The Artist's Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self

"I absolutely love this book. It cuts to the core and truth of why people have a side hustle. Personally, I don’t mind the phrase side hustle, although I think it’s quite American. I think it’s a phrase that just got trendy. I never called my side projects a side hustle, ever, until the last few years when, let’s be honest, my publisher probably thought, ‘Oh, that’s a good word to get us some more press.’ But really, at the heart of it, for me, my projects were passion projects. They were things that kept me sane. The blog that I started about eight years ago, it’s now a side hustle—because I made money from it in the end. But really that blog was . . . you know, I’d get home, my soul felt shrunk to the size of a raisin, and writing that blog was a way of me genuinely living my life and not feeling so miserable. It kept some joy in my life, and reminded me that actually, maybe I can write. Even if no one reads it, I can still just get something from writing. I think everyone should have something that’s just for them. Whether or not you monetise it is up to you. “At the heart of it, for me, my projects were passion projects. They were things that kept me sane” The Artist’s Way is for anyone who thinks: ‘I want to have a side project, but I wonder what that would be.’ It’s a really good starting point to discover what lights you up. It could be anything. It could be gardening; it could be ice skating; it could be writing poems. There are two things—tools, or practices—that Julia Cameron recommends. One of them is ‘morning pages,’ which is when you wake up—before you check your phone, before you make a cup of tea, before you look out of the window, before you do anything—write three pages. It can be anything (I mean, it’s normally rubbish because it’s just your brain filtering), but it gets your creative juices going for the day. Then, the second thing she calls an ‘artist’s date.’ Basically, once a month, you take yourself out on a date. I know it sounds a little bit cheesy, but all it means is take yourself off to a coffee shop for the afternoon and treat it as just your time to read or write or think or listen to music. She basically says you will come up with an incredible idea being on your own, thinking—it won’t take long. I love it, and it’s true: you do. Instead of reading all these fast paced books saying: ‘Here’s how to be amazing, here’s how to get a side hustle, here’s how to hustle, hustle, hustle.’ This is the total opposite. It’s about slowing right down and connecting with yourself again. Yes, and maybe that comes from a level of guilt. It’s always bottom of the list, you know. There’s helping others, doing the laundry, work, and then right at the very bottom, maybe there’s some time for you. I definitely think that is true for many people. Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic was another really inspiring read for me, because she talks a lot about permission. I think confidence and permission are kind of linked, because it almost feels arrogant to say, ‘I think I’m creative,’ or, ‘I think I can write.’ There’s something in there that wants you to squash that and tell yourself you’re rubbish and that you can’t. “Asking for reassurance is pointless. Other people’s reassurances just don’t stick” There is a level of permission, and that takes us back to Seth Godin quickly. I interviewed him on my podcast last year and something he said really stuck with me, and actually changed the way that I approach things. He said that asking for reassurance is pointless. That reassurance is something that fades instantly in a human mind. If I say to you: “Do you think I can do it, do you think I could maybe write this next book?” You say, “Yeah, yeah, I think you can.” But it just vanishes. What you really need to do is give yourself reassurance , because other people’s reassurance just doesn’t stick. I was someone who always asked for reassurance, and actually now starting a project without hearing you can do it from random strangers is really empowering."