Whether you are a hobbyist or you are making a living by selling your products, creativity is at the core of every maker. If you ask someone in this community to describe themselves in three words, more than likely a trait you will hear over and over again is “creative.” I would describe myself as creative, but I struggle with my creativity all the time. My biggest issue is that I have so many ideas in my head that I can picture perfectly and when I go to make them, they come out all wrong. I have drawers and drawers of clay, fabric, paint, wood, electronic bits and pieces, etc that I have abandoned due to feeling frustrated when my first attempt flops.
I came across this Lifehacker article today about sabotaging your creativity and found myself agreeing with many of the points. Using our imaginations to form something tangible can be a frustrating process, but, especially in my case, we need to realize that being a maker means trial and error, experimenting, collaborating, and being ourselves. One part of the article that particularly “hit home” for me was this:
We tend to glorify stories about creative geniuses and attempt to recreate those creative bursts for ourselves. This doesn’t work. Steve Jobs started Apple out of a garage, but that doesn’t mean that you should start a company out of yours. Don’t emulate the specifics. Instead, integrate ideas that make sense to you and your system, then move on.
For the whole article, click here.
