Bringing The Right Side Of Yourself To The Table When Doing Creative Work

Creative work is difficult because it has little form to it and we often approach it from the wrong perspective. It’s easy to think like an editor and fuss over what you produce, or getting caught up in marketing when you’re only in the beginning phases of a great idea.

Photo by xy (Shutterstock) ARENA Creative (Shutterstock).

Having different lenses to view your creative work is great, but only if you bring the right one to the table at the right time. Tara Mohr, writing for productivity and ideas blog The 99 Percent, elaborates:

In the early stage of the creative process, we need the inner artist. The artist’s domain is drafting, receiving ideas and inspiration, fleshing them out. The artist thrives in an atmosphere of curiosity, safety, and play. She needs shelter from others’ opinions and respite from even thinking about what the judgments of others might be. In the second stage of the creative process, the inner editor leads. The editor’s domain is revising, trimming, structuring. Whereas the artist must forget about what other people might think, the editor brings the audience back into the process, ensuring that the work effectively communicates the artist’s intent. Then the inner agent takes the baton. The agent’s domain is developing marketing messages for the work, communicating about the work to external stakeholders, and finding distribution. The agent is thick-skinned, brave, and wise about the market.

Tara notes that this is not always a linear process and sometimes you’ll have to change hats out of order. But the most important thing is knowing your creative self and process. Tara offers a number of suggestions on how to get to that place if you aren’t there yet, so check out the full post on The 99 Percent for more details.

Is An Inner Argument Holding Back Your Productivity? [The 99 Percent]