Living in the internet age means we have to decide when something is stupid faster than ever. We’re quick to label something dumb and move on, never exploring it further. That’s fine for your Twitter feed, but it’s an awful approach to your own creativity.
Photo by Dark Dwarf.
As business site Inc. points out, creativity isn’t just something you sit down and do for a half hour a day on command. It’s something that you have to allow to flow. It’s a trial-and-error process that needs to be able to make mistakes and waste time. That’s hard to reconcile with a mindset that says everything has to be perfect the first time and there’s no room for anything less than the best. Ironically, striving towards perfection right out of the gate can stifle your creativity. To combat this, give yourself time before you judge your ideas too harshly:
To be creative, you have to allow yourself to be able to generate ideas and innovate freely and without judgment. If you judge your ideas too early in the process, you end up second-guessing and creating less. Separate the two processes, and let your initial run of ideas flow without interruption. There will be time later to select and polish the best.
Not only does judging your ideas too early result in killing off ideas that could be refined later, it can make you timid. If you’re too afraid to pitch an idea to yourself, how can you refine it until it’s ready to present to others? Give yourself the freedom to have OK or even bad ideas. You have to leave the gate open if you want the good ones to come through as well.
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