Ep #24: The Path of Least Resistance

This week, I want to talk to you about the importance of cultivating the path of least resistance; the path of least resistance towards your dreams, towards your goals, towards whatever you want to create in life. And before I talk about that though, I want to introduce you to some thoughts other people have had, things they’ve had to say about the path of least resistance.

From Henry David Thoreau, “The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.” From Brian Tracy, “The tendency to follow the path of least resistance guarantees failure in life.” From Tony Robbins, “The path of least resistance will never make you proud.”

So, if all of these ostensibly wise men have had negative things to say about the path of least resistance, then why am I encouraging you to discover your own and create your own? Well, tune in today and I will tell you the difference between what I think they’re saying and what I have to present and why I absolutely work myself, and encourage each and every one of my clients, to find that path by which energy moves easily towards your goals and dreams.

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.

Hey there, everybody, and welcome back. Today, I am recording with children at home because we have an extended long weekend for Easter weekend. So I am just going to say, you might hear some ruckus. We might have some surprise guests. So I’m just going to roll with it because today, yes, is about following the path of least resistance.

And for me, one of my great lessons has been to come as I am and be more relaxed with what I have to contribute to the world, and a lot of undoing of the years that I was spent conditioned in the more formal settings of a business school and law school and the legal world as the appropriate way to present your ideas, and sometimes the agonizing way to present your ideas and footnote it.

But part of my sacred dream and the vision I have for my life is to let my creativity flow and to be a part of these really exciting emerging conversations about things I’m so passionate about, unlocking human potential, creativity, creative genius, the arts, healing, the healing power of creativity, and the healing power of tapping our potential. And I’m so in love with this idea of the path of least resistance because it’s so counter to what we’re taught much of our life.

And I see this as a block over and over again for some of my most talented, gifted, powerful clients, and for sure, it has been myself. It shows up a lot as perfectionism and as this sort of puritanical idea we have that we must suffer and work hard and long in order to create great results.

And do not get me wrong, I am not averse to hard work. I am willing to roll up my sleeves and pit my work ethic against anybody. And most of my clients feel the same way. It’s that now, we’ve arrived at a place in our lives where we feel like we’ve maxed out the hard work and we’ve also spiritually, psychologically, emotionally depleted our ability to force things any longer and that we all come to the same inner question of, there must be a better way.

And I’ve talked about this before when I’ve talked about the third way, I talk about this all the time when I talk about cultivating a way of being that makes extraordinary results inevitable, that when you focus on creating an extraordinary psychology through mindset, emotional mastery, when you give attention to having an extraordinarily robust inner life, spiritual life, that a deeper connection to your everyday experience and to presence is available to you, and that yes, also better results. Extraordinary results in your external world flow from that love of the process and that focus on the process and that focus on being aligned with your values.

As I’ve talked before too, I am very interested in what actually works, how can I help myself and other people make life work so that you feel that you’re really living as the greatest expression of yourself? And one thing that I’ve been doing these last few weeks in The Art School, we’ve really been focusing on creating an intentional creative ecosystem. Because if you think about gardening or you think about anything you would cultivate, you would think about the quality of the soil and the quality of the environment.

And that might seem a departure from the emphasis that I have on mindset and doing the work from the inside out, but it really is this synergistic back and forth, because if you are somebody whose mindset is one that I am capable of anything and I am going to create that vision, then you’re going to think creatively about your environment so that you’re no longer just reacting to your environment, but you’re setting yourself up for success.

And when I say creative ecosystem or talk about an ideal creative habitat, I’m talking about everything from the mindset work, your inner ecosystem. How hospitable is your mindset and is your heart to the kind of ideas that you want to have, the kind of person that you want to be in the world, the kind of results you want to create, and just how hospitable is your inner environment to you just loving being you and enjoying life and then allowing that mental real estate that’s freed up when you are at peace and relaxed with yourself, the mental energy that’s freed up to then pour into creative work or pour into serving others doesn’t grow just bit by bit. It explodes exponentially.

So, going back to my intro, why do I have a different take on the path of least resistance than some other thinkers? And I really think, if I was able to talk to them and we could split hairs that need to be split, we’d find that we’re more aligned than not. But I think sometimes it’s those pithy little quotes that really gets people off-track and off the track of least resistance, which for me is, how do you cultivate flow in your everyday life? How do you cultivate the ability to call forth your best self in any situation and release unnecessary struggle?

So, I want to talk about it from the angle, a little bit, of science and physics. Because if you just check your – go to the oracle of Wikipedia, Wikipedia will say, “The path of least resistance is the physical or metaphorical pathway that provides the least resistance to forward motion by a given object or entity among a set of alternative paths.” So, the way in which water flows is often given as an example for the idea.

In physics, the path of least resistance is a heuristic from folk physics that can sometimes, in very simple situations, describe approximately what happens. It is an approximation of the tendency to the least energy state. And I think this is so important, this discussion from the perspective of the least energy state, because what so many people come to me with is an issue or a concern around blocks or being in their own way, or struggling against themselves.

So, we are often conditioned to be on the path of greatest resistance, which is resisting our own power, resisting our own genius, resisting our own creativity, part of it because of the sheer force that we sense within us can be terrifying, and also because releasing all of those things, even when you know you’re moving towards success, success is inevitably built on a whole lot of messy failures.

So, sometimes it’s this pent up feeling of power that, oh god, if we just let that rip, what kind of chaos and destruction would it cause in our lives? And I’ve been there. I know what that’s like and I work through that with many clients. But a lot of times, it’s just that pent up energy and we’ve become so accustomed to resisting ourselves and subconsciously taking the path of greatest resistance because we are fearing our own power.

And so, I think the path of least resistance where I think I probably align with the speakers in the intro is that I think they’re talking about cautioning people against taking the path of least resistance in society; that if you just go with the flow of society, you’re probably not going to be very proud of yourself, it might make you crooked, as Thoreau said, or it might just make you highly unsatisfied with life.

But what I like to talk to my clients about and what I teach is that finding your own path of least resistance within yourself is like turning downstream within yourself and owning that truth and owning that honesty. It might then require that you have to go against the current of society, but your life is still going to flow so much more easily for you. Your gifts and talents and energy are going to be so much easier to access because you’re in integrity with yourself.

You are moving with the flow of your soul. And we were talking about this in the Art School this last week and I was talking about the difference between deviating from yourself, which is not the path of least resistance, and being a social deviant. And I don’t mean that you are causing anarchy and hurting people, but I mean in the sense of, oftentimes, when we are aligned with our own truth, we are not being self-deviant.

We are not deviating from our own truth. We will look like we are deviating from much of the rest of society or our family or our community, or our industry. And that’s an important distinction to make because the path of least resistance within you is aligning with the truth in you. And that will mean that you will likely have to buck some currents out in the world. So it might not look like the path of least resistance out in society, but it is that place of greatest creative empowerment.

And not only are you empowered, but it’s what you can do with that power, because I believe, lining that path of least resistance within yourself, then allows you to make and be able to create more powerful results out in the world. It’s also very important and I want to make sure to make this clear, that it’s important that you find the true path of least resistance for you, as opposed to what has become a habituated path of least resistance for you.

It’s become the path of least resistance because of how you’ve adapted to what people expect of you, what society expects, because of who you have thought yourself to be or who you’ve been told you can be and what you’ve been told is possible for you. That will create an entirely different set of inner and outer structure in your life for the path of least resistance.

And if continually though, you have a dream but you’re frustrated by results, you have a dream and it’s such a struggle to get there, it’s not the dream that’s off and it’s not the possibility of a path of least resistance that’s off. What’s off is that you have just mistaken your path right now to be a true fit for you.

Robert Fritz in his book, The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become a Creative Force in Your Life, says, “Once a structure exists, energy moves through that structure by the path of least resistance. In other words, energy moves where it is easiest for it to go.” So, this is where coaching is so powerful, because if you have structures in place because of your mindset, your energy will move more easily in that direction. That’s why, when I first start working with clients, especially if they’re new to coaching and even if they’re not, and in the first few weeks of Art School, it can feel like so much energy, so much emotional and spiritual energy because we are pruning away old structures that aren’t leading to the results that they want.

We are pruning away old structures that are not aligned with who they want to be in the world and what they want to create and experience in the world. And that takes effort. And then we are thinking intentionally about what structures do need to be put in place. And this is something I do ongoing for myself too, and it’s also why, with my moonshot goal, which is to make two million a year as an artist and as a creative entrepreneur, within the next three years and to be an example of what is possible in that way, but then also to do it in a way that is in integrity with all of my values; with my family values, with the quality of life I want to have. In other words, I’m not killing myself to be there. I’m not killing off my relationships to be there. I want my whole life to flourish with this process of also arriving at a place of financial flourishing.

And I want to do it because it’s the thing people say that you just can’t do. For me, it’s like breaking that ceiling and shifting that starving artist, struggling artist paradigm. And I know that if I am able to discern the structures, the mindset but then also the systems, in order to do that, then that is something that I’m going to be so much more powerful at helping other people to learn, both by example and through coaching. But it’s also this idea of, you know, when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile and people thought the human body wasn’t capable of that.

But then he shifted the whole conversation about what’s possible, and it was a tipping point, so within two weeks, more and more people were breaking the four-minute mile. And so in order for that to happen, I know my energy needs to move more powerfully and it’s this back and forth between structures and reevaluating and seeing what actually is working, because for me personally, and for so many of my clients, I know I have so much to offer and I know the only constraint restriction is me, the places where I’m holding myself back.

So that’s an example of the path of great resistance, like, when we overcomplicate, when we’re confused, when we’re overwhelmed, when we’re trying to please others, when we’re trying not to offend, when we’re trying to be perfect, that it’s often our greatest resistance comes from our resisting of our own innate flow of creativity. The opposite of perfectionism, I have found, is not imperfect, and the opposite of not-good-enough is not good-enough.

For me, one of the most powerful discoveries, and I’ve talked about this in earlier episodes, it’s worth repeating, is that the opposite of those blocks of perfectionism and not-good-enough is actually being relaxed and is actually loving the process and being present. The opposite of perfectionism and not-good-enough is gratitude, is not a constant self-evaluation of, “Oh I’m good enough,” it’s an, “I’m so grateful I get to do this. I feel this in my heart. I feel like I’m in the right place in the world, and I get to flow this. I’m so grateful for this work. I love this work so much.”

And the more I’ve put myself in that position, the more I’ve realized something else. If you hear nothing else today, I hope you take this away. It has made me feel like I am part of something greater, that I am part of this renaissance, this rising of creativity and flourishing and this rising tide that is helping to facilitate an evolution for all humans, and it’s not just for women but it is very feminine in nature and it’s very creative. And for me, I feel it as a spiritual and intuitive aspect and how we, as individuals, moving our consciousness forward and empowering ourselves creatively is a very important aspect of that – how that benefits each and every person.

So, for me, finding meaning in my life where I don’t just think I’m part of something greater going on, I know it, I feel it. And I feel it so much more intensely too when I have created a creative ecosystem of being in groups and like hives, whether it’s my Art School or whether it’s a mastermind I join, when you’re around people who are like, “I sense this is going on.” And I sense I have so much more energy for me, available to me, i.e. greater energy, able to move along a path of lesser resistance because you’re aligned with something meaningful, other people sense it.

And it’s led me to another conclusion that, again, the opposite of perfectionism and not-good-enough isn’t, again, imperfection or trying to be good enough. It’s completely those things are not even part of the discussion anymore. It’s relaxing into who you are because that is where the power is.

One of my clients in The Art School just had the opportunity to hear Liz Gilbert speak last week and she was sharing with the group like how much of what Liz was saying is so aligned with what we’re doing in The Art School. And one thing Liz Gilbert said was that the most powerful person in the room is the most relaxed person in the room. And that’s just not something we are taught, especially as women and especially as creatives.

We’re taught that we should always be under the gun; we should always be trying harder because we’re not good enough yet. We should always be striving, striving, striving towards excellence or perfection. But I really think our true power is in releasing that need to force things and relaxing into our power. And that, to me, is the path of least resistance.

Again, maybe it’s upstream, the path of greatest resistance within society. But you will find your greatest power when you just relax into who you are, love who you are, are grateful, and love what you’re doing.

So, this brings me to the part of the program where I want you to do more than just listen. I want you to lean in and work with me, and coach with me. So, the idea I had for you today was, I had this thought when I was walking out in our woods. I live on 40 acres and I think I’ve mentioned before that we’re in the process of building a new house here.

First though, we had to put in a driveway. It’s a fairly long driveway that goes towards the back of the property to where the building site is going to be. So we hired an arborist to help us clean out the shrub trees and tell us where we could plant healthier trees and what to do to make the forest area healthier. And then also to help us find like a natural path through the woods leading to the building site.

And we needed to put that driveway in first and put down asphalt and clear out any old stumps and lots of brush, and then lay down the rock so that the machinery can get back there. So, of course, then I thought, how is this a metaphor for creating? Like, we can’t create the house if we can’t get back there. And we could have the machinery and the contractors and carpenters and workers all just drive up through the field or make their own path, or we could spend some time creating the right path, creating the path the way we want to have it and then also making sure that it’s got a strong foundation so they’re not tearing up the ground and there’s not erosion and things like that.

So, sometimes, I think with our creative process, we get ahead of ourselves and we just try to keep going to create the thing. We try to keep going to the building site without thinking of, how can I best set myself up for getting back to the building site?

And I mentioned, I shared this with a client earlier this week, and she would love to have a baby and start a family. So for her, creating that driveway, getting back to that building site is she’s taking prenatal vitamins, she’s eating well, she’s exercising, she’s lifting weights. She’s preparing her body for a healthy pregnancy. She’s doing mindset work to prepare her emotionally and mentally for motherhood.

So, for you, what would be your metaphorical driveway? What needs to be cleared out so that you can create a path of least resistance to what you want to create? Another way of thinking about this is how can you change how you’re thinking and feeling about what you’re doing right now so that there’s not resistance but so that it becomes a scenario where you can’t help but do it, but where you are just magnetized to do the work that then creates the outcome?

And I want you to really spend some time with this question, take it for a walk, journal about it, talk with your creative friends or business friends about it. So, what do you need to think and how do you need to feel so that you can’t help but be the kind of person that creates those results? What thought, what vision, what feeling would be so magnetic for you that it would be harder to keep you away?

I know I was listening to an Ashley Longshore interview just this last week where she said one of the reasons she’s so prolific, is one, because she gets so much joy from creating and it really helps her alleviate the suffering she has come to have in her life around anxiety and that the joy of creating really helps her shift into a better place. But she also said something I thought was pretty profound; that she has a thought that it’s just one more. She always has a thought; just one more. And she attributed that to being one of the main reasons that she is so prolific.

So what would your just one more thought be? Is it, I love what I’m doing, I love who I get to be as I’m doing this, right now, me doing this work, me taking this massive action is me right now being an embodiment of my future self, is me, right now, calling in my dreams?

So, whatever it is for you, I’d love to hear from you if you want to email or share, find me on Instagram. The last thing I want to leave you with is really this idea that the path of least resistance is just settling and relaxing into who you really are and what you’re called to do and why you’re meant to be in the world. And that is the most powerful place from which you can live and from which you can create.

Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of The Art School Podcast. I really hope you enjoyed this episode and if you did, I would love it if you’d go to iTunes and leave a review. This week, we have a new winner for the creative audit session; Gail Cartwright, thank you so much for your beautiful review and for writing in to share that with me.

And for anyone else out there who is wanting to create that path of least resistance, who is wanting to cultivate that extraordinary way of being that creates those extraordinary results you’re envisioning, I have a couple of places opening up soon for private coaching, one more place opening in mid-May and then another two at the beginning of June.

Also, I have another exciting announcement. We’re going to be offering an Art School special topics master class once a month throughout the summer to be a bridge between when this current session of Art School ends in a couple of weeks in May and when the next one in fall begins.

So, it’s an awesome opportunity if you’ve been interested in what The Art School is what The Art School is about, it’s going to be a value-packed 90 minutes. We’re going to have awesome content, awesome topics. There’s going to be a workshop opportunity so you don’t just leave and wonder, oh what was I supposed to do with this? And there’s also going to be ample opportunity for life coaching. The Private Facebook group will also be opening up again.

So the master class is free for The Art School alum and it’s free for anyone who is enrolled and registered for the fall class, but it’s also available a-la-carte. It will be $247 a class and you will have access to then the forum and access to me and coaching and a chance to see really what an extraordinary phenomenal community this is. And you’ll have a chance to get an inside look.

Each class will be complete in and of itself. But then too, if you want to opt back in, you can opt back in. If you take a class and think, gosh I am for sure now enrolling in Art School, then you can apply the cost of that class to your Art School registration. So, essentially, you will have taken the class for free.

So you really can’t lose and they are spectacular classes. I was also asking my current Art School group for their feedback and ideas on what topics have been most helpful and what they’d like to dive deeper into or what they’d be most interested in. So I got a lot of great feedback including this from one of much current art-schoolers Krista Cox.

She said, “I want to get involved in everything you do. I’m not sure I even have concrete enough goals right now to be able to provide useful input on this for you, but I’m going to sit in on it anyway just because I’m 100% sure I’d get value from it.” So, she said that.

Another woman said, “This program has been week after week of revelation after revelation and one class hits it out of the park only for you to up the game and hit it out of the park the next class.” So, just want you to know that I put so much heart and soul into making sure that these classes are high value and that you walk away and are able to really implement and move the needle in big ways in your life and really feel a shift. And I think this community aspect too, it’s something you can read, you can listen, but being part of this community is really being part of this hive that’s got a collective energy that’s really extraordinary and transformational.

So again, you can go to my website, www.leahcb.com. You can go to this podcast page and just opt-in to be an Art School Insider and you’ll get all the first-to-know information about that.

So, the thought I wanted to leave you with today were a couple more quotes from Robert Fritz’s book, The Path of Least Resistance. He said, “If you limit your choice only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise and the human spirit will not invest itself in a compromise.”

Have an awesome week, everybody. Thanks so much for being here and I will see you next time.