Royane Real
When Being Creative Is Not Enough
By Royane Real
Would you say that you are a creative person? Many people who have great creativity, sadly never do anything with their talent.
Over the years, I have known many friends who are very, very creative. Have they all been successful at their creativity? If by being successful, you mean were these people able to make money from their creative ideas, the answer to that question is definitely NO!
Many of the creative people I know have not found a way to make money from their creativity. Many of them have a very poor track record of carrying out and finishing their creative projects. In fact, they often have a poor track record of even getting started on their creative projects. And in almost all cases, the creative people I have known have been unable to make much money from their creative ideas.
Why would so many creative people have such a poor record of carrying out their projects? Why are so many creative types unable to make money from their creativity?
These are actually very complicated questions, and the answers to these questions depend a lot on the person involved, and on many other factors in their lives.
Some of the creative people such as artists and writers I know, have complete contempt for anyone who makes money from selling their creative products. These people believe that any writer or artist who makes money from their writing or their art has to be a “sellout”. These people often believe that true artists have to be poor and suffer for their art.
Instead of trying to make money from their work, they dabbled at their creative projects and they spent a lot of time being angry at people who made a living at their art. Did they actually have any great creative talent? It’s hard to say, because they were dedicated to being commercial failures.
They didn’t spend much time on their art or their writing, but they did seem to spend a lot of time being resentful of other creative types who were successful. You could say they were jealous, but they believed they were being pure because they never pursued success.
Some of the people I have known who had extremely creative ideas were unsuccessful for other reasons. In many cases, these people would start creative projects, but they never completed any of them. Why would this happen? One reason is that many people with creative ideas can produce new ideas much more quickly than it is possible to carry them out.
Coming up with creative ideas can be fun and exciting, while carrying out those creative ideas can often become drudgery. Carrying out creative ideas can take a lot of time and a lot of mental effort and frustration.
In many cases, the talent of the creative person is simply not developed enough to express the vision. Instead of wrestling with the creative problem and trying to develop a solution, these people often give up. They quickly get distracted by some new creative idea that seems to offer more potential.
When creative people constantly get distracted by new ideas, not only do they leave many projects unfinished, but they also never develop the technical skill necessary to carry out their creative vision. They let their talent stagnate, while they end up discouraged, depressed, and surrounded by a sea of half finished projects.
What about the person who has creative ideas but who doesn’t even bother to get started on any of them?
Again, there can be many reasons why a creative person may never even start to carry out their creative ideas. One reason is because, as mentioned above, they may come up with new ideas far more quickly than they can carry any of them out. Many creative persons crave novelty, and they may become bored with a project before they even start it.
Another, more common reason why people with creative ideas don’t even get started on them is because they may have no faith in themselves. They may have very low self esteem. They may believe they have no talent. They're not good enough. They may even believe that they have no right to explore their creativity.
This can be a tragedy, especially when the creative force is very strong, and the negative beliefs within the person are even stronger. However, this is a very common situation.
If a person has developed negative beliefs about themselves, they will have to discover ways to override their inner critic. If a person has not bothered to carry out creative projects to the end, they will have to develop the discipline to keep working at a task until it is finished. This process can only start when a person becomes committed to seeing each project through. With a lot of practice, new levels of talent will develop.
To fully express creativity, it is not necessary to make money from creative projects, but it is necessary to find ways to carry out at least some of your creative ideas and make them exist in the real world.
To open up to creativity can take a lot of work, and a lot of courage. The inner rewards are more than worth it.
This article was written by Royane Real, author of How You Can Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative Download it today at http://www.lulu.com/real
Be sure to read the many other articles about improving your creativity which are available on this website. Do you have friends that you think could benefit from these self improvement articles? Tell them to visit http://www.royane.com
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