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creativity motivation

Creativity Takes Courage

It might not work. Some will like your style while others don’t. There are those who will get what you are conveying while others have no clue. Let’s face it. Matisse knew what he was talking about!

Creativity takes courage.”

Henri Matisse

Whenever we do something new, we are going to welcome critics. Let’s face it, we don’t get what others are creatively doing either. We have our tastes and preferences. An artist could spend years working on a technique that appears effortless. And that appearance of effortlessness will make others dislike it.

Creativity is messy. It is also noisy. After all, one person’s musical symphony is another person’s rude noises!

Cartoon of two girls and two boys
Copyright ©2017 Kevin Spear & Kidzmatter Magazine

Perfection and Creativity

Not every creative endeavor is meant to make money or be popular. Who can really predict what is popular next week anyway? If we make those our goals, we may be in for a disappointment.

The pursuit of perfection can kill creativity. If we are searching for the perfect pitch, technique, or approach that will knock everyone’s socks off, good luck! That pressure will squelch creativity.

Besides, my view of what is perfect can be very different from yours. How can perfection be defined in artistic endeavors? Is it the reaction of the public? Or the guarantee of an award-winning project? Perhaps it’s the approval of a client. What if they had a bad day and you didn’t know they hate that shade of purple?

Business and Creativity

If we are working with businesses, creativity takes courage. Very few business leaders have that chutzpah. Editors will turn down books that become bestsellers. Movie producers will reject movie concepts until they become popular and demands sequels. That song that a producer was convinced was a flop is suddenly his favorite when it becomes viral on TikTok.

Creativity takes courage. It isn’t easy to put our ideas out there. But it is worth it. It is far better to try something and see whether it works than to stay safe and churn out the same old concept.

Categories
motivation

Making Mistakes

Most of us fear making mistakes. We don’t want to be revealed as one who doesn’t have it all figured out. Isn’t it much better for the world to see our perfect selves doing things perfectly in a shiny package? That’s what social media is all about, right?

However, none of us have it all together. What is it about ourselves that fears we’ll be found out as flawed, yet thinks everyone else is perfect? All of us are afraid of making a mistake, especially in public.

This fear keeps us from doing anything worthwhile. It keeps us in line and ensures we won’t do much of value. We forget that the successful fail.

Should we be intentionally making mistakes? No, instead we can learn to overcome the fear that paralyzes us. For example, Harvard Business Review has a good article on how to manage this fear. One great tip is using “emotional agility skills.” We can acknowledge our fear and state them out loud, acknowledge what is true, then use our values to think of some possible actions to take.

Striving for perfection can paralyze us. All of us make mistakes at one time or another and it is okay. It is better to move forward and make mistakes along the way than to strive for a perfect, unattainable standard.

Categories
creativity

Yes, you Are a masterpiece!

Cartoon of a coach pointing at a chalkboard that says, "you are a masterpiece. The coach says, "Lets go over this one more time!This cartoon came to me the other day when my pastor was preaching a sermon on Ephesians 2:10.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2:10 (New Living Translation) from Bible Gateway

To be creative, you need to think of yourself as a masterpiece. In order to feel creative energy, you must see yourself as a beautiful creation. For you are a masterpiece!