Parts Work: Rediscovering the creative part of you

Maybe you studied a creative subject or subjects a while ago, but now you are not making any art or crafting any craft? Or maybe you run a creative business or artistic practice and your mojo has gone on holiday and forgot to come back?  Or that you have a list of creative ideas continuously swirling around your head but it feels too indulgent to make time for them?  

Regardless of the reason, if you consider yourself to be a creative person, yet the act of being creative is alluding you, this blog might help.  

If you imagine that you are made up of a cast of characters.  You might have a practical get-things-done part, a part which would rather make a den and hide all day, a part that is perhaps more negative, a part that is more positive and so on. 

There will be a beautiful part of you which is the creative one.  The one which loves to ask “what if…?” and comes up with a gazillion ideas a day.  That part is also very brave and not afraid of the creative struggle and acknowledges that creativity is a big challenge but that part is up for it because they know that when things do click into place it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. 

This part of you can often get squashed by other more shouty parts.  All parts of you are valid and all have a useful role to play at certain points but if you leave the shouty ones to roam free they’ll likely start shouting all the blooming time.

If they are being noisy, your wild creative part is likely to get drowned out and it will be harder for you to give them the attention they deserve.

Working through what your parts are and what role you want them to play (rather than the ones they’ve cast themselves in), is a technique in coaching called Parts Work.  It comes from the therapeutic world where it is called Internal Family Systems or IFS for short.  It is one of the most transformational coaching techniques I use, both with clients and also in my own coaching sessions where I’m the client.  It is incredibly powerful stuff without it feeling too serious or onerous.  After all, we’re just making up characters and telling stories, right?

It’s important to state that creativity is really hard.  It’s messy, takes focus that can strain the brain and can often result in failure which can feel rubbish .  However, when we think of times we were most creative, it’s easy to think of the times when we were flying high, the ideas were effectively being translated into the real world and the affirmation and validation from others was in abundance.  It's a bit like how mother nature forgets how hard child birth is, and so that mothers willingly go through it again, here we forget the grubby, sweaty toil we needed to put in to feel that wonderful stuff when your creativity flows.

If you follow these steps then I promise you will start to feel like being creative is possible again (and if it doesn’t work, I will give you a refund of £0, as this is all free anyway!).

Step 1: 

Identify your parts.  You don’t need to list all of them, and there will always be some cross over between them, but come up with a handful of characters and give them a name.  In my coaching sessions, beautiful clients have called their creative part names like The Wild One, The Dreamer, The Spark and Bob.  (I particularly like Bob).

Step 2:

Start noticing which parts of you are in the driving seat when you are going about your day - who is making the most noise in your head?  Spending a bit of time just noticing can be really useful.  You don’t need to take any further action at this stage.  Just notice.

Step 3: 

When you feel you’ve noticed enough (and you get to decide how long that is) it’s time to write some new job descriptions for your parts.  For example, I have a particularly judgemental part of me who likes to criticise everything but is reluctant to be brave or bold herself.  For her, I would say that she is very occasionally useful in stopping me from doing something silly, but most of the time I don’t need her and she can take a seat at the back of my metaphorical bus.  My creative part, however, which I call The Playful Joker, is brimming full of ideas, always eager to take messy action, but can also be quite selfish and can also drown out other voices.  For her, I would say that I need her speaking up more but she needs to collaborate with some of my more sensible parts so I can be brave, creative but also productive and kind.

So have a think through your parts: when are they useful and should be in the driving seat and when do they need to sit at the back of the bus?

Step 4:

You might have heard of the Artist Date, from Julia Cameron’s seminal creative handbook, The Artists Way.  Here I want you to think about your [insert it’s name here] Date - what could you do that would help that creative part of you speak up and fully step into their brave and bold potential?  Something inspiration generating.  It might involve nature or art or heritage/ and history?  It might simply be sneaking off to read, write or draw in a cafe with a chai latte (something I’m doing right now as I type this for you 🙂).  Make a plan that is achievable within your time and resource constraints and make sure, one way or another that it happens, ideally within the next 7 days.

Step 5: if you’re feeling serious about taking action, you might benefit from my free email course, The Luggage Tag Creative Plan.  This is a 5 day course designed to help you take action by the end of the 5 days.  It’s quick and simple, all you have to do is watch a daily video (no longer than 3 minutes) and scribble a sentence or so on a luggage tag, on a post it, in your notebook or similar.  By the end you will have convinced yourself that this project needs to happen and you will take action. All projects are welcome from the massive, like writing that bestselling novel, to the tiny, like finishing that little craft kit you got two Christmases ago and everything in between.

Step 6:  Now you have identified your parts, and maybe also have a bit of a creative plan you might feel you need a bit of additional support to hold you accountable, help you to develop positive creative habits and, if your creativity is also your work, to develop and stick to a business strategy.  If that’s the case then come and chat with me about coaching.  If you’re reading this in September 2026, I also have a special offer on now where you can get the Luggage Tag Business Plan and a free Power Half Hour to audit where you’re at and kick start your coaching journey with me.  Book a free intro call here.

Step 7: One amazing client of mine set up weekly “staff meetings” for her parts which took place in an imaginary yurt in her mind.  This, I think, is truly wonderful and would encourage you to do a similar regular review where you can check in and see how all your parts are doing.  Imaginary yurts optional.

Let me know how you get on.

Sarah: Sarah: Which parts of yours should be at the back of the bus?

Tara: Most of them! Especially when I’m doing something creative. 

I do my best work when I put The Dreamer behind the wheel. The trouble is, she is not the most conventional driver, and that terrifies all my other parts. Even when they’re all the way on the back of the bus, they wouldn’t be able to sit down quietly. So I’ve been experimenting with a rather empty bus instead. It feels more like a walk now, which is all the better!

Tara: Do you have any parts which surprise you?

Sarah: I know what you mean about your creative part, The Dreamer, not being the most conventional driver. I feel my Playful Joker part is very similar. I was working through my parts with my coach a while ago and they asked if there was a part missing. What emerged from that coaching conversation was The Ninja. Not a part that appears a lot in my life, but when she does, blimey! There is a cool, steely determination which can be so useful in certain situations. Most of the time I reckon she's on a metaphorical sun lounger in my mind, not doing much at all, but when called upon she's the most kickass part of me and can really get all the things done.