In our world of right-brain business here we often talk about right-brain and left-brain and how we need to get them to work better together for sustained success.

We can also look at this balance through the lens of the feminine and masculine energies.

I have a hunch, if you’re attracted to my work, you probably have a natural tendency toward more right-brain and feminine attributes such as creativity, passion, emotion, and flow.

And if you’re on the sensitive/intuitive side you might rebel against or feel stifled by the more left-brain and masculine qualities such as structure, linear thinking, and doing/action. Heck, you might even feel burnt out from forcing yourself to operate in that masculine mode throughout your educational and/or professional life. I certainly powered through my Master’s degree and corporate jobs with sheer ambition and drive.

The thing is, in order for us to fully (and healthily) manifest our creative dreams, we need to find a way to integrate the strengths of both our feminine and masculine energies.

Instead of viewing masculine qualities as rigid, too overbearing, or just “not you,” think of them as your ally in getting your gifts out there.

Here are a few places to start building some muscle around these more masculine qualities:

Follow-Through and Discipline

You can have the most inspiring, meaningful, and exciting big vision ever, but, without taking consistent action your idea will never see the light of day (which breaks my heart). Or maybe you had enough gumption to get your gift out there, but it doesn’t have the reach you want because halfway through your launch plan you started doubting, got deflated from slow sign-ups, and petered out. Cultivating more discipline and follow-through will actually help you keep putting one foot in front of the other (even through those tough spots). If you struggle with follow-through and discipline, outside accountability from a coach, buddy, group, or challenge can help provide structure to keep you on track. You’d be surprised by how those final few actions steps can make all the difference, so please stop self-sabotaging and selling yourself short! It’s a disservice to you AND to the peeps who need what you have to offer.

Boundary Setting

Do you worry so much about being liked or being nice that you let yourself get walked all over? And then you wonder why you don’t have any energy or mental capacity left to work on your business or creative projects? It’s time to stand up for yourself and your dreams and practice saying no when something doesn’t serve you. It’s not about being mean or selfish. It’s about compassionately drawing lines to protect and honor your vital energy. Plus it’s about empowering those around you take responsibility for their own actions. It’s not your job to carry it all.

Clear and Conscious Decision Making

One of the biggest drains I see for creative entrepreneurs is how much time and energy they waste hemming and hawing. And to top it off, they judge themselves about how long it takes or how hard it is to make the decision. (BTW, I’m speaking from personal experience here as this is an area I’m still working on!) Your business is built on the decisions you make – deciding who you’re going to serve and how, determining how much to charge, choosing which opportunities or partnerships to go after or where to prioritize your resources. It’s really one decision after another. If you get stuck over thinking, hijacked by your emotional reactions, or you’re just plain ol’ wishy-washy, you’re clogging up your creative flow and frankly just stalling. Instead, tune into your intuition, gather only the essential information to help you make an informed decision, give yourself a time frame, and for goodness sake just pick something! Know that if you’re going into this choice consciously then you’re strong enough and mature enough to own up to the impacts of your decisions. And trust that you have the resourcefulness and resilience to bounce back from a “wrong” decision and that as long as you’re constantly learning, there really is no “wrong” decision.

P.S. – My art journal page shown above illustrates some of the takeaways I had after reading my friend Sara Avant Stover’s new book The Book of SHE. My very personal interview where we discuss how I’m working on integrating my divine feminine and divine masculine airs on her SHE Talks podcast airs this Friday, October 16th.