Have you ever noticed how well a project can turn out when you don’t take it too seriously?
Something that starts off as a sketch or experiment can almost effortlessly turn into one of your best pieces - and be quite enjoyable to make in the process.
The same is true of projects with very short deadlines. With no time to second guess yourself, you plunge ahead and enter a fast-flowing state of creativity.
However, the opposite is also true - projects that you treat as very serious or important can become drawn-out and problematic - you feel heavy and stuck as you work on them.
You have a fixed end result in mind that the project has to achieve. As you work, any apparent deviation from that result causes you stress.
The fear of failure takes hold and you avoid making bold or risky choices, even when your instincts pull you in that direction. You do what is safe, what you’ve seen others do - and the result is often mediocre. At the heart of this dilemma is the creative’s relationship with uncertainty. Why so serious? There is no instruction manual for original creative work.
No one can sit next to you and say, “Do this, then do that.” You are stepping into the unknown, often on your own.
On fun projects, this uncertainty is exhilarating - you’re exploring new directions and fully expressing your creativity. On “important” projects, this uncertainty can be very stressful. What if your idea doesn’t work? What if it comes out looking or sounding wrong? What if you sink a bunch of time and money into a direction that turns out to be mediocre, or even a dismal failure? What will people think?
It is interesting to notice that these questions don’t even occur to you while you are joyfully experimenting on a “low stakes” project - even though the risks are essentially the same.
In that state of playfulness, pure creativity is flowing through you and the end result takes care of itself.
It is only when you attach dire consequences to the failure of your project that momentum stalls and heaviness sets in.
The good news is that your state of creative flow depends less on the type of project you’re working on and more on your approach. You have the power to decide to work in a state of ease and flow - regardless or scale or importance of your project. The key is finding a way to be absolutely comfortable in the face of uncertain outcomes. Working with an open heart.
The Happy Creative accepts that uncertainty is an inescapable part of the creative process.
He chooses to adopt an attitude of playfulness and stays open to all possibilities while he works.
Making yourself vulnerable to creative failure may seem counterintuitive. In reality, shifting to an attitude of wholehearted openness and playfulness aligns you with the natural flow of your highest creativity and increases your chances of success.
This starts with focussing on taking action, rather than fixating on the result you want. Decide on a direction and take a crack at it. Commit to the task without a second thought and get it done. Be open to the unexpected. Simply try your idea, see what happens, and adjust as necessary.
If you’re unsure how to approach a project, start anywhere. Stop being careful - just attack it!
Don’t let your creative process become intellectual - the more involved the mind gets in planning your approach to a project, the more stuck you become. Realize that clarity will come from doing stuff, not from thinking about doing stuff.
As you consistently take action with an open heart, you become less attached to a fixed outcome. You become a willing participant in the creative process, rather than stressing out trying to bend the process to your will.
You may be tempted to abandon this approach when you work on an “important” project. In reality, you need an attitude of playfulness the most when the stakes are high.
If you want to consistently do fresh, exciting and rewarding work - regardless of the scale of the project - you must adopt an attitude of exploration. Rather than saying: “This is what it has to be”, say: “I wonder what will happen if I...”
Accept that you are in a constantly shifting landscape, a place where nothing is certain - and that’s great! There are unexpected ideas waiting to be discovered that will make your work exceptional.
Ultimately, you cannot control the process - but you can choose to flow with the process, letting go of fixed expectations, and focussing on what you can do next.
Become absolutely comfortable with uncertainty and you set yourself - and your work - free.
This post is an excerpt from the The Happy Creative: 10 Simple Principles for More Creative Fulfillment by Tyron Janse van Vuuren.
Tyron is a creative director and the author of The Happy Creative.
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