Small Baby Steps
Walking in the Fitzgerald River National Park.
‘Creativity is something you practice not just a talent you are born with’
Wise words from IDEO design gurus David and Tom Kelley.
In one of their contributions to the Harvard Business Review they talk about four fears that hinder most people from accessing ‘creative confidence’.
They blame creative blocks on four core fears: the fear of the ‘messy’ unknown, the fear of being judged, the fear of taking the first step and the fear of letting go.
The key to over coming these fears?
Small, baby steps.
Since 2002 I’ve been helping people (and myself) take steps towards a more creative life.
In the first couple of years the workshops were inspired by Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.
I organised small groups of 6 to 8 people and met them for a couple of hours every week for 12 weeks. I charged $120 per person.
I led them through some reflective activities, we all reconnected and shared our creative yearnings and supported each other through a journey of creative recovery.
I was not going to be quitting my teaching job any time soon, but it great fun and most of us completed creative projects that to that date had only been a dream.
Vanessa, who was interested in interior design and had started to delve into tiles and ceramics, followed the techniques for the full 12 weeks and began by doing some mosaics, then got a job at an exclusive tile showroom. For many years now she’s been running her own interior design company in Sydney.
Another lady in her late sixties, finally got around to clearing out her studio by the river and began to paint watercolours which she turned into postcards to send her friends. A friend, Peter, loved writing but had no confidence. He started free writing and discovered what he really wanted was to start his own consulting business in alternative medicine and martial arts. And he did.
Even though it was what I wanted, I was surprised at the effect the workshops were having on people... and on me.
During that time, I finished a play Trollop(e) I had started 4 years earlier, I received funding to direct and produce it, and I did. Then I received funding for the first draft of a novel, I started a Masters degree, and most importantly, planted the seeds that would a few years later grow into Act Out and later Edgewalkers.
What I was unwittingly doing, was not just guiding people along their journey of creative recovery, but I was also letting myself take steps to overcome the fear of the messy unknown of having my own business.
Those small, safe and simple creativity workshops were my way of crawling before standing up; toddling before walking.
I learnt one workshop at a time, a few clients at a time.
I learnt by gently doing & learning what needs to be learnt to establish a new business based on creative approaches.
Years later, as a self employed consultant I was coaching a group of team leaders on creative and engaging presentations.
'I'm going to look like a fool!' one of them said.
I knew what he meant.
It’s what I’d thought too when I was about to start approaching potential clients about work using applied theatre, aesthetic, embodied community development.
’They're going to laugh at me and tell me to go work with kids!'.
But they didn't laugh.
Instead, they asked me to come in and tell them more about it. And I did, taking another, slightly bigger step.
Which eventually led to coaching him.
Today, based on my own ideas, practice and reflective research, I am able to work on what I feel inspired to do.
I use creativity and play through techniques and approaches that help people see themselves differently and take small steps towards living with more creativity in their lives.
Today I am happy to stride in some areas of my life and don’t mind to toddle slowly in others.
What messy unknown are you scared of?
What are you fearful of being judged about?
Where are you fearful to take your fist step into?
What are you holding on to?
Remember what the creativity gurus said: small, baby steps!