"I’m Just Not a Creative Person" — Round 2

April 28, 2008 · Filed Under creativity, letting go 

Yesterday, I decided the “I’m not creative” excuse just won’t fly with me any more. It’s incredibly frustrating, that no one bothered to tell these people that they absolutely DO have creative ability.

There’s no predetermined process or user manual I can give you with pretty diagrams that will instruct you on how to tap into your creative potential.

What I CAN give you is this: the most important step you will take in any creative journey. I consider it essential. And, it will bring you One Step Closer to Your Creative Breakthrough.

You must learn to LET GO (Hey, I never said it was an easy one).

{1} You must let go of the fear of being wrong.
{2} You must let go of the need to control every little detail.

Perfectionism - it’s at the root of both of these things.

An obsession with perfection can be fatal to your creativity. It wreaks major havoc on passionate energy, refreshing spontaneity and any kind of productivity.

In her book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron writes…

Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves,, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough — that we should try again. No we should not.

Contrary to popular belief, perfectionism does not move closer what is “right.” In fact, perfectionism stops us dead in our tracks, and our creativity stops right along with it.

We are harder on ourselves than anyone else could ever be - our own worst critic. We have so much trouble giving ourselves permission to fail. Don’t you forgive your spouse or a friend when they screw up? Of course you do - they’re human. Um, HELLO! You’re human too. We were still an imperfect species last time I looked it up.

Ok, so you ran full speed at some creative gamble, tripped and skinned a knee. So, what? If not for the failed attempts in our creative lives, we might never find the right formula. Our mistakes lay the groundwork for our ability to live up to our creative potential. They are the first coats that prime our canvases, the red marks that decorate our shitty first drafts and the basting stitches that laid the groundwork for your sewing.


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Comments

4 Responses to “"I’m Just Not a Creative Person" — Round 2”

  1. Ali Anani on July 11th, 2008 2:10 am

    I fully concur with this article and, in particular:
    - go one step closer to your creativity breakthrough. Creativity lies at the edge of chaos and it is important to make small changes that may induce large changes
    - negative thinking. This is toxic to creativity. People who tend to think negatively do not open new directions and confine their energy to self-destruction. This is a form of creativity-suicide
    Great article, indeed.

  2. Kristen on July 11th, 2008 8:26 am

    @Ali
    “Creativity lies at the edge of chaos…”

    I LOVE that! Thanks for the insightful comments.

  3. Ali Anani on July 11th, 2008 3:33 pm

    Hi Kristen,
    I use flint stone admixed with ordinary stones as a metaphor for creativity. Flint-like ideas when collide produce thr creative spark. It is analogous to chemical reactions in which few bombarding molecules produce the activated spark. Hence, we must increase the “concentration” of ideas, their proper orientation and their bombardment to generate new and creative ideas. It is the THREE ACT of innovation.
    THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENT ON MY PREVIOUS COMMENT

  4. Ali Anani on July 15th, 2008 2:08 am

    Just a queation to you, Kristen,

    The old assumption is that we can not shoot a moving target. In our rapidly changing world our target, the customer, is changing expectations, demands and aspirations. What are the crearive techniques to shoot these changing targets?
    Thank You

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