Today, I am plagued by resistance.

None of the my usual strategies worked – couldn’t get myself to Panera Bread to write, cleaning out my purse didn’t free up mental space, a cookie and some hummus and crackers and a glass of tea didn’t medicate my ego.

So here are two things I did instead.

What do you do to get through resistance?

First thing, as soon as I get up in the morning. Before any other work projects, before I leave the house to get my coffee (!!), before I do the dishes or indulge in any other excuse to not get the writing done.

Write. First. Every. Day.

And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a publishable blog post. It could be a journal entry of unbloggable content, just for myself, or to share with that one special person. An email blast to my list. A guest post. A subsection of The Live Your Truth Manifesto.

I don’t even have to know ahead of time.

Anything. Just the truth. Just what pours out of me.

Just. Write.

It’s already been amazing – I’ve been publishing tons of great content, I feel like I’ve already been productive by this time every morning, I’m doing the most important thing even before coffee (!!), and I have been working through tons of feelings (writing is amazing therapy), accessing ideas that didn’t have the space to surface.

But today the resistance monster paid me a visit.

She said: “oh, Elizabeth, you can take the day off, you have a lot going on. You wrote a little bit already. You made a video yesterday that you can post today, you don’t need to write something for your blog. You’ve been posting so much lately, there is a theory it’s better to post just every few days, so maybe you’re reducing your web traffic and comments. You don’t feel like writing. You don’t know what to write about. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, I’ll keep your little secret.”

So, in response to her polite assault, I sat down to write.

Not about what I had planned to write about, not what wasn’t working.

But what flowed out of me. What was already leaking from the tips of my fingers.

Just like the bitch in the corner, the resistance monster always strikes when you are about to do something amazing.

When you are making a change. Instituting a new habit. Taking a risk. Speaking your truth.

The voices in your head have a conspiracy to keep you safe.

To keep you small. To keep you the same as everybody else.

But I think the secret isn’t to resist her. It isn’t to fight her. It isn’t to beat her down or make her leave. (She’s not going anywhere anyway.)

The secret is to dance with her. To seduce her.

The secret is to write her.

–

How do you deal with resistance?

What happens when you are “trying” to be creative, when you are “trying” to change or create a new habit? What gets you stuck/unstuck?

And not get any other work done.

But, alas, I am one of only two people working for my company, and there’s other work to get done.

So instead of actually working on that other work (including writing this post and another guest blog posts for MomEO), I did what any highly productive CEO would do.

I went and complained on twitter.

And my wonderful friend Alison Kramer (@nummiesbras) replied to my complaints in a flash of brilliance:

Finally! Inspiration!

And that leads us to the point of this blog post.

You see, I complain about two problems with writing.

The first is that I feel the need to be inspired.

To have a flash, a possession come over me that demands I write an epic diatribe full of insight and pronouncements on life or business or reality.

Obviously not a sustainable business model.

I can’t base the blog of a real business, one that needs continuous traffic and new content, off of random and unpredictable inspiration.

And, as we’ve all said before, every post does not need to be epic.

The second complaint is that I don’t have time to write.

Now this excuse is becoming more and lame. I’ve hired Ken Moorhead (@kenmoorhead) as my COO, which means that all of those back end things of my business are being handled by someone much more suited for that than I.

And seriously, some of the time I’m futzing around on social media or answering emails could be dedicated to writing.

But writing, or any creative endeavor, doesn’t just need time. It needs space.

When my mindset is in the middle of a project, when I’m stressed out about a conflict with a loved one, when the apartment is a mess … I can’t create.

I have no mental space. No spiritual space. No void created for the chaos of my mind to find a nexus, to pull together disparate pieces of information and ideas into a message. Into a truth to be spoken.

So, instead, I whine.

That’s freaking useful & productive, eh?!

Ah, but it was, wasn’t it?

I whined. And now, I am writing. About said whining.

And, that’s the nexus of this post.

Write from the now.

From how you feel, where you are, what’s going on, in this moment.

Because there is always inspiration in this moment.

That’s the only place where inspiration lives. In the now.

So if you have a blog post to write, or a video to create, and don’t feel like it, or have writer’s block, or are obsessed with your website or your house being a mess or the fight you just had with your friend or how cute your cat is … write about that.

And yeah, you may want to relate it somewhat to your business. Or what was on your writing calendar for that day.

Or not.

I invite you to let inspiration, let the moment lead you to what to create. Don’t force it inside a predetermined framework. Don’t think your way into it.

Because, the thing is, you already know.

Just get out of your own freaking way, and write.

Are you stuck? Got writer’s block? Unable to take action?

There are tons of guru’s out there who will teach you how to overcome or breakthrough your resistance so you can make a big decision or take big action.

But today I have another take on resistance … instead of trying to “resist” your resistance, look at it as a message from yourself to help you make decisions & take actions more aligned to your purpose & your truth.

But to use resistance as a tool you have to answer the big question … is your resistance coming from your soul, or from your ego?