Creatives can put a lot of pressure on themselves to produce quality work. Whether it’s a hobby or a profession, if you’re working on something, letting it drag on can feel like a chore, and being satisfied with less than your best is not an option.
Instead of forcing something out though, give it room to breathe.
By breathing, I mean to let yourself work with what you have, and not judge or dismiss your ideas because they aren’t good enough. Yet.
Take for example a writer. A writer may start off with what appears to be an extremely poorly written manuscript. Instead of criticizing herself, she should instead take what she has, and work with it. What does she like about what she wrote? What does she hate? Why? Where did it go wrong? Was there a point that she made it something she wasn’t expecting?
These are all questions that can come to a writer’s mind instead of “This sucks!” Then, by taking the answers to questions and applying them to the work, it will begin to evolve into a greater piece of work. The answers lend themselves to becoming critical elements of an otherwise bland story.
I’ve gone back over my writing dozens of times, and each time I’ve found something that could be clearer or perhaps removed overall, just to help the story flow a little better. While I don’t consider myself a genius writer, I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my skill to communicate effectively from writing more and listening to my inner critic closely for hints.
Another example might be an engineer working to invent a new piece of technology. If at first the piece fails to perform its task, what did he learn? Maybe he learned new methods to create something that he wasn’t aware of previously. Maybe he made connections with someone in the industry that gave him valuable insights and he can speak to them on a more regular basis now.
Creativity isn’t a linear process. There are plenty of curves and bends in the road, as well as off shoots, and even times when we need to back track. Creativity is more like a web, where interconnections may provide alternate paths, but at first it may seem like you’re going in the wrong direction.
By giving your creativity the space it needs, and yourself the permission to be less critical of your first work, you’d be surprised to find how much you can do with what you started with.
There’s something to the stereotype of the “crazy artist,” who spends months or years on a painting only to burn it in a fit of rage because it doesn’t meet his original vision. This mindset and approach (if not in the exact details of the neuroses) has undeniably resulted in some of the most beautiful and famous works of art in existence. But for most of us, it comes down to learning to balance the “crazy” with the creativity.
I’ll add a few suggestions, when frustrated with a creative work or process.
1.) As obvious as it may sound, set it aside. If you’ve been obsessing on what’s wrong with something, setting it aside is no easy task. You’ll be distracted by it. You’ll lie awake at night, or wake up from a dead sleep with the urge to go fix it. Discipline yourself to set it aside for a set amount of time. That doesn’t mean you can’t jot down the brainstorms you have. Do EXACTLY that — just don’t look at the original work for a fixed amount of time. When that time has elapsed, get back into it, taking your thoughts and notes with you.
2.) Find a good one or two trusted people to brainstorm with. We artists and creative people get too into our own heads sometimes, and it’s as likely to cause overestimation of the value of what we’re doing as to cause fixation on the flaws. It helps to get quality, objective feedback. Sometimes, that feedback will be from someone who cares enough to tell us the truth and say, “This isn’t very good.” That’s hard — but necessary. I can’t tell you the number of times songwriters have spent years of frustration as a song they wrote gets rejection after rejection — not because “the Industry is tough,” but simply because the work they felt so strongly about was sub-par by more objective standards. Likewise, when we hate what we’re doing because we’re too “in it,” a knowledgeable and trusted friend or mentor can show us what’s right with it and offer some constructive direction or “what-if” questions.
Good post, Ryan!
Great post, Ryan! I’m terrible close to deadlines. Giving art space to breathe is necessary for me. I wonder how insightful people are about themselves when they say they work better under pressure.