A quote attributed to Henri Matisse, “Creativity takes courage,” speaks to the heart of the creative life. It’s curious that if you were to ask people what they think the creative life is you would probably get as many different answers as people you asked. Most people probably wouldn’t mention courage as one of the key elements of creativity, but indeed it is.
Another critical element that we tend to overlook is hope. All creative work is possible because of two things: hope and doing the work. Both can be a challenge to practice consistently.
What Is Creativity? Why Everyone Has The Capacity To Create
We tend to connect creative life with the arts and less with other professions or activities. As a result, we don’t always consider what makes something creative as opposed to something else. Recently someone told me they weren’t creative, and I didn’t address it, but I did think they didn’t really understand what creativity is. I think we want it to be intentional, inspired, and to produce something recognizable as unique and therefore rare. This quality can also occur in many other areas, such as an engineer designing a bridge or a chef experimenting with which herbs to add to a dish. I don’t think creativity itself is rare and would also suggest that everyone is creative; we just don’t frame our smaller, ordinary tasks from that perspective. Choosing what plants to put in a pot, an arrangement of photographs on a wall, even plating food are creative acts.
When we imagine creativity requires a specific talent or gift, something that only a few possess, we make it less present in our lives. This also works as a form of gate-keeping to keep people from feeling adequate or that their level of creativity is valued. Then we wonder why people feel intimidated to use their creativity or to fully commit to a life where creativity is centered.
The Creative Life: Finding Courage, Community, and Direction
Creative work, like much of modern life, is increasingly fraught with insecurity and doubt. While there is more opportunity than ever previously existed to explore our creativity and work toward lives in creative fields, we feel increasingly less confident about both how to do this and whether we should.
In The Rebel Creator’s Playbook, I explore ten principles for a creative life, encouraging us to view creativity as a starting point for understanding our lives and finding direction. While I learned these principles from my work in theatre and film, and that is how they are framed, I think they apply in any endeavor and in any life pursuit.
Two that I think are particularly important are Building Your Tribe and Mastering Your Tools. We tend to romanticize the misunderstood, struggling artist, and despite some historical examples
like Van Gogh, whose life story reflects this narrative, the majority of artists and creators, entrepreneurs, really anyone creating anything, need the support and guidance of other people.
I work in completely collaborative fields, but most fields are collaborative if you truly examine how things work. The writer attends a workshop, the poet gives a reading; there are very few people working without other creators or supporters. One of the most important secrets to success is to build a tribe of people who help you improve your work. It can be easy to feel intimidated or be around people who are competitive and feel undermined rather than encouraged. Discovering those who offer you the encouragement necessary for any of us to live meaningful lives is an essential component of putting yourself in a place where your creative energies can fully exist.
There is a modern tendency to dismiss formal education and learn as you go. There is no right or wrong way to learn your craft; however, this idea has introduced the false idea that the beginner is at the same place as someone who has spent years knowing and making discoveries about their work. When you look carefully, there are very few overnight successes. Usually, someone has been working and learning for a decade or more.
The Importance of Continual Learning In Creative Work
I am not sure we ever actually become masters of our tools; there is always more to learn and discover, and the most interesting work is created by those who understand that.
The creative life is often made more difficult because it often involves periods of waiting for work, long stretches without recognition, irregular income, and requires a level of resolve that can be very challenging. We shouldn’t diminish these stresses. They usually require some sort of alternative means of making life work.
What we can address are the other ways we keep ourselves from the work we want by not facing what keeps us from fully developing; the doubts and practices that are too easy to accept. Overcoming these subtle and not-so-subtle distractors is a requirement for moving forward.
In Rebel Creator’s Playbook, I explore the ways we keep ourselves from taking the steps we need. We all have these issues. Assessment is one example that is rarely explored because it sounds too tedious. The ability to assess your own work objectively, to recognize who is offering the genuine connection that allows your work to get honest feedback, is an underrated and often ignored element for a necessary ingredient in making the work you want to make.
Things that appear obvious, such as doing what you say you will do, are really the difference between being invited into the room and not being included. Many people believe talent and drive are the markers for who succeeds. In reality, it is usually the people who others want to work with, who consistently perform, who are generous and caring, who find enduring creative
careers. Creative work is one of the few professions where people get to choose who they work with, and interactions truly matter.
Some people think there is an element of luck in having a creative career. There are certainly examples where someone was fortunate to be recognized, and there can be a certain arbitrariness to that; most creative careers are built on principles that are available to everyone.
Most things require some element of courage; the persistence and ability to handle uncertainty required for creative work perhaps sets it apart on some level. It isn’t a magical or secret path; there are foundations on which it can be found and developed.
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