“The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.” – Linus Pauling
A big part of running my craft business is creating new things. And while it’s fun to make money from my creations, it adds an element of pressure to what might otherwise be a relaxing pastime. If I’m in the craft room, it means I’m either filling an order or making a new product I plan to sell on the site—and in either case, it needs to be good. Not just good, but perfect. If I work on an item and it doesn’t turn out right, I tend to see it as a waste of my time and resources.
But that’s not what creativity’s about. Creativity is about trying lots of things to figure out what works. It’s about breaking rules and taking risks. It’s about succeeding sometimes and failing sometimes, and learning and growing from it all. I’ve heard before that the fear of failure is the biggest enemy of creativity—if you’re afraid of failure, you’ll never try anything new.
So I’d like to make more time for practicing creativity. I heard a story about an artist who did one new painting per day for 30 days. She did as much as she could on one painting per day, but after that day was over she had to put it away—no looking back at it or fixing anything. This way she could concentrate on creating new ideas and trying new things without stressing about completing or perfecting each one.
I don’t know yet whether I’ll try a method like that, or figure out something else, but I want to find a structured way to encourage stress-free creativity in myself.
