E84: Why Some Creatives Stay Stuck for Years (And Others Don’t)

Have you ever felt like you’ve spent hours honing your art, taking courses and perfecting your skills only to realise your creative business hasn’t moved forward at all?

In this eye‑opening conversation, co‑hosts Kaylie Edwards and Delores Naskrent pull back the curtain on why so many creatives get stuck in cycles of learning and tweaking instead of taking meaningful action. 

They explore what “productive procrastination” really looks like, how perfectionism is often a form of self‑protection, and why your brain might be working against you when it comes to hitting publish or launching that new product.

The hosts share practical ways to break free – from taking imperfect action before you feel ready to making your goals visible and building accountability into your everyday routine. 

If you’ve been spinning your wheels or waiting for confidence to show up, this episode will give you the gentle nudge and community support you’ve been craving.

 • Support matters – community and mentorship, like the Spellweaver Creative Hub and Thriving Artist memberships, can provide the structure and encouragement you need.

Listen & Support

🌟 Tune in to the full episode to hear all the insights and personal stories. 

If the Creative Juggle Joy podcast has helped you, please consider supporting the show – your generosity helps keep our cosy creative community going.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast.

Kaylie Edwards: Hi everyone. Right, today's episode, I feel like this is going to be one of those, oh, that's me. Moments,

Delores Naskrent: yes. I think there will be a lot of quiet nodding along and maybe a few light bulb moments too.

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, because we are talking about why some creatives stay stuck for years and others don't, and I just wanna say from the start, this is not a judgment episode.

We've all been there.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah, not at all. It's about understanding what's happening and how to just move through it, you know, with a bit more awareness and some compassion, move through it.

Kaylie Edwards: So let me ask you something. Have you ever felt like I've learned so much, but nothing's actually [00:01:00] changed?

Delores Naskrent: That's such a common experience. Kaylie, I've had so many students talk about this, and I've seen students who have taken multiple courses and they've really improved their skills beautifully, but their business itself just doesn't move forward.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. This is where it gets really interesting because what looks like being stuck isn't laziness.

It's actually your brain trying to protect you.

Delores Naskrent: Mm-hmm.

Kaylie Edwards: I did loads of research on this, and the research shows that when something feels high stakes, like sharing your work or putting yourself out there, your brain can literally interpret that as a threat. So instead of helping you act, it creates resistance.

Delores Naskrent: Ah, so that explains that hesitation feeling. You know, that pause before you share something like you should do it, but something holds you back.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. That maybe I'll [00:02:00] do it tomorrow. Feeling.

Delores Naskrent: Mm-hmm.

Kaylie Edwards: Can I ask you, Delores, have you seen this pattern where people just keep learning but don't move forward?

Delores Naskrent: Oh yeah, very much so. And I actually really get it because the learning part feels really safe. And you're improving, you're growing, you're being guided. You feel safe, like you're doing the right thing, but you're not having to kind of expose yourself. And I think that's the part that actually moves things forward.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, and I'll be honest, I've done this, I still get into this cycle even now, I will, if I see anything that looks like, oh, I need to learn that, I need to learn that, and then I'm in that hole, then I'll be hours and hours researching something, learning something, and I haven't taken action at all.

And then I'm like, why haven't I done this? What? I have a plan. I go, right, okay, this is what I'm gonna work on today. And then suddenly I'm like three [00:03:00] hours in and I haven't even done anything yet. Like, why, why? But you're improving. Your learning and your knowledge, but you're not actually taking action to make any difference.

I still do this and it, yeah. Yeah,

Delores Naskrent: I hear you. I mean, you know, when you're learning, you don't have that kind of external pressure. It's just internal and there's no accountability there really. So no one is reflecting that commitment back to you.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, yeah, exactly. What happens is I start prioritizing client work because there's deadlines, urgent tasks, and things other people are expecting from me and then my own work.

It just gets pushed away. Just pushed to the side. Another two weeks added on, another two weeks added on, and eventually I'm just like, where's the weeks gone? And I haven't launched anything or I haven't promoted, and it's like, I've got all this good content, I've [00:04:00] got all this good stuff, and it's not being seen because there's deadlines for other external things.

It's like if you have a job, if you have an employed job. You actually have deadlines you have, expectations. You need to do this 'cause otherwise you're not gonna get paid or you're gonna lose your job. So that's that external pressure.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards: Whereas if you work for yourself, it's so much harder because your brain just keeps pushing it away.

Not because I don't care because no one is waiting for it. But it's me. And this is where something from the research really clicked with me because it's called productive procrastination.

Delores Naskrent: Oh, there's a name for it?

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. And it interesting phrase, I mean, what, it sounds positive, but it kind of keeps you stuck, right?

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So you're being productive, but not in like a way that's really moving you that forward. So you're [00:05:00] kind of still making baby step progress, but yeah, not on your goals. So yeah, it basically means you're doing useful things, just not the right things to move you forward.

Delores Naskrent: I know that feeling so well. I was talking about it today, and you feel productive.

You know, you're actively doing something, you're dotting all the i's, you're crossing all the T's, but you're still kind of stuck I think avoiding the things you don't maybe even realize you're doing it, but you're avoiding the things that actually create the movement.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. Like organizing, planning, researching, tweaking, all helpful, but not the thing that moves you forward towards your goals.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. I've seen that with artists who. Reorganize their studio repeatedly, or they figure out a really great way to catalog everything and it's important, don't get me wrong. It's not that it's not important, [00:06:00] but, it feels really productive and it in the long run will probably really help you, but it actually delays the real work that should be being done to move that needle.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. Or like for me, redesigning a website, again, don't get me wrong, it's needed because I've repositioned like who I'm speaking to and my messaging needed updating. And then my membership also needed re updating. So it wasn't like unproductive, but sometimes it feels like you're not getting very far.

So instead of sending people to it, of redesigning it again or trying to get chatty PT to, change a piece of code block. So can we talk about perfectionism?

Delores Naskrent: Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards: Because this is a big one.

Delores Naskrent: It is. It's so big. I can hear it in your voice and it's often just very quiet. People don't realize it's there.

It can look like. [00:07:00] Just improving, but it's actually holding you back.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. And the research actually shows perfectionism isn't about high standards, it's often about protection.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. And what would you say to this? I mean, protection from what, what are people really trying to avoid there?

Kaylie Edwards: Well, the research says it's from judgment and rejection and getting it wrong.

And that's why people tweak and tweak and tweak till they think it's right. Or sometimes they let it go because there's that mindset in the back. That's holding you back? Like is it fear of judgment? Is it fear of rejection? Is it getting it wrong?

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. I mean, that makes sense.

But if you never really finish something, you never have to face how it's received. So I think, yeah, we stay in that sort of safe, unfinished space for a little bit longer sometimes than we need to.

Kaylie Edwards: [00:08:00] Exactly. Perfectionism doesn't protect your work. It prevents it from existing. Let's talk about the cycle because I know people are going to recognize this.

You start something, you're excited.

Delores Naskrent: Yes. And you plan everything beautifully. You could see the whole vision clear as day.

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. And maybe a bit too beautifully.

Delores Naskrent: Yes. Almost to the point where it becomes overwhelming, right?

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. And then it starts to feel big. Unclear, and then overwhelming.

Delores Naskrent: Yep. And that's where a lot of people stop.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. And then comes the guilt.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. And then a new idea appears this happens to me all the time. And then it feels all exciting again. So then the cycle restarts.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, it restarts again and again. And we get stuck in this cycle. And what the research shows is this isn't a discipline issue, it's an emotional regulation.

I [00:09:00] know is big words

Delores Naskrent: interesting. That's super interesting. And how, like what. What did the research say we have to do to gently move ourselves out of that? Kaylie, since you did the research.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, I know. My issue is research, has to be an answer for everything. So number one is action before confidence.

Delores Naskrent: Hmm.

Kaylie Edwards: And I've actually seen this in other places as well. I was in a membership, a few years ago. And their big thing was literally take action. Don't think, don't let yourself think. Just take action. So the first thing is stop waiting to feel ready, because action creates the clarity that you need, not the other way around.

Delores Naskrent: Okay.

Kaylie Edwards: And then two, break it down. So stepladder. So instead of launch a whole thing, break it down, one post, one email, one step.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. That would take a lot of the pressure [00:10:00] away. I know for myself, annual planning made a big difference for me because I had, all of it on paper and that actually took a lot of the pressure off.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. And I think some people, it can work a bit different if you have it planned. But make sure that you're only seeing the one day that you need to do. And for some people doing it that day, just do that day or that post and get it done. It helps 'em move forward. 'cause once they've started it, it then starts snowball effect.

Yeah, it feels more doable once another step's done.

Delores Naskrent: I absolutely believe that breaking it down into bite-sized chunks, and I think a lot of people will relate to that.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. And then the third is accountability. And this is a big one for me, accountability, because I know if no one's watching, I can just drift.

Delores Naskrent: [00:11:00] Yeah. I think a lot of people have that happen. I know for myself too, it's that can get lost in that same sort of research or whatever, that's kind of got me off track and that is also something that I know many of the people that I talk to will also, concur with what you're saying.

They'll relate to that exactly.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, so I've had to build that in accountability is tell somebody you're going to do it, and then make them follow you up with you.

Delores Naskrent: Oh, that's great.

Kaylie Edwards: Because if you don't, then you may have told them, but then they're gonna forget 'cause they've got life.

So make sure that they put it in their calendar to remind you or to ask you about it.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards: Then it makes you go. Okay. Yeah. And then if you don't do it by the time they've asked you, then you've got that internal pressure of like, Ooh, I need to get this done.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards: Especially if the next time they ask me,

Delores Naskrent: I [00:12:00] like that.

Kaylie Edwards: So things like accountability part partners are great, or being part of a community. So if you tell people in your community with your students telling people in there what you're gonna do. Then that helps. Helps with that because you've got more eyes on you.

Delores Naskrent: Yes.

Kaylie Edwards: Even saying things publicly, even if you put a post out and say, this is when I'm gonna launch. People might forget, but you know that you've put that up there, then that's public.

Delores Naskrent: So you're talking about like visible. Task systems. Yes. So that's really, that's very practical and that's really good information.

How do you do that?

Kaylie Edwards: Something really practical to do is I make tasks impossible to ignore, or I can ignore them, but eventually it will be like, screaming at you. You need to do this.

Delores Naskrent: So no, no hiding, no hiding away. It's

Kaylie Edwards: right

Delores Naskrent: there. No, right there in front.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So I use like Google tasks,

if you've got the space like Delores has with [00:13:00] Post-It notes, it's in your face. Can't get away from it. Put the post-it notes around the house. You can't ignore it for forever. Whereas I don't have that. So I have to, you do Google tasks? Yeah. I do have Clickup now on my phone, but I have resulted to using Google tasks and what I do is I pin it, I pin Google tasks to my browser, so every time I open my laptop and go onto a new browser, it's, it's there, so it's pinned.

I can see that. Those are my tasks, so it, it shows me each day's deadlines.

Delores Naskrent: That is amazing.

Kaylie Edwards: And then it's also on my phone. So it shows me what's pending, what's overdue, and it's synced to my phone so I can't pretend I've forgotten, so I'm getting notifications up on my phone, I can swipe across and, get rid of notification, but it will pop up again.

It's like a little, yeah, there's no hiding.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah, sometimes, it's not about more motivation, right? It's about [00:14:00] removing your ability to avoid, and I think that's what you're talking about, like a shift. I think there's something a little bit about yourself in there.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, a hundred percent. Because the people who move forward see themselves differently.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. They see themselves, as a person who gets things done, somebody who follows through. Not someone who's trying they're actually just doing.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, exactly. I'm someone who shows up. If you can change your mentality to I'm somebody who shows up, I'm somebody who gets things done.

Then your brain starts to do it, even if you weren't that like that before, even if you were a procrastinator and you put things off. But if you can keep telling yourself, I'm going to show up as this person, or I am someone who shows up. I'm someone who completes deadlines. I'm somebody who gets things done, then your brain starts to kind of rewire and it'll start.

Kind of [00:15:00] nudging you to do it.

Delores Naskrent: And I think that's important to say, you know, important to yourself. This isn't about being hard on yourself. It's just that sort of repetition of, hearing that about yourself and knowing that about yourself. It's,

Kaylie Edwards: yeah, it's creating the habit.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. It's more about awareness and not pressure.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. No, because life plays a role. Energy plays a role, you know?

Delores Naskrent: For sure. And seasons, you know, everything matters. There's times when we just are naturally moving slower.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. But if you've been stuck for a long time, there is usually something underneath it.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah. And I think you need to understand it first, and then you can start to shift it.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. And I think it's important to say as well, if you're listening to this and thinking, I know this, but I'm still not doing it, that's where support really matters. And there's only so long you can go [00:16:00] without having support and a community behind you.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah, I agree. Love that about our community, and I think accountability can make such a difference.

I know from peer groups that I'm in or have been in, it's really the missing piece is, you know, helping, it helps you in turning your intentions into actual action. And because you're telling other people that you're doing this, it does make you feel more accountable.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, and this is exactly why I created the Spellweaver Creative Hub membership because I know what it's like to have all these ideas, have all the knowledge as well, but still feel stuck in actually the doing bit.

Delores Naskrent: Agreed

Kaylie Edwards: inside the membership. We focus on building your business. Your visibility and your marketing, but in a way that actually feels doable. So each month we have a focus workshop that is around each quarter's [00:17:00] seasonal core theme. So we're building different parts of your business over time. And then after the two weeks after the workshop, we have a accountability session which will have like ask me anything support co-working session to get things done.

If you have any trouble with the previous workshop. We then go through it and troubleshoot what you may not have, found easy to do, or you just need that accountability and that like, come on, you need to get this done. So you're not just learning, you're actually implementing and getting the support when you get stuck.

Delores Naskrent: I love that. I didn't even know that you had all of those things in place. Kaylie. And really those are all the things that I think back about the first few. Sessions that we had working together, and it sounds like you're actually going through the steps that you helped me go through in order to build my business.

So that's really [00:18:00] great that you have that set up in such a way that people can tap into that. It's worth it, you guys. It's worth it. She's worth every penny. Now, if your sticking point happens to be more on the creative side, that's where my membership comes in. So I have the Thriving artist membership, where it's more about building those specific artistic skills that will help you to.

Maybe develop a product or develop, just part of your business that can make you some actual money. It's about helping you find confidence and knowing what to actually create to help you move towards. All of that. And in the membership we have weekly Thrive meetings, so we meet every Tuesday. We have so much fun at those meetings.

We talk about so many different things, and we've got people who are really deeply into, in-person sales, people who are into wholesale, [00:19:00] people who are just starting. Have never really sold anything before, like the full range. So my classes really, bring these people together and in these meetings we just discuss so many different things.

I always put a little bit of a, summary into the emails that I send out every Sunday. So in my newsletter I put a summary in there if you read that or come to the meetings, you'll see we cover lots of different things. Of course, we also have a lot of resources, so I'm sure what both Kaylie and I are trying to say is that we have resources to help you so you can keep growing and you can keep developing your work consistently with support around you as you do it.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, and honestly they compliment each other so well. Both our memberships,

Delores Naskrent: they do, they really do. And we've got lots of common, like people who are in your membership, people who are in my membership, [00:20:00] and everyone supports that whole creative development. It really helps you to grow your business and grow with your work in whatever way you need help.

It's there.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Delores's works on the creative development and, my membership will help you with your business and visibility side. So if you're struggling with marketing as a creative, which most do, that is where I help you with in my membership, which is relaunched.

So both links will be in the show notes and the episode description. So wherever you are feeling stuck right now, this is a way forward for you.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah, you don't have to do it on your own. We're here to help you in any way. Whatever support you need, it's available to you to help you move through it.

And I love doing the creative side, and I don't really do the marketing side, so that's where Kaylee really comes into the picture.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. And sometimes the difference between [00:21:00] staying stuck and actually moving forward is just having the right support around you.

Delores Naskrent: I agree. Until next time, keep creating, keep juggling, and most importantly, keep finding joy in the process.