Ep #76: Gems from The Art School Immersion

“All people dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people for they act on their dreams with open eyes and make them come true,” T.E. Lawrence.

So, this episode is a special one and a different one. I’m recording this the week that we kicked off The Art School Immersion edition, the four-week special immersion program we’re currently offering. It’s April of 2020 as I’m recording this.

So, what I wanted you to bring from this week – because I am on fire, I’ll tell you what, I’ve been bringing the coaching and I love these people because they are up for it. They’re willing to have their faces coached off. And I am more than willing to bring it. So, I’ve brought you some highlights from that week and some highlights from private coaching sessions this week as well. So, it will be rapid fire sort of Sports Center highlights reel, but lots of gems in this episode. I hope you love it and enjoy listening in.

You are listening to The Art School Podcast; a show for artists and creatives who want to become the next greatest version of themselves. Learn how to cultivate an extraordinary way of being and take the mystery out of making money, and the struggle out of making art. Here is your host, master certified life coach, artist, and former lawyer, Leah Badertscher.

Hello and welcome, everyone. How are you? I hope, wherever you are, you and your loved ones are well. And wherever you are, I hope this episode raises you, uplifts you, again helps you shift that needle in meaningful ways. Because I’ve got some energy to bring this week.

I am not sure what happened. I felt like I was in an awesome place before. And something, I downshifted and found new gears. And part of it I know is related to this immersion edition of The Art School that I just started. I made a decision which I didn’t communicate in any of my marketing. I thought, I’m going to hold this intention and see who it attracts. And with very little promotion or marketing, we filled up right away to capacity. We are at 30 people. And I held the intention beforehand that I was going to make these next four weeks, I was going to coach this group like this was a mastermind, that they each were paying me $25,000 to be in.

I was going to bring that level of coaching, and then also gloves off big love, tough love, but also the kind of coaching that’s going to facilitate breakthroughs, shifts, deepened life changes, and not in a pressure, scarce, forced way, but in a deeply meaningful way.

As I mentioned in the intro, I wanted to make this like a highlights real. And I did a lot of coaching this week. I have been coaching like mad on the written forum. I love written coaching. I have been coaching on our live group calls and also continuing to coach my private clients. And so, usually in these episodes, I’ll take one topic or one theme and dive deep. And I also know, for myself, what I do for my own coaching is sometimes I take one thought and I need to work it deeply for myself.

So, rather than go deeply into one thought in this episode, I’m going to give you several highlights. And I’m going to trust that you’re meant to hear these highlights and I’m going to trust you to do the coaching work, to take the highlights that you need to hear and to do the deeper work, to think about them.

I know some of the most transformative coaching I have received has come in the form one one-liners. Like the time several years ago, probably a decade ago, Brooke Castillo, one of my first coaches said to me, “You need to believe in yourself more than anyone else.”

I have thought about that almost every day. And that was a complete game-changer, completely life-changing. And it’s also one of those things that as I grow and as I learn and mature, the meaning deepens and it’s multi-faceted. I turn it one way in the light in this context and it means one thing, and then, in another context, in another year, from another perspective, you know, you never step in the same river twice, and it means something completely different.

So those are the kinds of things I want to offer you today. Don’t make the mistake of dismissing them because they sound simple. Know that this is the tip of the iceberg and there’s so much for you to explore under each of these.

Because I’ve been compiling a list, I’ve been doing a lot of work, deep thinking, deep writing, putting together a lot of my materials from teaching several Art Schools now, thousands of hours of coaching, my own work, and compiling a list of the pivotal shifts your need in order to make art and also make bank.

And I know that phrase is going to trigger some of you and turn some of you off. And even those of you that it triggers and turns off, you might find yourself coming back a year from now ready to hear it. Because what I want for you is an unleashing of your creative potential. Whether that means an art that you make, your ability to believe that you are capable of creating the visions you have, the dreams you have, that you are the one meant to do that, and a belief in your ability to make as much money as you want and not to apologize for that and to believe that the more money you make, the more it amplifies who you already are, the more t amplifies your ability to be generous, loving, creative. I want to share with you the shifts you need to make art and make bank and make a beautiful, beautiful life.

We talked this week, in the immersion week, the theme was relationship. I asked them, what is your relationship to life? What is your relationship to the creative process? What is your relationship to your body? What is your relationship to money? What is your relationship to time? And created a space for them to reflect on this. And then, this brings up a lot of the coaching we do.

So, these digging deep, deep dive conversations, and then it’s also very important that it does not just stay in this sort of ephemeral, “Let’s just talk, theorize,” category of cerebral living, but then they actually go out and they are different and changed by this. That’s why included the quote in the beginning.

I want not the dreamers who just entertain dreams, but the dangerous dreamers who go out eyes wide open and act on them. That’s the community that I am cultivating. That’s the movement that is taking on a life of its own. And so again, here are some highlights from what’s happening, the conversations and the coaching that are going on within that community and movement.

First of all, it’s essential that you recognize the difference between being a victim and disempowered versus being creative and empowered. Just going to give you that. Make the shift from victim to creative and absolutely that shift will facilitate making art, making bank, making your dreams come true, becoming the person you want to be. Shift, commit to the shift from victimhood, victim mindset, to being creative, being empowered.

Next, you will not make what you want to make. So, insert there, whether it’s money for you, whether it’s art, whether it’s a book deal, whether it’s finishing your book, whether it’s finding love. Let’s just use money for now. You will not make money until you decide you can make money and that you are going to make that money, no excuses.

So, another way this coaching came up – it came up a lot in The Art School, and then also within my own family, just like an hour before I recorded this tonight. One of my sons was upset because we’d been over at the new house, which is close to being done, and he wants this very fancy desk for his room. A place to put all of his – he’s into making these short films and Lego animation and he just has very elaborate plans for it.

And I am all on board for furnishing the child’s room. And his plans are very ambitious. So, the desk that he has in mind, he has very elaborate plans drawn up. And I said, “Hey, I’m happy to provide you with a big desk, a big surface, sufficient surface, and then all these extra added things, if you really want that, set your mind to it, go for it, buddy. Figure out how to make the money to pay the difference.”

And he’s like, “Well, how am I going to do that?” So, I said, “Well, give me some ideas of how you think you’re going to do that and I’ll give you some.” And he wasn’t really having much of that. And I said, “You know what, we’ve got to close the conversation here because either you’ll find an excuse, or you’ll find a way, and what kind of person do you want to be? The kind that always finds excuses, or the one that always finds a way?”

Because what I hear sometimes when people come for coaching, they want their dream. A believe that they do sincerely want to change and they do deeply want to create what they want to create. And then they come for coaching and then this reflexive defensive mechanism goes into place where we’ll start the coaching and then they become defensive. And it’s what I call arguing for your limitations, arguing for your excuses, arguing for why you can’t actually have the thing, arguing for yes, you’re smart enough already, how am I going to tell you anything that makes a difference?

And that’s just a block that leads nowhere. So, you have to be onto yourself there and you have to be committed to deciding you’ll find a way. So, you will not make money until you decide you can make money, no excuses. The more decisive you are, the more energy you’ll have freed up.

And I’ve talked before about complete decision, complete commitment, and then you’re 100% all in. It’s no longer optional. That’s a deeper episode, a longer episode, non-optional, that I’m working on that will be coming up. But for now, again, be the person that finds excuses or the person that’s open and willing and completely committed to finding a way. By the way, he decided as he left, “I want to be a person that finds a way.” And that kid, for sure, I know he will.

And here’s a corollary to that; if you find yourself in the position where you are the one and you keep finding excuses, and to your mind it feels really real, like why you should feel terrible, why you can’t do it, why it’s not going to work out, and you just feel stuck there. Try this; ask yourself, how long do I plan on making excuses?

And just set up a plan and be real with yourself. Do I plan on continuing to make excuses for another week, another year, another decade? And with compassion, look at how long you’ve already been making excuses. And just be real with yourself. Am I really going to continue making excuses, arguing for my own limitations? And for how much longer?

And if it’s really going to get that long, maybe you want to consider putting down the dream. Put that on the table. Decide, if I’m going to keep arguing for my excuses, it’s been happening for a long time, I’m not willing to give it up anytime soon, then why don’t I put this dream down?

And I find that a lot of times, that sparks the fight and opens up a little bit more wiggle room for transformation and change that people need, because then you realize, if the dream is a true dream, when you try to think about putting it down, it’s like, you can’t. And then you realize the choice you’ve been giving yourself.

“I fight against this thing that wants to happen and then I make excuses. What if I just aligned myself with this? What if this thing in me doesn’t want to quit? This dream doesn’t want to stop searching for a way, so why don’t I put down the excuses instead and align with the dream, align with what wants to happen through me, align with the creative force, align with the potential, and go for it?”

And I promise you, the work of just aligning with the goal, the dream, and going for it, it will be work. But that work is far more satisfying and far less exhausting intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, financially exhausting than the work of trying to fight to keep that dream down while you’re arguing for your limitations. It’s so much better to put down the burden of excuses and pick up the mantle of what you’re being called to do. It just feels so much more natural, even if it feels unfamiliar and scary and hard. It just feels right. And again, although hard and challenging, there’s a sense of great relief and deep satisfaction and rightness.

Here is another very specific point for those of you wanting to make more money. And those of you who are overcomplicating it now and making it really hard to make more money will not like this because it will be too simple and you want the answer to be more complicated. But by complicating it, what you’re really doing is just pushing off that thing you don’t want to do and the thing you don’t want to do is to go out and make real offers to real people.

So, depending on your industry, adjust offers, reframe offers to fit whatever the term is in your industry. Maybe it’s auditions for you. Maybe it’s pitches. Maybe it’s sending out query letters. Maybe it’s talking to every agent, publicist in town and selling yourself hard.

Here’s what you don’t want to be caught in. While we are all always refining our craft, deepening out mastery, I am all for that. I see far too many people swept up in the illusion that they are furthering their career and their creativity, when really they are just entertaining themselves with creative consumerism.

So, this ties in my next highlight point; create before you consume. I know how awesome it is to take in other people’s writing, other people’s coaching, other people’s art. However, it can feel one of those things, it’s a shadow pursuit. It can, on some level, feel like you’re in the arena of doing your thing, but it’s actually just busywork. And you can feel it because it’s the kind of thing, it’s faux creativity.

And it doesn’t actually nourish you and it doesn’t move things along it doesn’t leave you satisfied, and it just kind of eats at your soul and decreases your sense of trust in yourself. And it doesn’t require you to do any work to believe in yourself. It also doesn’t require you to take any emotional risk by putting your work out into the world before you feel ready which is always when you should be putting your work out into the world, because you’ll never feel ready and you’ll always be improving it.

And I’ll be frank and just cut to the chase. When we are over-engaging in consumerism, creative consumerism even, rather than doing our own creating, it leaves us feeling kind of flakey and wishy-washy. And then, if you then try to create and make offers for people to buy into your creation and buy into the value of it, and you’re getting wishy-washy or flakey results, you’re getting people who don’t commit to choosing you, always look back without judgment, just with clear eyes, always willing to grow and see where are you not committed to choosing you.

So, I’ll say that again. If people aren’t committing to choosing you, always bring it back and ask yourself, where am I not 100% committed to choosing me? Where am I not 100% committed to choosing this dream?

It’s like what I mentioned earlier, the gem my coach gave me years ago. You have to believe in yourself more than anyone else. And that brings me to my next point; to really know what the energy of belief in yourself is. I’ve said it before; to me, the energy of belief is the energy of love.

It may also feel like many other things, but fundamentally, you love yourself and you love the work. And the energy you bring to it is absolutely the energy with which you’ll create and is absolutely the energy with which you’ll offer it to the world. And be aware of where you’re kind of hedging and holding out on yourself, holding out on believing in your own work, believing in yourself because you’re afraid to be wrong.

What is the upside to thinking you might be wrong? And what is the downside to going all in on yourself? Because I see the difference in so many people are getting results and who is not, and it’s not because one person is smarter or has a better education or a better pedigree or has had better experiences or connections. It’s the energy. It’s the intensity that they bring to their work, which is not an intensity that results in burnout, that comes from force. That’s not what I’m talking about. But it’s the deep wellspring of conviction.

That person is not avoiding the hard parts just because whatever you are truly in love with, you’re willing to be there for all of it, including the hard parts. So, bringing your full energy to it, not holding back on yourself, not holding out on yourself. And that will flow through to full on not held back, not diminished, not wishy-washy results, but the full result that you’ve been seeking.

The final highlight I wanted to share with you today is another very simple one, but don’t make the mistake of dismissing it. And it’s the thought, “This is working.” Because when you have figured out what true commitment is, when you’ve burned the boats, you’ve made that kind of decision where there is no other option, then what’s left to you but to manage your mind and manage the emotions, and why would you ever, having fully committed to a destination, why would you ever entertain a thought that it’s not working?

Even when you’re blown off course 100 miles, this is working. This must be part of the journey. This must be part of the novel. This must be part of the hero’s journey. Even when it’s looking like it’s not working, this is working. Even when you make 10 offers and you get 10 nos, this is working, and asking yourself, “How is this working?” not just plunging ahead without learning anything, but everything contributing to taking you higher, to your growth and education.

30 rejections, this is working. Maybe a string of successes, and then you plummet back, it seems further down than when you started. Hey, this is still working. I am changing. I am a changed person. This is working. There’s not way I’m not doing this.

But if I could swap out thoughts, like pick a few thoughts that I could swap out in my client’s mind that would fundamentally immediately course-correct for them and accelerate their growth, ensure their trajectory, it would be to take out the times they entertain the thoughts that this isn’t working, this might not work, this might not pan out, and make it impossible for them to think that. And instead, insert, “Huh, this is working. Huh, there’s no way I’m not doing this. This is working.”

That kind of energy builds a positive momentum and snowballs forward. That’s the kind of thought that builds the energy you need to make your results inevitable.

This brings me to the part of the podcast where I want you to do more than just listen. I want you to lean in and really work with me, coach with me. My question for you today is to look at something that you have been saying you want. If you don’t have it yet, if it’s been a while, just get really honest with yourself and ask, “Do I not have this yet because I haven’t truly decided? I haven’t cut off all other options?”

And if you find that that is a dream you haven’t fully committed to, you haven’t fully decided to make real, then don’t disparage yourself. But then just love yourself enough, believe in yourself more than anyone else and honor yourself and honor that dream and decide, “Hey, from here on out, I am a changed person. I am changing all along the way from here on out. This is working and form here on out, I’m no longer a person that finds excuses. I am someone who finds a way.”

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Art School Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, if it’s helped you shift the needle in meaningful ways, the best thing you can do to pay it forward is to share, subscribe, and go to iTunes and leave a review.

I am so grateful for each and every person who has taken the time so far to leave a review. It means a lot to me. It helps other people find this podcast and it also helps me know what’s working for you.

I believe so much in this work and I also know how much my work is deepened and strengthened by the feedback I get from you. That helps me know what problems are most important to solve and the best ways of solving it for you. What are the breakthroughs you want? What are the goals and dreams you have and what are your biggest challenges?

Knowing those things helps me focus my effort and then create even greater impact and efficacy with my coaching. And when you’re ready to take this work deeper, there are a few ways you can do that.

Enrolment for the fall Art School 2020 is just around the corner. So, to be the first to know about that, sign up for my newsletter at www.leahcb.com. If you’re interested in private coaching, you can email support@leahcb.com with discovery consult in the subject line and we will set you up with an application and a link to schedule a complimentary discovery consult.

To close the podcast, I want to just pull out again that line from the poem about being a dangerous dreamer. Because I think that decision about our self-concept can inform so many of the decisions we make along the way. And so, if you think for yourself, what kind of dreamer do you want to be? I hope for all of you listening, you choose to be the dangerous kind. Have a beautiful week, everyone, and I will talk to you soon.