Guest post by Hub LA member Jana Carey.
This blog is the second in a five-part series on Enhancing Your Creativity. Hub LA is reposting with permission from Jana’s blog.
“I always get it perfect the first time,” said no one ever.
I’ve said it before, chances are if you are reading this post you are an artist, writer, entrepreneur, visionary, innovator and/or global game changer. Maybe its’ still just a yearning in your heart or maybe you are already boldly creating in the world. Wherever you are on your path, there is still part of you that may get stuck in needing to “get it right.” This post is for those smaller, less confident parts of you that speak up at 3am. (Boy, do I know those parts of me!) Those parts of us that are still terrified of failing and all the vulnerability that innovating and creating kicks up.
Ponder this for a moment:
Do you need to be the finished product of what you’re creating when you start creating it?
No. You couldn’t be. Life doesn’t work that way. We don’t just vision something in our head one day and then bam! tomorrow we’ve made it a reality. Creativity is a continual growth and expansion process. There is a messiness in experimentation. It involves taking steps and stumbles forward. Rarely does it work out in a linear fashion. Sometimes we go in one direction only to realize it wasn’t quite right but through that experience we learn something valuable that shows us what we need for the next step. It’s a series of small course corrections or iterations.
We are now living in what I like to call the Iteration Generation. We see some of the major players, such as Google, Apple and Facebook constantly iterating their platforms right in front of our face and we are constantly adapting to their changes. It’s become common practice.
When I was discussing this topic with Helen Grossman, Digital Content Curator at HUB LA she reflected, “Does anyone other than the Apple engineers remember the mistakes made with iOS 6 software?”
No we don’t. And even if we do remember, we still buy the newest device with iOS 8. So in one sense, we pay for Apple’s mistakes. Ha! But on a deeper level these companies are showing us that it is ok to keep creating, iterating, updating and evolving.
And just to help put things in perspective, I’m guessing the next thing you launch, won’t involve the possibility of a space tourism rocket crash.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s get messy!
CALL TO ACTION: Get Messy and get silly! Next time you feel stuck by wanting to get it right or feel trapped by the constrictive feelings of perfectionism, take 15-20 minutes to do something ridiculous where the stakes are low. Do it with the intention of making a mess or doing it really badly. Even better find someone else and do it together. Scribble furiously on a piece of paper, splatter paint on a blank canvas, make a mess in the kitchen, write a really bad song on the ukulele, dance like a fool to really bad music. If you need inspiration just think about what a 4-year-old version of yourself would do (or think of a TV show like SNL or Jackass where people get paid to be ridiculous). Don’t over-think. Just do it. You’ll be amazed by how much “resistant” energy it will free up to create with.
Jana Carrey, MA, is the Founder of Creative Spirit Awakening, an dynamic form of transformational coaching & mentoring aimed to empower artists, writers, creative entrepreneurs and global game changers. She is a playful visionary, creativity coach & consultant, as well as an artist, writer and an intuitive.
It isn’t always pretty. | Kick-Ass Creativity | Creative Spirit Awakening Blog – November 21st, 2014 at 12:27 pm
[…] This blog is the second post in a five-part series on Enhancing Your Creativity, in collaboration with the HUB LA. See more at the HUB LA’s blog. […]
November 20th, 2014
Posted by Hub LA
Tags: best practices, creativity, enhancing creativity, guest post, imagination, innovation, process, resources, startups
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