Mastering Creative Anxiety

In his decades as a psychotherapist and creativity coach, Eric Maisel has found a common thread behind what often gets labeled “writer’s block,” “procrastination,” or “stage fright.” It’s the particular anxiety that, paradoxically, keeps creators from doing, completing, or sharing the work they are driven toward. This “creative anxiety” can take the form of avoiding the work, declaring it not good enough, or failing to market it — and it can cripple creators for decades, even lifetimes. But Maisel has learned what sets successful creators apart. He shares these strategies here, including artist-specific stress management; how to work despite bruised egos, day jobs, and other inevitable frustrations; and what not to do to deal with anxiety. Implementing these 24 lessons replaces the pain of not creating with the profound rewards of free artistic self-expression.

Make the most of your creative and intellectual gifts by overcoming the unique challenges they bring with this guide by the author of Natural Psychology. Many smart and creative people experience unique challenges as a result of their valuable gifts. These can range from anxiety and over-thinking to mania, depression, and despair. In Why Smart People Hurt, creativity coach Dr. Eric Maisel pinpoints these often-devastating challenges and offers solutions based on the groundbreaking principles and practices of natural psychology. Are you still searching for meaning after all these years? Many smart people struggle with reaching for or maintaining success because, after all of the work they put into attaining it, it still seems meaningless. In Why Smart people Hurt, Dr. Maisel will teach you how to stop searching for meaning and create it for yourself. In Why Smart People Hurt, you will find: · Evidence that you are not alone in your struggles · Strategies for coping with a brain that goes into overdrive at the drop of a hat · Questions that will help you create your own personal roadmap to a calm and meaningful life

Have you ever wished you had a professional coach who could encourage your creative pursuits, help structure your efforts, and cheer you on? Coaching the Artist Within is the first book to explain the techniques that creativity coaches use to help their clients survive and thrive in the arts. Designed to help any person become more creative, this book offers a complete program for developing the habits that make creating an everyday routine. The book’s twelve lessons and numerous exercises are at once inspiring, practical, and fun. To spice up the lessons, Eric Maisel shares anecdotes about his clients, including painters, actors, screenwriters, novelists, dancers, and poets. Best of all, Coaching the Artist Within will teach you to be your own coach, and the results will transform your relationship with the creative process.

In a thought-provoking volume, the author critiques how the human condition has been monetized into the disease of depression and related “disorders” and offers a powerful new approach that updates the best ideas of modern psychology. Original.

It’s true: a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Yet that’s what we do when we spend our weekend — and neurons — reliving a workplace squabble, spend a family visit chewing over childhood issues, or spend hours beating ourselves up when someone brings one of our own long-held (but never worked on) ideas to fruition. This kind of obsessing gets us, like a hamster on a wheel, nowhere. But as noted creativity expert Eric Maisel asserts, obsessing productively leads to fulfillment rather than frustration. A productive obsession, whether an idea for a novel, a business, or a vaccine, is chosen deliberately and pursued with determination. In this provocative, practical guide, Maisel coaches you to use the tendency to obsess to your creative advantage, fulfilling both your promise and your promises to yourself.

Learn the #1 Secret of the Most Successful Pros: Daily Practice Eric Maisel knows from experience and observation that the single most crucial element of success for any endeavor is a regular, daily practice. Dr. Maisel, a preeminent creativity coach, therapist, and acclaimed author, shows how and why to implement a daily practice and addresses common challenges. His experience working with bestselling writers, entrepreneurs, musicians, actors, visual artists, recovering addicts, and rehabilitation patients shows as he outlines various ways to approach a daily practice and goes on to help you build a version of this important discipline that suits your life and goals. Real-world stories and practical examples will help you make measurable progress and build satisfaction in your most cherished pursuits.

Employing anecdotes and real-life case studies, a renowned therapist explains how he has helped people achieve their true creative potential by pushing past everyday resistance, restoring lost meaning, recovering from dashed hopes, and more.

Actors and musicians call it "stage fright". Others may know it as "butterflies". No matter what you call it, the symptoms of performance anxiety are the same: a paralyzing sense of fear and dread whenever you have to speak or perform before a group of any size. Now Dr. Eric Maisel, a renowned author, psychotherapist, and creativity coach shows readers how to approach presentations calmly and comfortably, without sweaty palms and a pounding heart. It doesn't matter whether you work in the classroom, the boardroom, a theater or concert hall, Performance anxiety will help you: Recognize performance anxiety; Identify irrational fears that contribute to performance anxiety; Handle criticism; Use breathing and centering techniques ti improve focus; Utilize diets, medication, relaxation techniques and guided visualization to combat anxiety; Acquire long-term anxiety management techniques. [Ed.]