Idea Tango

Creative Confidence – Taking the Pressure Off

For those of you coming from WomanTalkLive - WELCOME! As usual, just scroll down to near the end of this post to the section in blue: 10 BIG-LIFE QUESTIONS TO ASK EVERY YEAR.

Last time, we began a discussion about creative confidence – what it means, how to get it, how to keep it and how to pass it on.

The article I shared with you by the Children’s Creativity Museum provided what I thought was a quite moving definition of creative confidence “Creative Confidence: Having the freedom and courage to fail/take creative risks and the knowledge that all of the ideas you create have value.” – and so, today, we start on the path toward how to get it.

While I’m a big believer in the sometimes power of anxiety (when we can choose to perceive it as excitement) and sometimes pressure (in the form of outrageously daring deadlines that spark the good kind of creative panic), the overriding feelings, for me, as a creative being are joy, passion, freedom, adventure, poignancy, thrill and a whole bunch of other emotions unrelated to anxiety and feeling under pressure. I think that’s true for most of us. In the beginning, then, when we’re first tapping into our inherent creativity, it makes sense that one of the kindest things we can do for ourselves towards building creative confidence is to take the pressure off. Find a way to open up our creative selves and begin living a more creative life without the fear and dread. And, for many of us, that means without the fear of actually having to create – to just take the pressure off completely.

If we can set up ourselves to feel and experience the essence of creative being without the idea that there is some end game, some masterpiece that needs to appear at the end of it, we can free ourselves from self-afflicted pressure and tap into the passion and motivation that, in the end, will drive us creatively forward anyway – with nary a thought to the risk. We can get to the point where we’re so on fire about what we are experiencing that creative stuff naturally and organically happens.

What we’re really doing when we take the pressure off is opening up a space for curiosity and, ultimately, inspiration (which if you remember from the series on creative process is the whole starting place of the creative process to begin with: Sponge Work). However, on the take-the-pressure-off path, we’re not going to imagine opening this space has anything to do with sparking our creativity. In fact, we’re not even going to call doing this anything with the word creative in it. We’re just going to call it fully living.

In this world, it’s all too easy to fall into ruts and routines that ignore who we really are and that dampen our passion. We stay in jobs we hate. We forget to immerse ourselves in new experiences. We stop learning. We stop moving our bodies. We numb out. Not all of us, of course, and certainly not all the time, but perhaps just enough to prevent us from fully living (and from feeling inspired to create).  

This week, Ann Quasman shared an insightful article with me about the connection between creativity and health (A Creative Life is a Healthy Life by Amanda Enayati for CNN). In it, Enayati describes the path to creativity and innovation – which just happens to look very much like fully living. If we put the focus on broadening our experience and deepening our learning about ourselves and the world around us; if we choose to master new skills and areas of interest; if we make a commitment to jump out of the status quo and into what makes us truly happy, what makes us feel more alive, our inherent creativity flows to the forefront and real creative expression is highly likely to follow.

All we have to do is decide to fully live.

Below, I’ve posted 10 Big-Life Questions to Ask Every Year – these are questions I ask myself, as well as all my coaching clients annually, and which, I think, are really helpful for setting new intentions and new directions on a regular basis. Especially, the intention of fully living and, therefore, of embarking towards greater creative confidence at regular intervals. Remember, though, the whole idea is to take the pressure off by making fully living, not creativity, the goal.

In short, we’re building creative confidence by not going for anything more, or anything less, than full immersion into a full life.

To taking the pressure fully off by getting on with fully living,

Susan B.

P.S. If you’d like to share your Big-Life intentions as a way to make this exercise more concrete (and yourself more accountable – which always helps!), you can do that right here at Idea Tango by leaving a comment with your answers. I’ll be the same later this week - and I hope you’ll join me.

10 BIG-LIFE QUESTIONS TO ASK EVERY YEAR   

#1. What’s your theme for this year?

#2. What are three goals you’ll have achieved as a result of living true to your theme this year?

#3. What new things are you going to learn this learn?

#4. What are you going to master this year?

#5. What’s the one thing you’ve been scared to do that you ARE going to do this year?

#6. What will you STOP doing this year?

#7. Who are you going to help this year?

#8. Where are you going to go this year?

#9. What’s the motto you need to adopt this year to support you in moving toward, achieving and/or living all of the above?

#10. At the end of this year, what will be true about you?

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s. Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

Creative Unstucking – The Best of Unstucking Advice

Well, this is it. The final article in the creative un-stucking series (at least for the time being): UN-STUCKING TIPS from EVERYWHERE.

Thanks to all who read the series and a comment. While I made a last ditch effort to wrangle some of you into sharing your unstucking ideas, I did not get a slew of responses. The final total: zero. So, instead of sharing our best ideas, I've collected some of the best blog posts on the subject and am sharing them below. I think you'll enjoy reading them as much as I did.

The Best of the How to Unstuck Yourself Creatively Advice:

The Art of Getting Creatively Un-Stuck (+ Why You Sometimes Have to Kill Off Your Inner Nice Girl by Justine Musk

Getting Unstuck Creativiely from The Lilypad

How to Get Unstuck if You're a Creative Freak Suffering From Creative Paralysis by Karen Daniels (Zen Copy)

Remove The Dead Wood, Let The New Growth Breathe by Dan Goodwin (A Big Creative Yes)

PODCAST: Noah Scalin on Getting Unstuck produced by Todd Henry founder of Accidental Creative - Noah is the author of a 2011 book called Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio

Getting Unstuck by Todd Henry (Accidental Creative)

Getting Unstuck - 7 Techniques to Shake the Creative Duldrums by Tracy (Bent Tuba Studio)

To sharing about our stuck,

Susan B.

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s. Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

Creative Un-Stucking – Just Do It (even if it’s a cliché)

This is the second to last article in the un-stucking series, which means it’s time to talk about the most important un-stucking method of all:

Moving Forward Anyway

By the way, it’s the second to last and not the final article because I have a special request of you for the final un-stucking article in the series. So, be sure to read through the end today to see if you’d like to throw your hat into the ring next week. Now, back to the topic at hand:

Moving Forward Anyway is the most important un-stucking method not because it’s the best tool for expanding or enhancing creativity, but because it’s one of the most valuable tools for just plain getting on with it. Meaning that Moving Forward Anyway is about taking a monumental step toward being able to confidently claim, “I AM CREATIVE.”

At a certain point in many creative processes, there is a deadline – either one you set yourself for any number of reasons, or one imposed upon you. Your deadline may be as non-urgent as “I want to finish this project, because I want to finish this project,” or as truly urgent as, “My boss needs to see my ideas by 10am tomorrow.”

If you’re not stuck, your only problem may be that you’re so in the flow that you don’t want stop. But if you do feel stuck, well, that’s where Moving Forward Anyway comes in. Even if there is no deadline, for the reason stated above, Moving Forward Anyway is simply an invaluable action step toward learning how creative you really are.

Two years ago, I bought a townhome. About two weeks BEFORE I bought the townhome, I bought three nice chrome frames from Ikea. I also bought three nice mats and several sheets of REALLY nice watercolor paper. The following describes what I wanted to do with the frames, mats and watercolor paper:

I want to create some original artwork to go above my blue sofa in the living room.

I want the artwork to pick up the colors of my downstairs – blue and orange.

I want the three paintings to be based on an interesting single concept.

Now, what that concept was going to be, I had no idea. And over the two years that I’ve lived in the townhome, I’ve played around with a bunch of ideas. I love creating word paintings and I thought about doing a concept about my husband’s habit of saying “the word of the day is ____” whenever I use a word that has more than two syllables. In fact, I even went so far as to write a poem called, The Word of the Day is Tenuous.

I really like the poem – and I have no artwork based on that concept.

I also thought about buying a fourth frame and doing one painting that represents each person in my family – my husband, myself and my two stepdaughters.

I also do not have any artwork based on that concept.

So, about three weeks ago, my youngest stepdaughter announced that she would like to work on a couple of creative projects for her room over Spring break.

I thought, GREAT! This is my chance to finish those #$%&!#*% paintings! 

We made a plan to go to Michaels to get ideas, and while my stepdaughter proceeded to figure out what she was going to create, I felt even STUCK-ER. I was totally uninspired to watercolor.

But what did inspire me was the idea of spending quiet creative time with my stepdaughter.

I remembered a song my husband shared about how taking your kid fishing has nothing to do with fishing, and I realized that what was important to me for this particular creative project was Moving Forward Anyway – moving forward so that I would not blow this precious opportunity to create side by side with someone I love.

So, in this case, Moving Forward Anyway meant just choosing something – anything – and just doing it.  I based choice on my goal of spending time with stepdaughters which meant I just need to mix the colors I wanted and paint something I could paint while focusing on her.

We spent two days painting together. She created three watercolor paintings, including a card for her boyfriend and I finished my three pieces for the frames.

I really hated my paintings – AT FIRST. After all, there was no big idea behind them like I originally wanted. But now, I absolutely love them - except the one on the left – I still hate that one, but it’s my husband’s favorite. And that is a good enough reason to keep it up on the wall. Because – does it really matter? Was that really the point? I had set my deadline (2 days with my stepdaughter), and I chose to make what I created in that time okay.

Un-stucking myself by Moving Forward Anyway on this one project did what Moving Forward Anyway tends to do. It made me feel creative. It made me feel proud. It un-stuck me in general. I received a renewed creative spark for a lot of other projects that had been on my mind.

So, whereas this one painting series is not what I wanted to create, Moving Forward Anyway got me more in return than what having a better idea or more inspiration could have possibly given me. It always works that way. If you let it.  

Never underestimate the value of just deciding to do SOMETHING. Pick your idea out of a hat if you have to, and just follow through and see what transpires. What you actually create is likely the least of what you’ll get.

Like me, you may walk away with a deeper appreciation of how creative you really are – and you may find yourself in flow in another place in your life.

Even more, you’ll strengthen the deeper “I AM Creative” KNOWING that lives in each of us. The knowing that knows the I’m NOT Creative belief is a lie.

Moving Forward Anyway is not a cop out. It’s a legitimate response to a stuck scenario that enables you to create even though you are stuck. Letting go of the outcome and just being in the creative experience is only one of the gifts.

What I love so much about those paintings was the process of creating an intimate moment, not a painting. That’s what I think about when I look at them – and that turned out to be the big idea.     

To choosing the act of creation over the creation itself,

Susan B.

THE BIG REQUEST: I’ve shared a few of my favorite ways to get un-stuck creatively – and they only scratch the surface. The final article in the series needs to be from all of you! Please share your favorite un-stucking method in an email to susan@unlockedbox.com. There will be a link to everyone’s tips in next week’s Spark Factory. Thank you in advance for “just doing it.”

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s. Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

The Three Paintings:

The Physiology of Creativity – Death to Right/Left Brain Theory and Birth of a New Understanding of Our Creative Being

Last week, in the second in a series of articles about how to get un-stuck creatively, I told you that this week I’d share the link to a fascinating podcast of On Being from American Public Radio about the physiology of creativity.

What I especially loved about Krista Tippett’s interview with neuroscientist Rex Jung was that he put the kibosh to two long-held beliefs about creativity that have effectively given some of us a scientific data proving we’re NOT creative.

The first belief is the right brain/left brain theory – that right-brained people are more creative than left-brained people and that learning to access your right brand is the key to enhanced creativity.

Just listening to Rex’s explanation of why this widely accepted theory is WRONG and how it came to be common knowledge, spawning a host of books, courses and giving a whole slew of supposedly left-brainer types either a handy excuse for not tapping their inherent creativity, or the very sad truth that no matter how hard they try, they’ll never be as creative as those right-brainers, is, all by itself, worth the listen.

The second is the belief that brainstorming is a good way to generate creative thinking and ideas.

I recently shared a New York Times article that discussed just how counter-productive this practice is – as most of us who’ve participated in any sort of brainstorming session already know. Rex’s reference to that same article and his and Krista’s more expansive discussion of new findings in the physiology of creativity, might give those of us facing our next brainstorming session the courage we need to “just say no.”*

Listen to “Creativity and the Everyday Brain” from American Public Radio's On Being

Read the New York Times article, "The Rise of the New Groupthink"

To our everyday MAGNIFICENT brains,

*To repeat a thought from the original article containing the link to the New York Times piece: Brainstorming is an extremely valuable tool in certain circumstances and when used for specific reasons. We’ll explore what those are in a future article in the un-stucking creativity series.

Susan B.

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s. Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

 

Breakthrough! Creative Tools for When Your Ideas are Bigger than Your Technical Ability

In a past article, we talked about a very sneaky kind of external creativity saboteur, TECHNIQUE. You can read more about it via the link, but here’s the gist in a nutshell:

I believe creativity and technique are totally different things. Creative is who and what we are. Technique is a skill we learn.

But we sometimes confuse the two.

We think, “If I don’t have the SKILL, I’m not CREATIVE.” Or, “I don’t have the talent to create what I want, so I’m stuck.” The focus is on the technical part of creating, not on creativity itself.

Because of beliefs like these, we may not seek out alternative ways of making our creations real. But, in today’s world, lack of technique is not a creative deal breaker. Especially, with so many creative tools and resources right at our fingertips.

I’ll be sharing creative tools of all types as we go, starting with two that were recently introduced to me by Unlocked Box client, Tamara Connolly.

Tamara is scary smart (you can read more about her below). So I pay attention whenever she says, check this out:

Prezi – Make Your Presentations Zoom

If you want an immersive, engaging way to play with and present ideas, Prezi is your tool. Prezi is a cloud-based software that uses a zoomable canvas to make visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery.

Kickstarter – A New Way to Fund and Follow Creativity

Kickstarter enables you to post a video and a description of a creative project of any kind and raise the money to fund it. Just looking through this site inspires me:

Tuzina – We Dance A teen-conceived and run project that uses dance as a tool for women and children in Uganda to work through the traumatic events they have experienced and to celebrate their culture.

Singularity & Co A project to save old and out-of-print sci-fi books by making them available online and as eBooks.

What Makes a Baby A project to answer the question “where do babies come from” in a way that works for EVERY family structure.

If you want to create something specific and are looking for the right creative tools or resources, including the human kind, let me know. A monster passion of mine at Unlocked Box is figuring out how to make my own, my clients’ and the Idea Tango community’s ideas work.

About Tamara Connolly: Tamara is an artist, designer and owner of Gildengers Connolly, a design firm, and also of Kli, a new online store that revisions religious objects for the contemporary home – with the thrilling underlying mission to increase the relevance of ritual/symbols and spark a cultural dialogue about the role of religion in society today.

To borrowing talent from the best sources,

Susan B.

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s. Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

 

Beyond "I'm NOT Creative" - Even Practiced Creative People Have Fear

Welcome to everyone coming from WomanTalk Live - you'll find the common saboteur sayings at the end of this post - under the sign off.

Philosophizing about internal creativity saboteurs when a creative undertaking is NOT in front of you is a totally different ball game from confronting and navigating that same saboteur when an actual creative opportunity has presented itself.

The reality is we can talk about our fears forever, but unless we put ourselves in fear-inducing creative situations and practice navigating the saboteur voices, we stay stuck. We miss chance after chance to take the next step toward developing saboteur navigation skills we can count on.

The very genuine responses to February’s Sandbox suggest that many of us spent at least some time staring our creativity saboteurs square in the face. Some may have even wondered if they’d ever be able to make the “I’M CREATIVE!” claim for real. 

And this is great. It means we have the chance to take that next step – because:

If you felt any level of fear at all about the Sandbox (or any creative opportunity you’ve had recently), you took a risk.

You opened the door (no matter how far); you moved out of your comfort zone (if only by a step); you allowed yourself to go far enough to put your saboteurs on high alert: 

“Hey, GUYS! She’s about to stick her neck out!

Everyone to your posts! Stop her by whatever means necessary!!!

DO NOT LET HER MAKE A FOOL OF HERSELF.”

Even those who contributed a comment – experienced some level of saboteur harassment.

The only difference is how much practice and skill a person has in navigating the saboteur onslaught. The reality is we’re all in the same boat.

And that does sound true, doesn’t it? Yet our human tendency to judge our insides by other people’s outsides means that, at times, we can feel like we’re the only ones who are scared.

So, it can help to know that even though the creativity saboteur singing in the practiced creative person’s ear may not be straight-up saying, “You’re not creative,” it is saying SOMETHING. And to move forward that person still has to navigate the fear. After all, any saboteur voice has the potential to steer us into the rocks, stopping us from taking life-enhancing, game-changing, goal-getting creative chances.

Shifting from panic around creativity (or whatever the emotion is for you) to power (the ability to move forward despite the saboteur) is one of the most important works of our lives. Sleeping within our inherently creative selves are tangible gifts of our creativity. Gifts so magnificent, they’re worth taking the next step. Starting now.

Engaging the Saboteur Week One:

• Ask someone you consider highly creative what fears she or he encounters when faced with a creative challenge, idea or project.

• Take a look below my sign off for a few of the common saboteur voices practiced creative people hear.

To leveling the playing field,

Susan B.

BEYOND "I'M NOT CREATIVE"

The limiting beliefs, negative self-talk and internal critic sayings that can run through even the most experienced creative person's mind.

• Sure, I was creative last time, but I got lucky.
• Sure, I was creative last time, but I had help.
• Everyone liked what I did last time, I can't risk losing their good opinion of me by trying something new.
• Okay. Everyone says I'm great, but I know the truth.
  
• I have to be brilliant - EVERY TIME.
• I'll never be as good as those guys.
• They don't know that it's easy for me. It doesn't count if it's easy.
• I'm struggling with this, I've lost my spark.
• I took lessons. That's the only reason I'm good.
• I better not (do, say, create) THAT! I'll look (stupid, silly, amateurish).
  
• I should be better than this by now.
• My (poem, painting, meal, formula) was rejected. I suck.
• If they don't like my work, they don't like me.
• If I'm successful, I'll have to do it again - and that's too much pressure.
• It's not the right time.
• I don't have the (money, time, talent) to pursue my creative dreams.
• I'm a phony.
• What if I fail?
  
• I'm not creating ENOUGH. Everyone else is so prolific.
• Thanks, but I'm not a real (poet, artist, chemist, chef).
• ABSOLUTELY ANY AND EVERY "SHOULD," "COULD," OR "WOULD."

So, this list is very incomplete. I SHOULD have researched it more. What are the REAL creatives going to say? They're going to find out I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! Maybe I COULD just hit DELETE. 

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s. Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

Sandbox: Debriefing Goethe

If you're coming from the WomanTalk Live article, WELCOME! Just scroll down for the debrief questions.

Last week, I introduced the Sandbox Challenge and invited you to take part. If you didn’t have the chance to play in the first Sandbox, it’s never too late. Just visit the Editing Goethe post. And, of course, check out the comments sections to read the contributions.

For those who did play, or almost played, or even thought for a mere second about playing, or just checked it out: A BIG THANK YOU and KUDOS. Let’s complete this Sandbox with a little self-reflection and celebration.

In short, let’s debrief! 

Whether you’re working on building your creative confidence, or have already claimed your inherent magnificence, a simple debrief can catapult you to the next level much faster than, well, remaining unconscious.

Most importantly, reflection gives us all the chance to discover and name what we want to celebrate about who we are and who we were being in the experience.

This alone is worth the price of admission. After all, how often do we ask: What am I celebrating about me today?

Because no matter who we were or what the outcome, there is always something to be learned, celebrated, remembered. All we have to do is become aware: To simply notice – without judgment and with great love and compassion for the beautiful being living within our skin.

Sandbox Debrief: What were YOUR deeds and sufferings of Editing Goethe?

SYNOPSIZED FROM THE WIKI: Experiential trainer and researcher, Ernesto Yturralde, defines the debrief in this way: The debriefing is a semi-structured process that occurs after a certain activity is accomplished in which the facilitator asks a series of progressive questions that invite participants to reflect on what happened and share important insights with the goal of linking the challenge to the future.

In other words, reflection in service of growth - of determining what was learned and applying that self knowledge to "next time."

Here are your debrief questions - I invite you to spend a little time reflecting on each:

What did you notice about your first reaction to the Sandbox Challenge?

What did you notice when you found out what the specific challenge was?

What/which internal saboteurs showed up initially (if any)? What did they say to you?

Once you made the decision to play or not play with the Goethe quote, what happened? Emotionally? Behaviorally? In your body?

Once you began to create, what did you notice? (If you chose not to play at all, but perhaps read the reminders about the challenge, what came up for you?)

What worked and what didn't work in navigating your internal saboteurs during the Sandbox experience?

What do you want to honor or acknowledge about the way you participated in the Sandbox?

What new knowledge do you have about yourself and your creativity?

Who were you being during the Sandbox exercise?

What do you want to remember from your Sandbox experience?

Based on this Sandbox experience, what will be different next time?

What commitments will you make to yourself? 

What are you celebrating about yourself and your creativity?

Thanks again to everyone - here's to paying attention,

 Susan B. 

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s.

Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

 

Sandbox: Editing Goethe

I’m really excited to introduce a new feature of Idea Tango – a creative challenge. A chance for us to exercise our inherent creativity, get our hands dirty and have fun creating together.

How it Works: In each Sandbox, I’ll invite you to take part in a new creative challenge. They’ll cover all types of media (words, pictures, ideas, sound, etc), and all types of creative doings and beings. So, if one challenge isn’t your thing, you might go nuts over the next. Okay. Let’s play!

Your Sandbox Challenge: Editing Goethe

Try your hand at re-conceiving/re-writing a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German writer, artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, poet and all-around person of neat ideas. Here’s your quote:

Colors are the deeds and sufferings of light.

                     - Goethe

I heard this quote for the first time just recently. It really sent my brain spinning at the possibilities. I thought about what it means at face value; what it means under the surface; why he chose emotionally charged words to describe something of science; and, ESPECIALLY, how other things or ideas might be described using the same structure:

____ are the ___ and ___ of ___ .

___ are the deeds and sufferings of ___. 

How to Submit Your Creation: Simply share your Sandbox creation in a comment to THIS post. You can use either structure from the examples above – or try something completely different. Whatever inspires YOU. And don’t forget that the creative process we’ve been discussing applies to sandbox challenges. If you’d like to play, but don’t know where to start, click on the “creative process” category at the right and start at the first step – by being a sponge while holding this particular Sandbox in your mind.

Winning the Sandbox: Sandbox is a safe space to play with creativity and share ideas and creations. If you take part, you are clearly a winner! I’m looking forward to celebrating ALL the responses and I’d love for us all to support each other using the “like” and comment buttons.

Is it Worth the Risk of Ridicule? I moderate this blog. Nothing negative or mean will be posted. Plus, the only people who read Idea Tango are those who are also interested in exploring creativity – and typically openhearted and kind to each other. In short, people who understand the guts it takes to put your ideas out there and will cheer you on, not tear you down. 

The point is to simply participate in the great sandbox of creativity; to practice extending your comfort zone; and, most importantly, to build a foundation that supports an “I’m Creative” perspective. The best way to believe in the fire of your own inherent creativity is to experience it by walking through the fire.

More Sandboxes to come – but not too often! So, don’t miss this one!!!

To the playful creativity that comes from borrowing someone else’s genius as a starting point,

Susan B.

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s.

Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

 

 

Creativity is NOT a Contact Sport

A couple of weeks ago, we discussed silence and space in relationship to creativity. This week, Ann Quasman shared an interesting New York Times article with me that not only supports that idea, but moves the conversation significantly forward via the reporter’s discussion of the benefits of solitude in fostering creativity versus the very real and long-in-the-works movement in our society to take away that solitude in service of expanding creativity – a practice that has been shown through research, as well as anecdotally by some history’s greatest thinkers and creators, to decrease creativity, learning and the quality of ideas.

Anyone who’s heard my diatribe against sharing ideas too soon has gotten a glimpse of my beliefs about the importance of alone time and solitude in creating. I’m also not a fan of brainstorming sessions (they are great for sharing thoughts, but not for developing the best final product) and typically retreat into my own little world when working in a group in order to come up with the actual ideas. After reading this article, I know I’m not alone.

As reporter Susan Cain states, collaboration and teamwork are important for certain aspects of creation, and certainly have their place, but these concepts as realized by open-space offices, group work in schools and as a replacement for solitude, are simply not generating the outcomes expected in terms of greater creativity and innovation. Per Cain, the best-producing teams come together to share ideas, make critical human connection, but do the actual creative work solo. Cain has also written a book about the power of introverts that I can’t wait to read.

Enjoy her article. It really says it all: The Rise of the New Groupthink

To the wonder of walls,

Susan B.

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s.

Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.

Creative Process - Making It Done

Special Note for those coming from the WomanTalk Live website Spark Factory article: Scroll down past the article for a list of tips and tricks for Getting the Grit to Get it Done

This past Saturday night I had the honor of joining Ann Quasman on the WomanTalk Live radio show for a conversation about the four steps of the creative process - what I titled in previous blog posts: 1) Sponge Work; 2) In The Flow; 3) Inspiration & Insight; and 4) Making It Real.

However, there’s one aspect of creative process that we didn’t get a chance to cover deeply – and one I also promised to re-visit in the article on the third step Getting the Big Idea: The idea that, under certain circumstances, we need to make a conscious choice to move to the next step whether we feel ready or not, especially:

• The conscious choice to “force” the inspiration or insight.
• The conscious choice to begin the hands-on creation work.
• The conscious choice to stop working and call your creation done.

While some may argue that the creative process by it’s very nature can’t be forced, anyone whose worked as a creative professional knows differently. So does anyone who has ever written a blog, or crafted a tweet. Or, anyone who needs to get dinner on the table by 6pm.

Obviously, there’s nothing that can force the next phase of the creative process faster than a deadline. But moving forward before we are ready, or finishing before we are “done,” is also a way of practicing a very critical aspect of creativity in general – letting go. To be even more specific, letting of perfection.

As imperfect as our creation is; no matter how much better it would have been if we had spent a few more hours, weeks, months or years; or despite the fact that infinite outcomes really are possible from any single inspiration or insight; there is a time to stop.

To paraphrase Julia Cameron creator of The Artist’s Way: No creation will EVER be done - and learning to finish is key to unlocking even greater productivity and, more importantly, greater confidence around our creations.

Below are a few tips for practicing and getting comfortable with the Making It Done aspect of creativity. I see the application of this practice as essential in countless situations and for all types of people. Entrepreneurs are a case in point. It seems so obvious that revenue will not be earned if your product or service is always in progress, and yet so many of us tinker so long, trying to perfect every aspect that we lose the chance to earn a living from our passion. Our competition soars through the finish line with a lesser product, perhaps, but more guts.

To achieve any dream or goal, we have to consciously choose to cross the finish line. If we look hard, we might see that those who have achieved success and fulfillment are those who have been willing to cross imperfectly, eons before feeling ready.

Getting the Grit to Get It Done

The following tips and exercises can support you in practicing making your creations real and getting projects done:

• Set a deadline and stop at the time you set - no matter what. Deadlines are a fact of life, but they typically don't apply to our personal projects. Having "forever" to finish is not always helpful when practicing building the Make It Done muscle. By setting a deadline and sticking to it, you can practice accepting that "finished" is subjective and that what's unfinished in your eyes is very often perfectly finished to other people.
  

• Embrace imperfection in all aspects of your life. Not just around specific creations, but in everything you do. Practicing allowing imperfection is a great way to become more comfortable with the imperfect and to actually begin to see the perfection in all things, including your own creations.
  

• Notice imperfection, and let go of judgement around that imperfection, in other's lives and creative works. Judging others less harshly, or even better, not judging at all, has a boomerang affect. If you can be less hard on others, you can learn to be less hard on yourself simply by applying the exact same thought patterns internally - and sometimes it's easier to begin with non-judgement of others than it is to stop judging ourselves.
  

• Display your creations (all your creations from what you wear and what you cook for dinner to art or anything else) without explanation, excuses or apology. Learning how to allow your creations to simply be is one of the most valuable lessons in all of creativity. It helps separate self from work and, over time, saying simply "thank you" or nothing at all builds confidence like nothing else. It is the practice of "acting as if" - acting confident before feeling confident.
  

• Avoid the second guessing game initiated by other people like the plague. Answer remarks from others such as "did you think about ...", "you could have ..." and "why didn't you ..." with: "I chose to do this [fill in the blank] this way and I'm quite happy with the result." And say nothing else. Be silent. You will likely be very surprised by what the person making the statement says after you refuse to play the "it could have been better" game. Usually, it's something very supportive and celebratory of your creation.
  

• Separate Self from Work. This is an ongoing practice for many creators. The idea that we are our work becomes ingrained in us from an early age (think about the kudos a child receives over a finger painting from a proud parent - or the shame/guilt he or she might feel when told not to draw outside the lines). We are what we create has a seed of truth within it - under certain instances, but we are NOT our physical creations. I work on this concept often - and I'm not always where I want to be (I know because of the pit I sometimes feel in the face of criticism). But I have made huge strides, and the best ways I've found to practice are by using simple mantras, visualizing the separation between myself and my creations and physicalizing the separation by creating physical space between myself and my creations for a period of time.
  

To finishing already,

Susan B.

Unlocked Box – coaching for risk-takers, box-breakers and wannabe’s.

Sign up for the eZine Guts at UnlockedBox.com and get the 10 Un-Rules of Creativity.