that for 70 years, probably.

Here’s what has really helped me to stay committed to the content studio: accountability to other people (our trial photoshoot is booked for this weekend) and investing in the branding. I don’t want to lose the money or time or goodwill I’ve already invested in those two things, and I know that if I pulled out of either now, I would lose momentum, which would be twice as hard to get back later.

After some serious(ly helpful) conversations with my coach and others, it became obvious that I had to re-commit myself. Let me be clear: NOT EASY! I am still reining in the negative voices and the fears. I’m giving them a little space to be heard, but mostly trying to turn the volume down. That allows my true values to show through. The ones that believe in quality, thoughtfulness, creativity and courage.

Thinking about who I really am, how I like to work, and how this is a temporary situation helped me to decide to put myself in creative hibernation.

So what does creative hibernation look like?

An out-of-office on my emails, telling people I’m not available for new clients or projects until August
Proactive emails to people telling them I can’t work on certain things
Making a list of the things / people I am available for
Actively pursuing all things content studio as my main activity
Allowing myself to dive into the work, for extended periods of time
Giving myself a stricter bedtime (10pm) so that I don’t get exhausted

Giving this period of setting something up a name has really helped. I find it easier to tell people, “I’m in creative hibernation right now.” And let that do the talking. There’s no decision about whether to do a piece of work or not – I’ve already decided what I’m doing and not doing.

And I continue to develop my ability to trust. Trusting that this period of creative hibernation (aka struggle, blind faith, deep commitment and investment) will pay off. That clients won’t forget that I offer mentoring, and that I’m really good at it. That this is temporary.

It feels so much better to be able to turn my attention to writing the stuff that needs writing, organise the stuff that needs to happen, and developing relationships with the people who are going to help.

Oh, and photoshoot this weekend! I mean, that’s going to be fun to share…

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Here's the thing: the relationship between procrastination and self-belief

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t procrastinated over something at some point.

In fact, when I’m talking with clients, the subject often pings up. Those things that you know you should do, and even want to do, but just can’t quite summon the get-up-and-go to do it.

Yep, me too.

There are plenty of things that I push into the magical time called “tomorrow”. Or I sit down to write or work on a spreadsheet and I find ten thousand other things to do.

Sometimes it’s procrastinating putting the washing on. Sometimes it’s procrastinating sending the email (or even looking at emails). Sometimes it’s getting something new going. Recently, I’ve been procrastinating because of my fear of success.

And what I’ve realised is this: procrastination is all about self-belief.

But often we don’t see it that way. We tell ourselves the story that we’re lazy or that the hard thing we’re trying to do isn’t right (because it isn’t easy). We think that if we just push harder, we’ll get there. Productivity is just about slicing up time differently, right? If I put a timer on for 10 minutes, it’ll be magical, won’t it?

The answer to those questions is: sometimes. If your self-belief is almost there, then yes, tips and tricks and tools can help to get you over the hump. But if there’s a bigger deficit in your self-belief, or if you haven’t realised that that’s what’s going on, you need more than just a shove in the right direction.

Here’s the thing:

If you’re struggling with self-belief, if you’re stuck in a pattern of procrastination, ask yourself the following questions. These aren’t quick fixes, but prompts to help you target the source of your procrastination, rather than shove you out of it as quickly as possible.

What’s the ultimate goal of what you’re trying to do? It’s easy, once we’ve added something to the to-do list, to lose track of why it’s actually important. It can become just another item to tick off, rather than a really beneficial task that adds value. Take a moment to remember what your aim is, and see if that shifts the feelings around the task at hand.
What’s your fear? Let me tell you what 99% of clients say when I ask this question: failure. We’re all afraid of failure, because our culture tells us perfection (especially perfection that looks easy and effortless) is the only way. Write down what you’re afraid of, so that you can start to separate from it. Imagine turning the volume down on the fear, or gently giving it a cup of tea and a book so you can get on with things. You can’t fail at your own life.
What are your beliefs about yourself? Spend some time digging into the deeper, subconscious levels of beliefs you might be holding on to that aren’t true. Do you believe you’re allowed to be successful? Do you believe you deserve a clean kitchen or an organised social media calendar? It might be that your demons are holding you back from moving forward. Give them some air so that you can re-write the story. (And: re-writing the story is often helped by doing the thing you’re not sure you deserve yet. Show yourself you’re worthy by doing it.)
How would you help someone else feel better about this task? We’re often much gentler and kinder to other people than we are to ourselves. Imagine your best friend or daughter or even a customer was trying to do what you’re procrastinating about. What would you say to them? What gentle way in would you find for them? How would you structure a list or a project management tool for them?
How can you reward yourself when the task is done? Perhaps you’ll treat yourself to a lovely break, or a new book. Perhaps you’ll write yourself a note of appreciation. You could even ask a friend (or mentor) for accountability so that they can give you a gold star when you’re done. Maybe your reward will be the self-belief you create by doing the thing, or getting a good night’s sleep because you’re not worried as much.

When you’re stuck in procrastination, anything that promotes your self-care, that encourages you to trust yourself, is going to help. It may seem counter-intuitive, but self-belief is long-term, and needs regular tending.

For me, it’s about writing it all out, giving myself the water and fuel I need, and creating a nice atmosphere to do the work I need to do. I often think of myself as a client, and what I would want to do for them. Yes, I’d want to tidy up their kitchen and order them nice food and write things out in a pretty and achievable list. So that’s what I do for myself.

What’s helpful for you? Do you have a certain thing you’re procrastinating at the moment?

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The Big New Idea: design starts this week!

Ah, this Big New Idea continues to take up a lot of my brain space! I switch quickly between thinking big and long term to thinking small and detailed. Such is my way of working.

Here’s what I’ve been working on over the past week-and-a-bit:

Branding. After getting in touch with various designers and running into timing conflicts and fear of the unknown, I’ve come back to working with Evan at Sixteen July (who designed this site and who is awesome). She starts design work TODAY! I have, of course, created a Pinterest board of visual references. If you love that kind of thing and want to see how it will transform into a logo and brand style, check out the board here.
Schedule. I’m aiming to launch the website and the business at the beginning of July. Originally, I was thinking June, but I have other commitments (read: I’m going away for a week) that just made it unrealistic. Before the launch, I’ll be running a trial photoshoot with my team here in Cambridge so that we can practice working together, and hopefully get some awesome content to share on the website.
Pricing. I’ve been playing with the numbers to figure out what I’ll need to charge to make this work for me and my team, as well as keeping it affordable for the customer. I want tiny one-person businesses to be able to get high quality photography and copy, as well as making it accessible to bigger businesses who want to send us their entire range. I’m a big believer in getting feedback when you offer your product, so I’m only asking for feedback from a select number of clients before launch. (Rather than asking, “How much would you pay for this?”, it’s much more effective to actually put the product out there with a price tag and see how many people buy it. When people theorise about how much they’d spend on something, it isn’t always true to their behaviour.)
Team. Oh, the team. So much of the success of Big New Idea will rely on the team. I have a little mini team for our trial, which I’m really excited about, but I’m also continuing to build local connections in Cambridge, especially for photographers. (If that’s you, email me.) I’ve been thinking loads about how I can scale up the team quickly, and about the leap of faith I’ll need to make to do this. Flexibility is awesome, but I’m also going to need to offer and ask for commitment if demand is high.
Process. I’m fairly obsessed with process, and this is very much a work in progress. A real foundation for this business will be efficiency and professionalism, so I’m working on ways to get product lists, contact details, notes and shooting schedules set up to provide my team and clients with clarity. Picture big scribbly diagrams, post its, and spreadsheets as I work on this!
Trial shoot. I have a lovely bunch of clients who have offered up their products for the trial shoot, and they’ll be getting emails from me this week. I’ll be planning each shot with my team so that we’re building in quality from the start.

I’ve also been thinking about the balance of my Big New Idea with my existing business. Because mentoring clients one-on-one, running retreats, creating courses, and leading workshops is really what I want to be doing. I love it. That’s why I started my business. It’s so important to me!

But right now, I can’t do more than keep with my existing clients while I set up this business. It wouldn’t be fair (or possible) to take on new mentoring clients because I wouldn’t be able to give them my full attention. That’s a hard decision, for me. But I have some exciting plans for when the Big New Idea is off the ground to create Jenny Hyde Mentoring 2.0! So patience is the key…

This decision – to pause mentoring while I set up something new and complementary – is also tricky from a financial point of view. This month and next month won’t bring in the cash flow I usually expect and aim for, PLUS I’m spending money on a website and props and other investment stuff. “Hold your nerve” is my mantra right now. It ain’t easy.

So, that’s the update from me! If you have any questions or thoughts, I’d love to hear from you.

Jenny x

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So what does creative hibernation look like?

And what I’ve realised is this: procrastination is all about self-belief.

Here’s the thing:

Enter The Forge