Season 1 Episode 245
How to Change Your Momentum When You’re Stuck as a Creative
If you’re an artist or creative who feels stalled—like you’ve hit a wall in your motivation, progress, or passion—you’re not alone.
Whether it’s burnout, fear, comparison, or just plain fatigue, creative momentum can vanish without warning. And getting it back? That can feel impossible.
But here’s the good news: momentum is a choice. Not something that magically returns when the conditions are perfect—but something you can actively create, even in the mess of real life.
In this week’s Acting Business Boot Camp podcast episode, I spoke with Stephen Ridley, musician, speaker, and founder of Ridley Academy, about exactly that.
What unfolded was a deeply personal and practical roadmap for any artist who wants to stop stalling and start moving forward again.
What Does It Mean to “Change Your Momentum”?Momentum isn’t about working harder. It’s about shifting the energy underneath your decisions. According to Stephen, the way we talk to ourselves—our internal attitude—shapes what happens next.
He calls it the self-fulfilling nature of mindset.
“Both negativity and positivity become self-fulfilling prophecies,” he says. “And both are equally available.”
In other words, what you expect tends to be what you get. So if you’re expecting things to be hard, slow, or pointless… they probably will be.
But here’s where this conversation gets interesting. Stephen doesn’t suggest “faking” positivity. He actually recommends the opposite.
Step 1: Stop Resisting Your MoodWhen you’re stuck in a low state—feeling anxious, apathetic, overwhelmed—the worst thing you can do is pretend you’re not. Instead, lean in.
“I’ll play piano in apathy,” Stephen says. “I’ll let myself feel lazy. I’ll turn up the volume on the feeling until I get bored of it. That’s when the momentum shifts.”
When you stop resisting how you feel and start actively creating it, you take back control. It’s no longer happening to you. You’re the one creating it.
That awareness is where movement begins.
Step 2: Ask the Question That Changes EverythingOnce you’ve moved through the feeling—not skipped over it—there’s a simple question Stephen recommends to create forward momentum:
“What can I do for you?”
Not just you, the person in front of you. But you in the broadest sense: the audience, the community, the world.
This question flips your attention from inward to outward. It connects you to purpose. It anchors you in service.
And for artists, that’s everything.
Because the role of the artist, as Stephen beautifully puts it, is not to collapse into the emptiness of life—but to provide the antidote.
The Trap of Creative VictimhoodSo many creatives are unconsciously stuck in a victim mindset. Waiting for permission. Hoping to be chosen. Scared to make the wrong move.
But as Stephen says, the longer you wait, the more you stall. And stalling, while it may feel passive, o
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago
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