The Decision Point That Transforms Dreamers Into Creators

Klára: I was crushing my all-out sprints this morning and, as usual, I already felt DONE at the end of my third. Third of FOUR. But what did I do? Walked back to my starting line and crushed the fourth. Just like I have every week for the past 8 years.

Then, on my cool-down walk, I was thinking about these quests for getting in shape. How many people hype themselves up to start, but slide back into their old habits before they get anywhere.

Sarvam: You know, this reminds me of something I've been noticing with my creative work. In some moments, I want to stop my work and leave, and I used to think those moments of wanting to escape were just my ADHD brain being "broken" or difficult. But then I started to realize it was something else…

Klára: I actually know that tendency to escape from my creative work, too.

I feel irritated because something doesn’t flow, and I feel the urge to leave because it's so damn uncomfortable.

Both physical training and creative work are mental gym time.

Sarvam: Oh, I know exactly what you mean about those moments. For me, it's like, you know, when you're working on something and your brain starts throwing every possible distraction at you?

"Maybe I should check my email.”

“Oh, I should reorganize my desk first.”

“Actually, let me just scroll Substack for some 'inspiration.'"

Klára: …check emails, click over to another tab, go eat something, or vacuum clean… Yeah, I know those.

Which reminds me of something I realized about distractions…

Have you noticed how we consider spending time on social media or watching Netflix 'bad' behaviors? How we judge those things, consider them a ‘guilty pleasure’ and feel ashamed?

But there’s nothing bad about those things.

Opening Substack intentionally to engage is completely different from opening Substack to escape the chaos of your work. Watching Netflix because you need to soothe anxiety is different from watching Netflix because you've made intentional space for inspiration.

So asking, “WHY am I reaching for my phone right now?” or “WHY am I typing netflix.com into my browser right now?” is way more valuable than slapping a judgment on it. The answer is the first step to breaking that cycle of:

discomfort → distraction → guilt → repeat.

Don’t judge the behaviour itself.

Always ask 'WHY am I doing this right now?’

Sarvam: Yes! This is huge. I think we've been taught to see our distractions as signs of weakness or lack of discipline. Like, "If I were just more disciplined, I wouldn't reach for my phone." But you're right, the WHY is everything.

When I catch myself opening Instagram in the middle of writing, it's usually because I hit something that feels uncertain or messy, and my brain is literally trying to get me back to something that removes the feeling of navigating the messiness. It's my nervous system trying to regulate itself.

Once I started seeing it that way, I could work with it instead of fighting it.

Klára: Same. My results started changing when I started responding to those urges differently.

Sarvam: There’s something I've noticed with my ADHD brain, and this might sound backward, but those uncomfortable moments are actually the most important ones.

I used to think something was wrong with me when I'd feel that urge to run away from my writing or a vibe coding project. Like, why can't I just sit here and create like a normal person? But I'm starting to see that discomfort differently now.

Klára: Ha ha, maybe it’s actually more normal that we can’t sit through it. But what ends up happening when we give in to the temptation to stop and leave in this exact moment is that we get stuck at a certain level…

Maybe we don’t abandon it completely. Maybe we try again… but get nowhere again. Because we always stop in the same moment. And then we end up holding this dream of achieving something that feels impossible to reach, while others can somehow have it. And we wonder why. This is why.

Sarvam: Speaking of levels, you know video games, right? I've started thinking of those moments like, you know, how in video games when you're getting close to the boss level, suddenly way more enemies start attacking you? The resistance isn't random. It shows up strongest right before the breakthrough!

Klára: You’ll only get as far in the game as you’re willing to stay in the game and persist through what’s asked of you…

Sarvam: The weird part is, every time I've stayed when I felt like leaving, even for just five more minutes, I've ended up with something I never would have found if I'd given up. It's like there's this whole other layer of creativity that only exists on the other side of wanting to quit.

Klára: What other layer of creativity?

Sarvam: It's like, okay, you know how when you're writing and everything flows easily, it feels good, but it's usually stuff you already kind of knew? That’s why it flows easily, right? The breakthrough ideas – the ones that surprise even me – they only come in the moments when I’m going somewhere I haven’t been yet, doing something I don’t know how to do yet, figuring out something I don’t know yet… those are the moments where I can get impatient and frustrated.

But if I can stay there for just a few more minutes, suddenly connections start forming that I never would have seen otherwise. So now, when I'm in the middle of writing and hit that wall where it feels messy and unclear and my brain is screaming "this is terrible, let's start something new" – that's not a sign I should quit. That's actually the sign I'm about to break through to something real, right?

Klára: That's how I learned to stay when everything in me wanted to leave. I remember the first breakthrough clearly.

I was writing a game script, drowning in notes with highlights everywhere. Chaos. Normally, I'd get up and leave. And if I returned, I’d start over because it would be too overwhelming. But this time, I noticed that urge and decided to figure it out. I calmed down, got curious, and started exploring ways to organize that chaos. And you know what? Within an hour, the script was clear and flowing.

That experience shifted how I’ve been handling those moments moving forward.

Life-changing.

Sarvam: I had this moment last month when I was working on a web app project that felt completely stuck. Everything I tried looked wrong, and I could feel that familiar itch to close the laptop and “come back to it later” (which we both know usually means never).

But instead, I just sat there with the terrible app design on my screen and asked myself, "What if this messiness is actually trying to tell me something?" I started playing with the elements that felt most wrong, not trying to fix them but just... exploring why they bothered me.

Twenty minutes later, I had something completely different than what I'd started with, and way better than anything I would have created if I'd stuck to my usual approach. That moment taught me that the discomfort isn't a bug in my creative process. It's a feature.

Klara: Oh, the “usual approach” is the reason why I have a cemetery of abandoned projects. There are so many things I started with excitement and never completed.

For years, I thought it was a bug in my wiring. That I was destined to live with this limitation. That I’m simply great at starting, but I need others to complete what I start. And then I ran into Human Design, which told me I’m here to initiate and leave the work to others… which made me feel SO seen in my struggle and relax into it even more!

Incredible.

But in fact, I just struggled with the middle part of the creative process.

Starting something new was always easier than staying in the middle. Most of my new, exciting starts weren’t even smart pivots – they were my escapes when I couldn’t figure out something in the middle. This created an endless cycle of beginnings without endings. And it was heartbreaking... having these visions of what I could create, yet not being able to create them because I kept running away.

We feel the strongest urge to quit precisely when staying would help us grow.

Sarvam: We might be meant to create, but we still need to learn to be creators…

Klára: That makes me think… You know what's interesting about this for independent creators? We face a totally different challenge than people with structured jobs. I only experienced what it means when I became one.

When you work for someone else, your day is structured from the outside. Meetings appear in your calendar. Your time is divided between billable and non-billable work. And then you have a set line between work and free time. So the rhythm of your work and life is largely decided for you, and you operate within that structure. But when you're independent, that structure isn’t set for you. Which is both a luxury and a challenge.

Sarvam: Oh wow, I hadn't thought about it that way, but you're right. We usually imagine that being independent means freedom, and it’s alluring not to have someone tell you what and when to do, but can you be the person who’s not told what and when to do?....….

Klára: Exactly. We have the luxury to design our days around our energy and “do what we want”, which is incredible. You have the freedom to make it all fit you. But it's also a challenge to learn to make it fit you and make it all work. Because that same freedom means you must learn to distinguish between healthy variety (getting up and leaving to do something else) and unhealthy escape. Or you’ll get nothing

Sarvam: Like, there's a difference between intentionally switching tasks because your brain needs a refresh versus bouncing between things because you're avoiding the discomfort of deep work.

Klára: One is the productive variety, where each task or activity in your day feeds the other. The other is just avoiding.

Sarvam: So the challenge isn't eliminating variety… It's becoming aware of why we're switching tasks in the first place.

Klára: Right.

Sarvam: Alright. Here's what I'm taking from this: we're not just creating projects or building businesses or getting in shape. We're creating ourselves into the person who can do those things. And I feel those transformations only happen in the uncomfortable moments we usually try to escape.

Your brain isn't broken because it wants to run away from discomfort. It's actually trying to protect you. But sometimes protection becomes a prison. The magic happens when you can say, "Thanks, brain, I know you're trying to help, but I'm staying here for five more minutes.”

In those five minutes, that's where you become someone different than who you were before.

We're not just creating projects. We're creating ourselves into the person who can do those things.

Klára: Exactly. If we want the results, we need to become the person who creates those results. And that becoming usually needs to happen first… before the visible thing takes shape, almost as an inevitable consequence.

This is why I believe recognizing that moment of resistance as your crossroad is so crucial. How we respond in that moment separates people who create from those who don't.

Want to succeed as a creator?

Then learn to stay:

The next time you feel that urge to run away from your work, remember THIS moment. Because THIS is the moment when you’re deciding you're going to do something different:

What feels like the perfect moment to quit is the perfect moment to pause and understand what you're experiencing.

Is it…

• Impatience? It's taking longer than expected…

• Uncertainty? Is what you’re doing even going to work, or is it wasted time…

• Overwhelm? With too many possibilities or too much information…

• Confusion? You don’t know what to do next…

• Frustration? You can’t solve the problem…

You’re not choosing what you’re experiencing, but you’re choosing what you do with it. And that choice determines where your life goes next.

Are you staying the same, or are you leveling up?

Klara Sovryn

and

Sarvam

P.S. It would be wonderful to hear from you in the comments. Let’s meet there and continue the conversation!