It's never occurred to me that creativity can come from a place of insecurity, but this video made me think about it. I'm a confident guy, and I get my creativity in the same way Chris Do gets it: by being optimistic and believing that reaching the top of the mountain only shows you the next peak to start climbing.
Debbie Millman, who creates podcasts like Design Matters, gives her method of being creative, and that it's due to the pursuit of being of value, that she's basically proving to herself that what she's doing is worth something, and that she herself is of value with every project she works on.
What I was wondering is which one is best, to be as confident as possible and to believe that you will reach the next frontier once you've completed the first, or if you should keep on climbing your mountain and that that's your goal in life?
I'm not close to where I want to be in my career, and what I mean by "career" is not really a black and white scenario, but I do believe the best is yet to come and that my being won't ever grow old with regards to being creative. I might change, and my circumstances will affect my mental state, but I will ignite the fire each day with a spark of inspiration, whether it's a video like this, an amazing song, or some photographe that speaks to me in a language I'm still learning. I don't believe I'll ever reach my peak, although Chris mentions that some people hold themselves back in order to prevent reaching their peak, but if I had to choose one, I'm an optimist, not really a realist.
What do you think? Will you reach the top one day and not be able to do better, bigger jobs, or are you only able to see the next mountain to climb when you reach the peak of the one you're on?
Looking somewhat bleak for the photographer. " while the average job in the US is projected to have employment growth of 7% in the decade between 2016 to 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that photography jobs will decline by about 5.6% in that same span." Yikes. I sort of figured this was coming. Happy I am older and not looking to make my bones in this business. Financial insecurity will drive out many in the next 5 yrs. Of course many will do well. It seems the winners so far have added seminars, "how to" books, videos, and all that "Stuff". I am forecasting a drop in ad revenue for web sites like fstoppers and other sites or add other product developments for sale. Sales of DSLR are declining. Many will survive the scale down, But it's coming for sure. Insecurity is just fear. The only way I know defeat fear is to walk into fear. I think to remember, "they can't eat you". Envy will do the damage, so knowing who I am and my self worth is a major key in my life. Life is unfair, and unfair to all. my rant for the day
Hopefully that decline is just the not good photographers. lol
I will buy into this
full disclaimer, i didn't finish the video, but i dunno.... if you ask my wife, photography is probably more of a mid-life crisis than any form of insecurity. but, if you ask me, grandpa said it best, "wake up every morning ready to bite the ass off a bear" with whatever it is you wanna do....
My insecurities hamper my creativity, but I dunno if they also gave birth to them.
I would somewhat think that it is really the combination of the 2 that is what leads to creativity. If we are already confident in a task it's not a new hurdle. It's the tasks that are new, different, and a challenge that push us. There is a certain amount of underlying confidence, and optimism that we apply when we ask ourselves if we can do something. That feeling of accomplishment when we do it will give us a sense of value, that drive that says, "YES! I did it". I think it's all part of the same picture, just what you want to focus on at any time.