There is a certain phenomenon I’ve observed over the years. It’s that people’s preferences change when they are to connected to the act of creation. It’s difficult to explain so I’ll illustrate this with an example.
Imagine you’re chilling with some buddies, and one of them has an idea to start a business. You proceed to throw out the most creative and off-the-wall ideas. The brilliance flowing from your lips is tantamount to golden raindrops.
Your friend, recognizing your brilliance, makes you their partner. Suddenly, your ideas lose life. Instead of challenging the norm, you set into a regular pattern of creation. What was once groundbreaking concepts is now commonplace ideas coming from your brain.
What happened? You became the owner. Suddenly your reputation and future was directly tied to this idea. Fear of failure sets in and stifles your creativity.
I’ve seen this happen repeatedly to creative individuals. This is the reason it can be so difficult to build a personal portfolio while it’s so easy to do it for others.
There are two ways I know to overcome this phenomenon.
- Outsource it. Find someone else to brag on you or create for you.
- Remove your identity from the success or failure of your creativity. This is not the same as losing your passion or obsession with the product. This is choosing to remove the filter that we put on ourselves when we own something.
Apply the same craziness you would offer your friend to yourself. Let your creative potential work for you like it’s worked for so many others.
The story of my life. I battle this every day in my design classes when my grade heavily relies on what I produce in class. As my professor always says, "Sometimes you just have to eat a meal consisting of hot sauce, sushi, and a slurpie to get the brain working"
haha…that's one way to get over creativity block 😛
The story of my life. I battle this every day in my design classes when my grade heavily relies on what I produce in class. As my professor always says, "Sometimes you just have to eat a meal consisting of hot sauce, sushi, and a slurpie to get the brain working"
haha…that's one way to get over creativity block 😛