My main takeaways from “Creative demons and how to slay them”

To quote Dostoevsky: beauty will save the world. Or maybe creativity will.

I genuinely believe that in the era of hyper perfection, is the imperfect and human that will keep us sane. And it is precisely because of this that I’ve been starting a quest to use, develop, and train my creative muscle. 

The idea of being creative feels so nice and comforting, but as anyone who has ever attempted a creative act knows way too well, bringing that creativity to the world is everything but comforting. It is terrifying.

In whichever shape it takes, from writing, shooting a video, painting, or cooking, bringing the idea from your head to reality is NOT easy.

This is where procrastination, fear of judgement, and the idea that what you produce is not worth anyone’s time (including yours) come up. I can assure that all these things, and some more, come and visit me every single time I start writing a post or, even worse, when I start adventuring in new and uncharted territories like sketching, podcasting, or videos.

These doubts, creeping in into the creatives minds, are what Richard Holman calls the a creative demon. He found 10 of them and he describes how to slay them in his super interesting book. (You can find it here)

The idea of reading such a book to find inspiration for product development work felt a bit like a creative art in itself. 

I for sure wouldn’t dare to compare even the best of products with the art of Van Gogh, Goethe or Mozart. And yet, I firmly believe that there should be passion, and care in every product worth creating. So in the pursue of finding, and slaying my creative demons, I started the read.

Here are my takeaways:

1- You are not alone

My biggest takeaway from the book was the really comforting realization that I was not alone feeling all the feelings about my creative acts not being worth/good enough.

There is one sentence in the book that describes it quite well:

“To be free of self-doubt is to lack the critical acuity you’ll need when it comes to evaluating and refining your work”

Or in other words, if you do not doubt yourself, you do not have what it takes to be an artist.

In the book there are stories about Van Gogh being misunderstood by his contemporaries and selling zero paintings. ZERO! Elvis being roasted as he “couldn’t sing”, and Steinbeck doubting if he should write books.

If even those universally recognized masters of their crafts doubted themselves, there is hope for me as well.

And it is precisely that feeling that should push you to park your judgement and push your creative act. I know that in our era of social judgment being out there and being vulnerable is scary, but at the same time, expressing yourself not for others to judge, but support you, is one of the most effective growth mechanisms I have found.

Next time you’re there judging yourself, think that if others would have done the same, we would not have some amazing piece of art. You might not create the next masterpiece humanity will cherish for centuries to come, but for sure you can create a better version of yourself.

2- Knowing your demons gets you half of they way

Feeling scared is human, knowing what you are scared of, is a superpower. 

This book did a great job in naming all the demons, and how they act, so that you can recognize which one you have to fight (and decide which weapon you need to carry with you). I’ll list them here, and I want to give you a challenge: recognize your main antagonist(s), and start facing it today.

Is it the demon of …

Procrastination - or pushing indefinitely the time to create, because you do not have an aim (yet).
Is this your demon? Fight it is by starting, with the bar really low. And let the process guide you. 

The blank page - or drowning in expectations for the very first thing you create, leaving you petrified.
You can slay this demon by taking a step away from expectations and fear. If you set your brain free, the ideas will find you.

Doubt - or constantly judging your work as not good enough.
A way to skip past this demon is to create, then evaluate. Do not try to do both things at the same time, as you’ll fail miserably. If you want to write: write, and write, and write. And then go back and fix it. But do not stop at every single sentence while you have your flow going. As every writer knows it is often in the editing that you find your voice.

Convention - or escaping the trap of doing things as we are used to. This is an hard one to face as the more we experience, the more we know, the more our thinking becomes fix. 
Fight it by practicing oppositional thinking, and play, or ask someone else to play, the devil’s advocate on your ideas.

Constraints - or feeling stuck in the boundaries, even if research has shown that the more we are constrained, the more we are creative. 
First step to tame this: separate the real from the imagined constraints. And then reframe them all as a “yet” statement.

Criticism - or listening only to the ones who do not appreciate what you do. 
Everyone has critics, they get stuck in your head, I know that really really well. The antidote is to listen to them when they serve you, but not too often or too hard.

Theft - or the notion that all great things have already been invented, and we are only copying the ones before us. 
Yes, many things have been created, and it is thanks to them that we can build innovation, assembling and putting together the pieces. You are not stealing, you are building on the shoulders of giants.

Accidents - or the idea that you are not really responsible for your best work, but it happened to you.
You fight it by being there, trusting the vision, and seeing every accident that happens as the result of your work, and the process you started. You are not there by chance, there is a journey that brought you there, and you are the sole responsible for it.

Failure - or the demon of feeling like a fraud as what we create will never “make it”.
This demon is with us from a really young age, as we are taught that failing is bad. But is it? It is when I was wrong that I learned the most. Being wrong forces us to surface assumptions, question what we took for granted, and find new answers.

Disappointment - or felling that we are not up to the task.
But really, if we think about it, who is? The creative act is the most human part of what makes us human, and being human involves feeling all the feels. The only way to beat this one, is to take the bold step, and start.

3 - The quest is not to slay the Demonds, but to learn to work with them

We know everyone has faced one or all of these demons at least once, we know who they are, and which ones have a long-term rent on our shoulders. As I was reading I realized that the point is another.

The quest is not to slay them all and be demon free, but to create despite of them, because you understand what is stopping you, and found ways to coexist with them. 

For me it is about lowering the perfection bar and getting things out there. Because perfect is the enemy of progress.

To ask some trusted people to be a demon slayer with me, and give me their view on what I create, so that I can find the courage to press publish or step on a stage.

It is about grow past the criticism, and into your cheerlead squad. And see how results, possibilities, and relationships compound when you put yourself out there.

And it is about give myself permission to have fun! Putting time on the creative acts that give me joy, not seeing them as a must.

Energy goes where energy flows - and your creative energy will find your way, just give it space, some exercise, and a big dose of your fearless self.

4- Simple, yet subversive creative acts I will try (and you can too)

Theory is nothing without practice, so after reading the book I decided to do some subversive creative acts, in the spirit of flexing my creative muscle.

• Change the medium - I have always been comfortable with writing, but I have been trying new things. Podcasting, sketching (oooh, that is still terrifying), videos. And do you know what? I even got some people complimenting me about my sketches (in front of which I always cringe). Every step gives me a bit more confidence, and some extra grams of creativity.
  

• Cross pollinate - I have been trying to burst out of my bubble and get familiar with people, opinions, and genres that I normally do not read or follow. This is a great way of trying to understand new perspectives. I have been reading biographies of people famous in their countries that I had never heard of, books about games when I am not a gamer, and a newsletter from AI enthusiasts. Sky is the limit here, and to be completely frank, it is not easy to burst out of my own bubble. Any recommendations on book, people, news or whatever sparked your creativity, please send them my way.
  

• Subvert my “normal position” - everyone has a “normal stance” they take. Knowing it is half of the job. The other half is challenging it. I am normally the “feasibility” girl: when someone propose a trip, I would be the one organizing it, when someone thinks about an idea, I would see directly in front of me the limitation that we have to overcome to make it successful. I am your grounding guide. Always been.
  You need a grounding guide, but having that stance also limits me to see all the possibilities in front of me (before judging which ones are doable). So I have been trying with an exercise. Going from “yes, but…” to the “yes, and…”. Building before dissecting. I must admit it, it doesn’t come natural to me, but it has been complicated and fun to try.

The world needs creativity now more than ever, and this book will help you take a step creating something. 

Put yourself out there, and when you do, ping me. I would love to see what you create.