On his Book Designer blog, Joel Friedlander offered 18 thoughts about creativity. Here are my favorite 3 from his list:
- If you don’t believe in your work, support it with passion, champion it bravely, why should anyone else believe in it?
- Realize that most of the models we have of creativity are media depictions designed to appeal to our fantasies. Really being creative rarely looks the way you think it will.
- There’s nothing more common than “good ideas.” There’s nothing more satisfying than a good idea transformed from a possibility into reality in the world.
Let's take a closer look at these. First, it can be difficult to keep your confidence in your idea. Sometimes you have to fake it to get through those rough patches. Remember that acts of creativity tend to have what Seth Godin calls "the dip"--a phase where you get stuck or have to slog through a lot of obstacles and temporarily lose your self-belief. It will pass. Keep going. What was Churchill's advice? "When going through hell...keep going!"
The second point is important. When they are interviewed, successful people often make it sound like the process was easy. Usually it wasn't. Maybe we like to pretend that we're so talented that we breeze through things that others find difficult. But almost every "overnight success" had a long struggle to get there--and the few that do attain success very quickly usually have a struggle to hold on to it.
Maybe one of the reasons I like the third point is that's what my Breakthrough Strategy Program is all about--helping you turn one of your goals into reality over a 60-day period (or, if it's a big goal, gaining the momentum you need during that period). There's more information at www.BreakthroughStrategyOnline.com.
Don't think success (however you define it) is only for special people. Well, it is, but you're one of the special people.
