(See Commandment #1 #2 #3)
This is my Top 10 list for unleashing creativity. These 10 commandments will be my speaking points for my talk on “Faith & Creativity” and my new class “Unleashing Your Creativity”. (p.s. if you've been reading this blog lately you will see that this post is a re-hash of current writings. Think of it as the "greatest hits" if you will.)
Commandment 4. It’s OK to fail...fail often, fail forward, enjoy the failure.
Can failure make you fearless? Can fear give you experience?
Fear and failure go together, it's an easy picture to see. It's an easy picture to see in all of us , at times.
How about being fearless and experience? Can we see ourselves in that picture? Do they go together? Yes, but we hardly think about that, rarely do we think of being fearless and experience as a bi-product of fear and failure.
Being fearless can lead to courage. Experience goes to the old. Not true! Fearless goes to those who commit to the “practice” and “practice” gives you the experience to become fearless at your art.
What does this mean for the creative person? That perfection is found in the process. (Commandment #3)
Failure gives you the opportunity to improve on the smallest details that will create the biggest difference in your work.
Failure gives you the opportunity to solve the extreme problems first, letting the smaller issues to self-correct.
Failure gives you the opportunity to improve with relevance.
Failure gives you the opportunity to do the work that is important.
Failure gives you the understanding of the “why” of your starting points and that is often the overlooked. In turn it helps to provide the obvious solution to your creative problems.
I am a promoter of the idea that failure is a good thing. Be not afraid. My advice to all has been fail, fail often, enjoy the failure, and fail forward. Failure is #4 on my 10 Commandments of Creativity, it is that important to me. Place purpose and effort into the idea of failing forward, because all that is left is experience.
What happens before we fail? We have a grand adventure. We go off into the unknown as willful explorers looking for something new. I ask you how much of that feeling of adventure is left in us? As children we lived adventure, daily. Fearlessly trying things anew, scraping our knees, making cardboard box forts and lemonade stands. We played supers heroes, we played dress up, we walked off into the woods to be Robin Hood.
Adventure was a daily part of our lives. How much adventure is in you today?
Got Adventure! Get Fearless!
Go Create!
