Do you think of yourself as a creative person, a “right-brainer”? Or do you insist you’re “left-brained”, only interested in hard numbers and what you can see in front of you?
This is kind of a trick question. The truth is, we are all creative and we are all analytical. Nobody uses only one side of their brain! The analytical left side and the creative right side work together to allow us to navigate our way through our lives. So why is it that so many people think they don’t have a creative bone in their body?
As David and Tom Kelley of Standford d.school talk about in their book Creative Confidence, we all start out as creative beings. They instruct people to think back to kindergarten – because everyone created in kindergarten.
Creativity Consultant Gordon MacKenzie—used to go around and speak at schools. He would ask each grade to raise their hands, “Any artists here?”
And in kindergarten, everybody was an artist. Not just an artist, but a two-hands artist: “Me! Me! Me! I’m an artist!”
By the first grade, it was still 100 percent, but it was with one hand. Then it progressed. When MacKenzie talked to the sixth-graders, he would get two or three people raising their hands, nervously looking around like everyone was going to think they were weird. – The Atlantic
So what happened to cause those hands to stop raising? A lack of Creative Confidence. Because being creative isn’t just about having ideas – it’s about having the confidence to put those ideas out into the world. In a society where we value fitting in, keeping the status quo, not rocking the boat, it can be a difficult thing to unleash a new idea.
Kelley and Kelley argue that around the 4th grade is when we start becoming most concerned with what others think of us. We’re so sensitively attuned to our place within the group, to our level of popularity, that we let anything fall aside that might take us out of the group. Those two or three sixth-graders still raising their hands? Most likely raised in creative or alternative households where a high value is placed on standing out, so much so that it overrides the fear of not belonging at school.
Going Back to Kindergarten
If you were a victim of childhood lack of Creative Confidence, you might think your creativity is gone forever. But it’s not. It might be hidden, but it’s never gone. So, how do you get it back? You need to get in touch with that younger part of you that created without self-consciousness and judgement.
Look at drawings children do. They’re often not grounded in reality – the trees are purple, the sun wears sunglasses (always) and birds are the size of houses. But here’s the question: so what? What does it matter to anyone else how you interpret the world? That is what you need to let go of if you want to get your creativity going.
The Challenge
Here’s your first step: sit down and create one piece of art. It can be whatever you want – a painting, a drawing, a poem, an essay, a sculpture. Just make it something creative and original. Then, once you’ve created it – DESTROY IT.
That’s right. Don’t look at it, don’t put it out into the world, don’t show your mother or your best friend or your dog. Go into the creation of it with the knowledge that you’ll be destroying all traces of your work, and that no one, not even you, will see it.
This might seem counter to the idea of Creative Confidence, but it’s not about hiding – it’s actually about the opposite. We’ll work up to you showing your work in future discussions, but for now you need to feel completely free in your work.
Note how you approach creating with that knowledge. Are you more open to trying new things? Do you put more of yourself into it? Do you have more fun? It’s alright if it’s not a totally positive experience the first time. You might feel anxious and have a hard time just doing instead of analysing and judging. Just do your best, and keep going. You can do this exercise as often as you need to – every day, if you want. Create, and destroy.
When you feel totally free around what you’re creating, you’ll know you’ve mastered this first step towards Creative Confidence.