Much More Fun than Doing It Alone
A Chat with the Inventor of the Modern Day Muses, Jill Badonsky
When Jill Badonsky was growing up, she wanted to herd imaginary friends. “I had one of those childhoods that lead you to be an artist or a writer, and what got me through was my imagination,” she said. “Knowing the power of having these imaginary friends, my imaginary support system, was what turned into the Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard.” This book, now in its fourth edition, anthropomorphizes ten powerful creativity principles into whimsical and wise beings who support us in finding creative fulfillment.
After all, who wouldn’t love to have a conversation with a muse to break through an obstacle? Much more fun than doing it all alone!
Badonsky also used these same principles to create her coaching system, Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching. In this way, she fulfilled her other childhood dream profession, being a teacher of something creative. Frankly, she’s the only person who I’ve ever interviewed who, when asked “What did you want to be when you grew up?” answered, “I wanted to be exactly what I grew up to be.” How fabulous!
This interview with Jill was so yummy that I decided our conversation needed its own attention. Watch for next week’s review and Enjoy!
What prompted you to transform these 10 creativity principles into the Muses and a Bodyguard?
I was an occupational therapist in psychiatry, so I studied creativity ever since the early eighties, and so I had a background that fed into my instincts and my intuition, which is what the Muses are mostly based on.
I somehow found out there were nine Greek Muses and I had a whole bunch of creativity principles I was gonna personify, and I thought, “Well, I'll put them into those nine muses.” and they didn't fit. That's why there's a bodyguard!
But intuitively, based on my own creative blocks, I came up with these Muses, which represent self-talk that helps you get through creative blocks and helps you want to be creative.
In your work, which muse do you feel like gets called on more often than others? Or are they all called on about the same?
Yeah, they all have the same amount of clout, as far as the creative process goes. Because I work with so many people who don't think they're good enough, perfectionists and people who are just really critical of themselves and their work, I most often call on Spills, the Muse of Imperfection, Process and Practice. Although Albert helps us think differently about what we're doing and about our to-do list. And Bea Silly is vital for, “So what, I'll do it anyway!” So they overlap a little bit. But I would say, giving people permission not to have to be perfect and to enjoy the process might be the most popular one.
I love all of them. I don't want to favor one over the other, because they get really revengeful and then they put marshmallows under my carpet, and it's just a sticky mess!
I'm going to shift a little and ask what prompted you to create the Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Process.
When I was trying to write The Nine Modern Day Muses, I was stuck and procrastinating. I heard a friend of mine say she was going to a life coach who was helping her. So I went to the life coach and she blocked me even more. She tried to put me on a linear path. She overwhelmed me with a to-do list. I'm a recovering perfectionist, so not getting everything done on the list meant that I didn't want to go back. She was telling me what to do, and you can't tell a creative person what to do!
So I went back and said, “You know, I didn't want to do anything, because you told me what to do.” And I started telling her that she could tell me I could pick from 3 things to do, and they could be fun, but that didn’t work for her. And I wondered, how many people are getting blocked by people trying to put them on a linear path?
In writing the book, I was also doing workshops and somebody asked me to to coach them just out of the blue.
And you know one of my muses is Audacity. So I had the audacity to say, “Okay.”
She was a masseuse who wanted to write a book on massage. And I got massages in exchange for coaching her, but when I was sitting there, the intuition started coming through me, telling me what to say, and I thought, “This is what I need to do.”
Ever since being a kid, I wanted to be a teacher. And teaching my system to other people, so they could go out into the world and liberate people seemed like the next right step because I was teaching the workshops based on the Muses and people wanted one-to-one coaching. My master's is in curriculum development, so it was just a natural segue into putting together a curriculum for coaching.
That was 21 years ago.
What would you say is the benefit of being coached by a KMCC-Certified creativity coach?
It's a real unconventional approach. The first thing I tell coaches in training is, you can't tell a creative person what to do. It's a lot of mindfulness. It's self-compassion for these voices that harass us about not being good enough. It's taking every creative block that I've heard of, and having a solution for it, but in a really intuitive, imaginative way that's also based on the psychology of Kaizen, which is continuous improvement through small steps, and the voices of the Muses.
One of the biggest and best distinctions is there's an experience in every session. It's not all about, Okay, this is what I want you to do between sessions. It’s “Oh, you’re stuck! Let's get started now with something small and crappy.” One of the biggest blocks is people's expectations right at the beginning or when they have resistance. A lot of the time, they're just putting a lot of pressure on themselves. We lower the pressure, we make things really small, and we hold the space for people to get started. That seems to help people.
When the session is over, there's been a momentum already built. Then it’s easier to get back to work, to just get into it, and it's very much based on capitalizing on the client’s strengths.
That's what we explore. Has this happened before? And if it did, how did you get through it? And can we do that again? If somebody's been overwhelmed or they've been procrastinating, usually it's happened before and they figured out a way to get through it. If not, here are some suggestions. But you are the master of choosing which one you think would work for you rather than the coach saying, “This is what I want you to do.”
A lot of people identify guided relaxations as one of the most important parts, because silences the chatter in the mind, at lease enough to get people in touch with their clarity and intuition and creativity. During these experiences, we hear messages and ideas and insights from the part of us that already knows, or it just needs a little prodding to be put into gear.
How do you define being a Thriving Creative?
Showing up for yourself. Showing up, making time for yourself and enjoying it. I think a lot of people are doing what they think they're supposed to do and should do. But the people who thrive in my world most creatively are following the energy of which idea energizes them the most, and lets them enjoy the process. If I'm enjoying the process and doing it for myself, the product either takes care of itself or I just had a blast in the process. If it's a value of yours, make room and time for it. And don’t be hard on yourself because it's impossible to be perfect as a human.
Thank you, Jill, for sharing your wisdom!
Want to delve further in Jill’s offerings? Here are two coming up!
The Modern Day Muse Facilitator Course happens online, September 23- December 9, 2025: Be trained to run groups and also unleash your own creativity based on the book, The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard) with Master KMCC coaches, Rozy Walker and Terry Way. Click here for more information and to sign up!
Wild Abandon Creativity at Omega Institute of Holistic Science in Rhinebeck, NY, Sept 28-Oct 3, 2025: - A beautiful nurturing place to return to yourself. Get more information and sign up here.
Want to read along with us? Pick up your copy of The Nine Modern Day Muses & A Bodyguard at your local indie bookshop, at the library or online!
Do you want to create something but don’t know where to start? Perhaps you just want to connect to your creative side again. Or maybe you just need some fresh eyes on your writing!
I’m LA (as in tra-la-la) Bourgeois, a writer, editor, KMCC-certified creativity coach, and end-of-life doula empowering you to think differently and unlock your creativity to do whatever you want to do.
Together, we overcome obstacles, disarm fear and overwhelm, and free you from perfectionism and procrastination. Whether you’re looking to deepen your relationship with your patrons, create your bucket-list project, write your next book, or ignite your passion for creativity again, we can confront your obstacles together.
Click here to explore coaching options or contact me at la@labourgeois.biz to ask questions and schedule an exploratory call.
What a really good interview on a really interesting subject. So good.
What a great interviewer you are!