My initial response to this question was wrong.
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Chapter 8: Does It Take Courage to Be Creative?
Notes
For many, creativity does take courage, but that’s because they frame it like this:
- Fear of judgement, especially of being seen as an imposter
- Seeing creativity as fragile
- Requiring magic or the “muse”
“It doesn’t have to be this way.”
- Model successful creatives’ processes
- Trust the process
- Trust yourself
“Being creative is a choice and creativity is contagious.”
Thoughts
I originally thought the answer was so obvious that the chapter title was a rhetorical question. But that’s certainly wrong. Seth acknowledges the fears that many people feel: the fear that they don’t really have permission, that they’re not qualified, that they’re not good enough, and so on.
But the answer to this is complicated. On the one hand, if courage is acting despite fear (as opposed to simply not feeling fear), then yes, we would need courage.
But if we recognize that these things we fear don’t really matter, then maybe we work less from courage than from, as he suggests, trust: trust in our models or mentors, trust in the process, trust in ourselves.
I think that, for those (like myself) who feel fear, there is a tension here. I don’t think simply affirming that I belong, or that “good enough” is an unhelpful metric, etc., will remove fear. But it does allow me to focus elsewhere—on generosity and trust. Perhaps it takes some amount of courage to shift that focus. But I could see how, if I make the shift, courage becomes less relevant.
Again, generosity as the antidote to fear.
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.