I’ve never thought of fear and risk as something that I should rely on during my creative process.  However, today at the Fear and the Art of Creation panel I learned that without them, the process is actually not creative at all.

The beginning of every truly creative endeavor starts with a question and a level of uncertainty. But in order to create something completely unique and original, we are forced to act in the face of incomplete information – which terrifies us.

We are so scared of the criticism and judgment of others, that often times we never take action on something that could be great solely because we want to squash the butterflies flitting around in our stomachs. If we remove that layer of judgment, or at least stop worrying about it, we could get rid of that fear and think freely.

Take 4chan for example. Users are anonymous and there are no archives on the page so a post could disappear within a matter of minutes. 4chan posts are generally more risky and brutally truthful, but it is because the user does not fear judgment when their post is not attached to their name. What if we took this same approach in the way that we viewed work and completely separated ideas from their owner? I’m sure there would be a difference in the abundance and quality of ideas on the table.

However, we must rely on the judgment and feedback of others to slowly replace the holes where the uncertainties in our ideas lie and accept the risk that we are taking.

So next time you’re feeling a few butterflies in your stomach, don’t try to kill them but take it as a sign that you’re doing something right.

#uncertainty  #hatersgonnahate #4chan