Ep 02 Why Doing Less Actually Unleashes Your Creativity
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How Focusing on Less Opens Space for More Inspiration
Have you ever felt like you’re chasing ten different things at once—but none of them are really moving you forward?
What if the thing holding back your creativity isn’t lack of ideas… but having too many?
As multi-passionate creatives, we often end up stretched thin—working on everything but making real progress on nothing. But when you learn to narrow your focus, something powerful happens: you gain momentum. And that momentum becomes the runway that lets all your passions take flight.
🌿 When Your Passions Pull You in Too Many Directions
Do you ever feel like your passions are competing for your attention—while your business, finances, or creative dreams sit on the back burner?
Maybe you overthink, compare yourself to others, or sabotage your own ideas before they even have a chance.
I’m Crystal —Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, creative entrepreneur, and multi-passionate just like you. For years I shifted careers, started business and wrestled with that same feeling of too many passions, not enough clarity.
And what I’ve learned is this: your mix isn’t the problem—it’s the path.
That’s why I started The Multipassionate Soul Podcast—a space where we blend evidence-based psychology with practical business strategy to help you find clarity, confidence, and sustainability in both life and work.
Because you don’t need to fit into one box—you need the clarity to weave your passions into something that actually works for you.
✨ The Season I Tried Doing It All
A few years ago, I was four months into running my sewing YouTube channel. It was growing—ten new subscribers a day!—and I was excited.
Around that same time, the university where I worked offered discounted tuition. I thought, should I finally go for it?
I’d always wanted to pursue counseling, so I enrolled in a Master’s in Counseling Psychology, with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy.
I knew this degree wouldn’t just shape my work as a therapist—it would show up in everything I created: videos, podcasts, even future books. But soon, I found myself trying to balance it all: full-time job, full-time grad school, household responsibilities, and a growing YouTube channel.
I was doing everything—and it started to wear me down.
I felt irritated, dissatisfied, and creatively stuck.
Maybe you’ve been there too—pushing on all fronts at once but secretly wondering: am I building momentum, or am I just busy?
That was my wake-up call. I realized I needed to do something radical: less.
🧭 How I Started Finding Clarity
If you’re nodding along right now, pause and ask yourself three questions:
- What’s the one area of my life or business that feels most alive right now?
- What’s the area that drains me the most?
- If my future self could thank me for one thing I started today, what would it be?
Clarity often comes when we stop adding more—and start listening to what’s already whispering inside us.
When I reflected, I saw two lifelong patterns:
- I’ve always been fascinated by human potential.
- And I’ve always loved creating—whether through sewing, writing, or teaching.
Those patterns became my compass. They helped me realize that pausing my channel to finish my degree wasn’t giving up—it was setting a foundation.
🌍 The Vision That Changed My Direction
I created three guiding visions: a visceral vision, a macro vision, and a global vision.
My biggest dream? To create global inspiration—to help people feel proud they tried. To help them give themselves permission to pursue what they want, no matter the outcome.
That vision gave me something priceless: focus.
And focus, I learned, doesn’t shrink your potential—it sharpens it.
🧠 The Psychology Behind Doing Less
Psychologist Dr. Shahram Heshmat wrote in Psychology Today that when we chase too many goals, fear of making the wrong choice creeps in—and often, that fear leads to doing nothing at all.
It’s not laziness. It’s overwhelm disguised as procrastination.
A study from Rutgers University backs this up. Researchers found that narrowing your visual attention—literally focusing on the finish line—increased effort and performance. They called it attentional narrowing. The best runners in the study were the ones who used this technique the most.
So what if narrowing your focus doesn’t limit creativity—but fuels it?
🪞 Doing Less in Practice
Here’s how to start applying this principle in your life or business:
1. Focus your energy.
Instead of trying to grow three projects at once, commit 70% of your energy to one for 30 days, and use the remaining 30% for maintenance.
2. Create seasonal focus.
If you can’t commit to something for at least one season, don’t commit today. Simplify your commitments and protect your bandwidth.
3. Try the stoplight method.
Write down everything you’re juggling.
🟢 Green = energizes you
🟡 Yellow = neutral
🔴 Red = drains you
Instant clarity on where your attention belongs.
🌸 Narrowing Isn’t Losing—it’s Integrating
Doing less doesn’t mean giving up your passions. It means sequencing them intentionally.
Imagine you’re growing your catering business while keeping your calligraphy and jewelry hobbies in the wings. Once your catering gains momentum, you can weave those creative passions back in—like offering custom calligraphy jewelry at your events.
That’s integration through clarity.
💫 The Pause That Created Momentum
When I narrowed my focus to education, I felt restricted at first—like I was giving things up. But it wasn’t forever. It was a pause with purpose—one that gave me the clarity, energy, and confidence to grow in ways that felt aligned.
And the same can be true for you.
Ask yourself:
- Which action or project aligns most with my long-term vision?
- What might I pause temporarily to make room for flow?
Remember, letting go isn’t failure—it’s strategy.
💭 Journal prompt:
If I could only choose one passion to focus on for the next 90 days, which would it be—and why?
You’re not choosing forever—you’re experimenting. And experiments are how creativity grows.
If this resonated with you, listen to the full episode of The Multipassionate Soul Podcast here →. You can also grab the bonus reflective questions mentioned in the show notes.
Because clarity isn’t about doing more—it’s about learning to do less, with greater purpose.