A Message from the Author: Andrew Leigh
The theme of this blog is simple – to help creative people produce their best creative work – and produce more of it; and to help people find joy and fulfilment in their creative activities rather than the doubt and anguish that can all too often sour our best creative thinking.
You’ll find a comprehensive and ever expanding free resource here that anyone can access, along with other products and services that creative people may be interested in.
Personal Development Insights
Current personal development know-how is revolutionising all walks of life, but it’s still relatively new to creative communities. Much of what’s here is directly transferred from my knowledge and experience as a personal development professional.
Who is The Creative Instinct For?
It’s aimed at anyone who feels that the need to express their creativity is a part of their core self. So whether you are a creative hobbyist, student or successful creative professional, The Creative Instinct is for you. Your creative medium doesn’t matter. You could be anything from fine artist to photographer, musician to creative crafts-person. As creative people we are all subject to similar desires, needs and challenges.
About the Author
I’m what you might call a late developer. I didn’t get my basic English qualification (GCSE) until my early thirties, when, after way too many dead-end jobs I returned to study. Then I had a mad splurge at educating myself, completing ‘A’ Levels, a degree in English Studies and an MA in Writing in pretty quick succession.
What drove me then (and now) was a burning need to express myself through creative writing. But when I tried to write down the stories that were bursting from me I found I didn’t know how. I had neither the creative writing skills nor the everyday written English skills. That’s what got me back into education. Before I knew it I was a college lecturer – a role that for nine years squeezed every drop of creativity out of me – and then eventually I moved into personal development and life coaching.
This is a field that I really love. I’m fascinated by the ways we can become more effective, happy and fulfilled. And the one-to-one immediacy of life coaching is something I never tire of.
So these are my two loves – modern personal development and the joy of expressing our creativity – and I’ve been looking for a way to bring them together ever since I started coaching over 5 years back. When I heard about blogging I knew it was the right route for me.
Life Experience
I also bring my own and my family’s personal experience to the party. The creative urge is shot through my whole family, though I suppose it’s fair to say we’ve rarely made the most of it. Believe me when I say that I do understand the pressures and blockages that are a part of all our creative lives – work commitments, lack of confidence and self belief, awful planning, family pressures and illnesses, and the everyday joys and emotions we wouldn’t want to be without.
It’s just life I guess, but when it throws our creative energies out of kilter it messes with something that’s fundamental to our wellbeing and sense of self. And it can stop us being the creative person we want and need to be.
That’s what The Creative Instinct is all about – the ways we can live our rich, full, exasperating and confusing lives and still express the creativity at our core.
In other words – produce your best creative work – produce lots of it – and feel great about it too.
Other Services
I’m available for one-to-one telephone coaching, personal development creativity workshops and public speaking. Please mail me to find out more about these services.
You can also get the free download How to Stop Being Your Own Worst Critic, and why not subscribe to the blog for regular updates – see the top-right of every page for the sign-up form. Your details are never passed on to anyone else.
Here’s to your creative future
Andrew Leigh
