Part of the resistance that we face when we sit down to try and create comes from the voices that tell us all the reasons why we can’t create. The pressure to “be creative” often derails us from creating. We have to confront these voices to disqualify them. A few of the voices that often come up in conversation:
- My creation is not good enough // If you are creating it, you have decided it is necessary and needed. This is just an excuse to keep us from achieving our goal.
- I am not good enough // You have been empowered to create. You are a designer original in your own right. You are a person and you are not what you do or what you create. You have spent time and sweat learning what you know. We need you to create. What you bring is different from everyone else and is necessary for us to all achieve our goals.
- I have to be first // You don’t have to be the first person to “do” something you just have to be the first person to do it your way. Creativity is the ultimate “file sharing platform”. What makes creativity unique is when we apply our touch, look, and feel to it – when we make it OURS!
- I don’t know where to start // Start with the work. Creativity takes energy and work. It’s not magical, it’s birthed in sweat and execution. What is your story? Find that and you find the beginning.
- Is it finished? // EDIT it. What we say in 8 words we should be able to say in 5 – and what we say in 5 words we should be able to say in 3.
- Why will this connect? // It will connect because you have good instincts. Listen to them. Trust them. Your creative instinct is necessary because if you don’t like what you are creating and it doesn’t connect with you…it won’t connect with anyone else.
- I don’t have enough time // We waste so much time worrying about the time we don’t have that we use the time we do have worrying. Dig in. Get to work.
- I don’t have enough resources // No one does. There could always be more. Limitations create opportunities for us to be more creative. When we lack resources, we are forced to do the hard work in creativity and not just buy our creative concepts.
Stop listening to these lies. We are all waiting on you to do your best to help our movement go forward and regain our position as the voices, faces, and force of creative culture.
