168: “How Do Writers Find Flow?” with David Brower and Gido Schimanski

Finding the Right Idea for Your Book

“Flow for me is just that you’re completely trusting and confident that you’re on the right path. And sometimes that’s uncomfortable.” – Gido Schimanski

Do you have multiple ideas for a book, but you’re not sure which one to choose? Are you wondering which is the best? Which will launch you into viral stardom?

Writing about what means most can make us second-guess ourselves and our stories — leading us to turn off the intuition we need to guide us through our lives and book journeys.

On this week’s episode of “Authors Who Lead,” David Charles Brower and Gido Schimanski join me for a conversation on their own book-writing journeys, how their ideas changed through the process, and how it transformed them as authors.

Writing a Book Transforms the Author First

When working with authors, I ask them to draw out their books in several exercises that help them get out of their heads and more on a creative level. For David, this experience was very sensorial and tactile for him — and felt like a “creative explosion,” he said.

And because of that, the final iteration of his book, “Dance of the Love Caterpillars: An Inspirational Romantic Tale of the Adventure of Loving and Trusting Life,” was very different from how it started.

While writing his book, David completely transformed, reconnecting to himself on a subconscious, emotional level that left him feeling satisfied and deeply creative, he tells me. That creative connection was especially necessary with David’s book because it didn’t fit the norm as an “adult picture book” of sorts, given its length and beautiful drawings.

As Gido worked his way through the Authors Who Lead program, the creative processes helped him realize that there was so much more inside of him to bring out than he had originally planned. Not knowing what to expect as he did the bubble and timeline activities, Gido said they put him into “a place of letting a book come to life, rather than me thinking I have to write a book.”

Gido’s current iteration of his book actually came from something that wasn’t there. I noticed he had an empty space, a gap in his timeline. Since his book is about flow and why we sabotage and filter ourselves, that gap made him wonder. When he let his subconscious tell him what the book needed, his thoughts about what was “good” or “bad” or “wrong” slipped away, allowing him to write what was inside of him.

What is Flow?

According to Gido, most people think “flow” just falls into their laps. But for him, flow comes from trusting your path, which may not be so easy, beautiful and perfect.

Because we’re human, we tend to limit our visions and creations. During a meditation session, Gido asked himself, “So what would happen if I actually step out of the way and let my soul, the universe, God, the divine, whatever you want to call it, take place and fill that space?”

This thought scared him, he said. If this were true, he’d never get off the couch to create on his own, since we, as humans, are susceptible to resistance.

To face his fears, he completed a 30-day “flow challenge,” listening to his inner voice and intuition. It was a truly magical experience, he said, because it led to the most incredible experiences and results he’d forced for years.

What Keeps Us From Flow?

Gido works with many high-performing people, including athletes, who must excel in front of millions of people. And like them, we tend to push ourselves beyond our limits in our careers and our personal lives.

He believes that the flow we need to create and live successfully is conditioned out of us as we grow up. We learn what we can and cannot do, and trade our natural instincts for proving ourselves to the world.

As David experienced in his life, personal trauma — such as losing a loved one — can keep us from our flow state. When we learn to heal, we can reconnect with our flow and find our way back to that early relationship with ourselves and a love for life.

The flow that David experienced while writing his book wasn’t about it being a smooth, perfect ride. It was about feeling alive, trusting his instincts, getting back up, forgiving himself, and moving forward.

Gifts That Come to You As An Author

As I talked with David and Gido about the transformations they felt in writing their books, I also wondered what they thought were the greatest gifts that came from being in that flow and seeing their visions come to fruition.

Other than a reconnection with his flow state and healing, David feels that being an author reminded him to “savor the moments through life, whatever life presents me.”

Gido said that he felt more authentically himself during the process. When we put our stories out there for others to read, we want them to like our book and to be able to understand and identify with it. This makes it difficult for us to feel courageous in sharing our true selves and stories, and the limiting conditioning keeps us from the flow of our books. Here, authenticity comes into play, he said, as we realize we can only be ourselves on the page.

“Don’t try to be what you think you need to be,” he said, “what you think that others want to see.”

As I work with creatives, I coach them to be present and to be themselves. I don’t teach them how to be creative because they already have that inside themselves. They just need to allow it to come out authentically.

As we go through our book journeys and address the conditioning in our lives, we need to find the flow in our lives and in our writing. If you find yourself struggling, remember my greatest takeaways from this episode:

Your book idea may change as it gets written. Enjoy the journey and allow it to transform you as an author first.

Trust that intuition, that inner guide, and you will experience incredible ideas and happenings.

What was your biggest takeaway from the episode? Are you trying to decide which book to write first, or having trouble getting into the flow state? Share in the comments below!

That’s all for this week. Take that next step toward allowing your book to transform you!