How to woo the creativity in you

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, is a polarizing figure. Some even consider her whiny and self-indulgent. But I find her refreshingly honest, amusing and inspiring – especially her advice on cultivating a healthy relationship with creativity.

I’d like to share a few pointers I gleaned from her newest work of nonfiction, Big Magic. Anyone with even a glimmer of creative curiosity can take these nuggets to heart.

There are no shortage of occasions for fear to creep in and hold you back. But if you try to fight that fear away, your creative focus will slip quietly out the back door. Instead, Gilbert’s advice is to get more comfortable coexisting with fear in creative endeavors. In other words, you can let fear tag along on your creative road trip, but don’t let it backseat drive you off the road.

Inspiration will be there for us more often if we agree to a few ground rules: a) receive ideas with respect and curiosity, b) allow ourselves to be pleased with our creations, and, my personal favorite, c) accept projects gone awry as constructive experiments (because we’ve all been there!).

“To even call someone ‘a creative person’ is almost laughably redundant,’” Gilbert reminds us, “because creativity is the hallmark of our species.” You don’t have to look past Instagram or Etsy.com for proof that we, as a species, are programmed to create. But while you don’t need specialized creds to live up to your creative potential, you do need to believe you’re allowed to have a voice and vision of your own.

And – this is important – do not confuse having your own voice with being completely original. Why? Because originality is overrated. “Most things have already been done and most ideas have already been had,” says Gilbert. “There is bound to be repetition in creative instinct … but once you put your own perspective and energy behind an idea, that idea becomes your own.”

My new idol, Brené Brown, taught me that perfectionism is a behavioral shield we use to protect ourselves from shame and pain — and, more dangerously, a belief that we are capable of protecting ourselves in such a way. Perfectionism has the potential to crush our creative spirits by forcing us to toil tirelessly after something that doesn’t exist.

So, next time you catch yourself sitting on a design, a writing project or a tweet, try repeating this mantra: Good is better than perfect, and done is better than good. Remember that someone will always find fault with your work, but at some point you have to release your work as is, so that, as Gilbert says, “you can move forward with a glad and determined heart.”

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