I am super excited to share a brand new season of Make It Happen with you today...

After taking a six month break from the show, I am beyond excited to finally be sharing Season 4 with you today. And even more exciting is that I’m sharing the season in its entirety, so all eight episodes are ready and available for you to stream and listen to straight away.

I’ve switched things up a little for Season 4 and I’m just sharing short and sweet solo episodes with me - in the format of my usual mini episodes - and there are eight for you to listen to covering topics such as choosing abundance over scarcity in your business, what to do when you’re freaking out about money, the lessons I’ve learned about making things happen from over 600 coaching calls, and more.

After taking a six month break from the show, it was an absolute pleasure to get behind the microphone again and create these episodes that I’m sharing with you today. More than anything, my hope is that this season can connect and resonate with you and support and encourage you to keep on living your creative life on your own terms every step of the way.

You can head over this way to listen to Season 4

For today’s blog post, I want to share with you some of the lessons I’ve learned on the other side of this six month break from the show, in the hopes of encouraging any of you out there creating content right now who may be itching for a break or feeling a little uninspired and stuck.

It’s okay to take a break

Whether it’s from a podcast, your blog, a book you’re working on, or any other type of creative project - there is no shame in taking a break if you need to. There was no space for me to meaningfully work on the show for a good few months - my time and energy was focused elsewhere - and I’m so glad I didn’t just whip together some episodes for the sake of it. This break actually worked wonders for me - I was feeling so disconnected from the podcast and why it was something I was doing, that having some space away from it helped me to reconnect to why this is something I want to give my energy to right now.

So next time your intuition is guiding you to take a break from a creative project, and you’re beating yourself up for being lazy, or not devoted enough, or any of the other negative thoughts we can have about ourselves, be brave enough to take a step back and give yourself the space and time you need to come back ready and raring to go.

Resistance is there for a reason

If you’re feeling prolonged resistance around a creative project, it’s usually a sign that there’s something deeper to explore. For me, it was because I had outgrown the approach to my show that I had being doing so far. I have loved doing every single interview I have ever hosted, but during the first half of this six month break I just couldn’t imagine recording another season again if I had to interview guests - because right now that just isn’t where my heart is at when it comes to this show. I’m almost certain there will be seasons in the future where interviews play a big part in the content I create and share, but it really took me a while to give myself permission just to strip things back and do solo episodes for this first season back.

If this resonates, my encouragement to you is to pay attention to your resistance and give yourself permission to take action on the things you need to do to make this creative project work for you again - or even walk away from it if that’s what your intuition guides you to do.

It’s okay to choose simplicity

I knew the only way to get this next season produced and live was to make the process as simple as possible. I want to give my energy most weeks to my clients, to my writing, and to living this life that I’ve built for myself, and giving up space for weeks on end to the show just didn’t feel like space I was happy or willing to give. Instead, I wanted a short season of working on the show and to just set it live all in one go - that way I could create something I was really proud of, without it feeling overwhelming through the year.

For a while I wondered if I was making a big mistake from a business and strategic point of view making the process this simple, but I also knew that this show wouldn’t carry on if I didn’t do exactly that. If you’re feeling uninspired or disconnected from a creative project right now, ask yourself: how could I simplify this? See if that can give you some more freedom and focus along the way.

If in doubt, go back to your why

I’m very comfortable with ending projects if they no longer serve me or my work, so I knew there must be a reason why I still felt like Make It Happen was something I wanted to make space for. There’s been times throughout these past six months where I just had no energy or motivation or true focus to move forward with the next season of the show yet, and it’s only once I reconnected to my why that I felt energised again to create.

Once I remembered that I just want the show to be a space to hopefully encourage and support big-hearted creatives to live impactful, fulfilling, and sustainable creative lives, I was able to get super laser-focused on what it was I wanted to share next. If you’re feeling disconnected from a creative project, try going back to your why. Ask yourself:

Why did I start this creative project in the first place?
What values and intentions are at the heart of this project?
Why does this project feel meaningful to me?
What part do I want this project to play in my creative life right now?

Self-imposed deadlines can be written in pencil

I originally planned to launch this season in January - but it’s now mid-March when it’s going live and I am so glad that I pushed back that deadline and gave myself more space to get settled into 2017 before I created and launched this new season. I’d much rather take a little longer and create the season I truly want to create, than rush a project just so I can meet a self-imposed deadline.

Why have deadlines at all then, you might wonder? I find them useful to help me to plan my workload and stay accountable - however when they’re self-imposed, we have the freedom to be more flexible and work alongside our natural ebbs and flows of creativity. So if you’re struggling to get a creative project up and running right now, but you know it’s something you want to focus on, try writing your deadlines in pencil. Give yourself permission to work at a pace that feels good, while still holding yourself accountable to getting this project ready and live in the foreseeable future.

The work flows so much better when your channel is clear

I don’t create my best work from a place of exhaustion, stress, or overwhelm. I need space, time to think, explore, and experiment, and most of all I need to feel in flow with the project instead of feeling like I’m forcing it every step of the way.

Once I carved out space to work on this season, it came together pretty fast and with no resistance in sight - it was actually a joy to create and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire creative process. By sitting down to work on this show when my channel was clear and when I had dedicated space to work on it, it felt so much easier, more authentic, and way more joyful than if I had forced it when it just wasn’t the right space or time.

We are the vessel through which our work comes to life after all, so if you currently feel like you’re hitting a wall with a project, try taking a step back and clearing your channel and do the work behind the scenes to get back into flow again. This post by Alexandra Franzen is a great reminder as to why it’s so damn important to take care of ourselves first.

There is no right or wrong way to podcast

On a super specific note, for any podcasters or want-to-be podcasters out there, the main thing I’ve learned about podcasting is that there is absolutely no right or wrong way to do it. It’s one of the main reasons why I love this medium - there are so many different and awesome ways we can show up and share through audio. You don’t have to create an interview show, nor do you have to create just solo episodes - you can do whatever the hell it is you feel creatively inspired to do. Don’t box yourself in and feel like there are rules you have to follow.

To finish

I hope some of these lessons I’ve learned can be of some insight and encouragement to you right now if you’re feeling any resistance or disconnection from a creative project of your own.

And if you’re a fan of the show, thank you for bearing with me throughout this six month break and I really am so excited to have Season 4 to share with you today. Season 5 will hopefully be here in late-Spring, and until then I hope you enjoy the eight brand new episodes that are available for you to listen to this way.

As always, I’m rooting for you!

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Make It Happen Season 4 Is Here (& What I Learned From Taking A Six Month Break)