We’ve all been there. We feel lost, stuck and like we’ve lost our creative mojo. Creatives, especially, struggle with this because their work is so closely tied to their sense of self, their beliefs and their life experiences. They need to feel deeply connected to their work in order to thrive. If you’re not motivated and inspired in your creative career, it may be that there are a variety of things happening—many of which you’re not even conscious of. Here are five that may be causing your uncertainty.

You Don’t Believe In Yourself & Your Goals

This is so common for those of us who’ve been working in our creative careers for a long time. You start off inspired, filled with passion and then you make it your full-time career. Yay! However, you may find that along that journey, your inspiration gets lost. Not only that, but you may doubt yourself. I know this was the case for me. I got so wrapped up in meeting business goals, social media goals and growing a team, that my passion ran away from me. I stopped believing in my work and my abilities. My business goals were important, but the issue is they weren’t really my goals. I had to stop and re-evaluate what I was passionate about and what I wanted to create. Once I worked that out and started working on my goals, I found that my belief in myself grew stronger.

You’re Too Busy

Busyness is commonly looked upon as a marker for success. We feel important when our to-do lists are a mile long. Except, being inundated with tons of busy tasks doesn’t leave us with much time for play, creation and rest. If you’re running a creative business, you may be so busy bopping from one busy task to the other, that you can’t even get to your creativity. So what can you do about that huge task list? I recommend splitting up your tasks for the week into each day and assigning them into Asana. Pick the three most important tasks for the day and only worry about those. If you have a team, try to delegate more. You also can evaluate your tasks and see which ones aren’t truly serving your goals. Stop doing them. Sounds crazy, but it can be done!

I know I would rather live a life criticized for my creative projects than one where I never even tried due to fear. How about you?

You’re Ignoring Opportunities

If you’re too busy and inundated with tasks, there is a good chance you’re ignoring opportunities without even knowing it. Maybe your inbox is overflowing and you missed an email that could change your life, or maybe you didn’t make it to a fun dinner party where you could network, or maybe you were stuck all day at your laptop and didn’t get outside and missed out on that epic sunshine. Whatever it is, try to look for those hidden opportunities for inspiration.

You’re Burnt Out

Burnout is so common these days. Too many of us are juggling a million things and not making time for self-care. Self-care does not need to be fancy or expensive to be effective. It’s about mindfulness and listening to your body. If you’re not making time for your needs, you will likely be exhausted, resentful and possibly explosive. That is not a recipe for quality creative work. That’s why I created Tired Dreamers Club. I wanted to connect with other creatives who struggle with this and explore how self-care can dramatically improve creativity.

You’ve Stopped Playing

Have you ever witnessed a child immersed in their imagination and in the creative flow? It’s pretty magical. However, most adults don’t allow themselves to play or even worse, they’re ashamed of exploring the depths of their creativity. Many of us have been shamed growing up. Has anyone ever told you that you’ll never be a great singer or that being an artist makes you too feminine, or that pursuing writing means you’ll suffer? So many of us have experienced shame or embarrassment when it comes to our creative passions, but we can’t allow that to keep us from playing. I know I would rather live a life criticized for my creative projects than one where I never even tried due to fear. How about you?