Start With Who
You heard it here first
‘Looking around, unable to understand why people are acting so conventionally, starting to feel alienated, out of place, and like a ‘stranger in a strange land’, she finds herself burdened by this pulsing energy: the fierce need to be herself’
THIS is what Dr Eric Maisel, creativity coaching guru and writer of no less than 50 (fifty!) books on creativity, told us in his Advanced Creativity Coaching programme earlier this year.
It hit me like a ton of bricks.
He was talking - of course - about creative people. And it made me think.
Everyone is creative
You see, I’ve often said this. I believe EVERYONE is creative. I believe everyone has the ability to access their creative and wise inner self to come up with solutions for problems, to innovate, to DO something creative. I’d even go as far as to say that creativity, being creative, is KEY to your wellbeing. (It’s not just me saying that, it’s clients I spoke to too!)
But is being creative, DOING something creative, DIFFERENT from BEING A creative?
And if so, what is the difference?
The creative person
Generally speaking people start calling creative people A creative when they make a living primarily through their creativity.
Simple as that.
But do they have specific characteristics? Here are my thoughts:
Self-expression: Like Eric Maisel’s quote says: creative people want to express themselves. Which can be frustrating if you find yourself in an environment where your freedom to express yourself is limited.
Imagination: Perhaps more so than non-creatives, they have the ability to bring together multiple ideas, viewpoints and perspectives and imagine a future possibility that no one thought of before. Someone with IDEAS is valuable!
Curiosity: They are playful and curious, love to experience multiple things and are forever curious about other possibilities, things, people and worlds.
Courage: I mention courage here, not because it’s a characteristic of creatives only, but because you need more of it if you want to express yourself in a world that wants you to conform.
Coping mechanisms
You see, all those strengths and characteristics we’ve just talked about are great. But they can also turn against you.
Your creativity can turn into the Restless - someone who forever has 29 tabs open on their computer. Who is distracted easily, who wants to avoid doing the hard work and is looking elsewhere for more pleasant ways of doing things or more pleasant things to do.
You being in the wrong environment, being misunderstood, might have led to a Victim Saboteur, who indulges in self-pity and ‘poor me’ behaviour.
You working hard might have led to a Hyper Achiever Saboteur, who has turned out to be a workaholic. Working hard - but at the right things?
Creative industries
What do you think when you see the words ‘creative industries’? Yes, you think of
advertising and marketing
architecture
crafts
design
fashion
film, TV, video, radio and photography
IT, software and computer services
publishing
museums, galleries and libraries
music, performing and visual arts.
Right?
Does this mean that you CAN’T be creative when you don’t work in one of these industries? Or - for that matter - that you’re ALWAYS being creative when you DO work in those industries?
No, of course not. Creatives have paperwork too. Even (or perhaps especially) engineering firms - as an example - need creativity too.
The environment
As many a creative person will tell you, the environment is SO important!
From your early childhood where your parents were bemused by the amount of questions you asked, the drawings you came home with, your frustration and endless need to sing, dance, sculpt and paint, your endless need to express yourself.
To your environment now, where - for perfectly understandable (albeit sometimes outdated) reasons - jobs are carved up into specialisms. Where specialists are revered and generalists are rated - let’s say - differently. Where an overflow of ideas can be seen as … weird. Where recruiters often prefer industry experience - rather than taking the ideas gained from working in a multitude of industries.
For you - ESPECIALLY for you, as a creative person - your environment is CRUCIAL to allow you to spread your wings and flourish.
Your essence self
The reason I started writing this article (I’ll come around to it now) is this.
Underneath ALL the frustration, the coping mechanisms, the inner voices (your Saboteurs) sits your essence self.
And you *may* not have realised that you - too - are a creative. Even if you’re not working in the creative industries. Even if you’re not A creative. Or not yet.
When it comes to your happiness it’s CRUCIAL that you understand WHO you are, what your STRENGTHS are and in which environment you’re at your best.
So where that starts is with YOU. With uncovering you, your essence self you. With getting rid of the NOISE so that you can start listening to yourself, to that wise - and yes, creative - person underneath.
Finding the WHO, before the WHAT, the WHY and the WHERE
Somewhere in the beginning of this article I wrote that everyone is creative.
I believe that.
Not everyone then goes on to become A creative. Not everyone wants to or has the ability or opportunity to.
What I want to say with this article really is this:
The WHO - If YOU feel frustrated at your place of work it’s CRUCIAL you find out why. But more importantly it’s crucial to find out WHO you are. Underneath all that noise of your inner critics and years of building up coping mechanisms.
The WHAT - And if you find that - yes - YOU have unexpressed creativity it’s key to find out what elements you want to express. Do you have fantastic ideas, but no one is listening? Or is it that you want to write that book/paint/sculpt/ sing/act/perform? How can you make more room for that? Or even make that into a living (making you into A creative)?
The WHY - Simon Sinek would say that your ‘why’ is really important (with the unintended consequence that the whole world is now frantically looking for their Purpose, putting WAY too much pressure on yourself doing so. Anyway, that’s a post for another day). I simply want to say this: once you know WHO you are and what’s IMPORTANT to you there are a GREAT number of jobs, careers or even vocations that will fit that picture.
The WHERE - And finally, as we’ve seen, your environment is important. ESPECIALLY if you want to bring your full creative self to work. A supportive environment where your creative, perhaps sometimes even off the wall, or weird, ideas are not ridiculed or punished, but where you are allowed to bring your full self to work. AND then there are a great number of other ways in which you can fulfil your creative potential too: yes, AT work, but also in a side-hustle, in a portfolio career, in a creative project, at home.
In other words what I’d argue is this: Start With Who.
(Which to me sounds like a great title for a book. You heard it here first.)
And if YOU are curious about HOW to find out more about YOUR ‘who’, so that you can then figure out the what, the why and the when, then look below at the FREE 5 day Create 2 Change Challenge starting on Monday 21 October!
See you there!
Tineke X
P.S. The NEW and IMPROVED Positive Intelligence programme is here! I’m starting a new group on Monday 28 October. Do YOU want to be a part of this renewed programme? Book your Saboteur Discovery Call now and I’ll tell you ALL about it!
It’s the Create 2 Change Challenge!
21 - 25 October 2024
I LOVE being creative and helping YOU to unlock your creative brain. Yes, to change or transform your career. But also to unlock some of those long-held dreams and aspirations and to help you be happy at work.
This challenge? Is all about unlocking YOUR creative brain. So that you - TOO - can start making YOUR change happen.
In FIVE days we’ll get you to:
Day 1 - EMPATHISE - Identify what is STOPPING you from taking steps (even that very FIRST step!) towards a happier, more fulfilled (working) life
Day 2 - EXPLORE - Start thinking about who you really ARE and what you're GREAT at
Day 3 - NAVIGATE - Create space so that you can uncover what you WANT
Day 4 - INNOVATE - Engage your creative brain to dig up OLD ideas and identify NEW ideas to start transforming YOUR career
Day 5 - ACTIVATE - Start taking INSPIRED ACTION to keep moving forward
Five days - ONE email, ONE lesson, ONE reflective exercise, ONE creative task.
You ready? Sign up now and we’ll get started on 21 October!
Books, books, BOOKS!
Win books for LIFE!
You know I LOVE books, right? I’ve even got a whole Book Review section on my Substack with book reviews on Careers and Career Change, Women and Work, Business and Leadership, Creativity and Body and Mind.
Do YOU love books? Because if you do THIS might be RIGHT up your street!
You can now win BOOKS - FOR LIFE with bookshop.org! I know!
Use this link to be in with a chance:
Books for creative people
I love a good list. You? This is why I’m always keen to share (lists of) books that may interest you.
Today’s list is advertised as being ‘for creatives’ I think there are some GREAT books in here that everyone who is struggling with work-life balance would benefit from.
What I’m reading
Yes, this is my To Read pile (that - plus perhaps one or two more books I *may* have picked up since I took this photo. Oh, and one from the library. Not counting my Fiction books).
What I’ve read:
The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson
A worrying book about the world of mental health. The main takeaway? Psychopaths are all around you! Hiding in plain sight.
The Coaching Habit - Michael Bungay Stanier
Are you in the habit of giving advice? Well, this book tells you to stop that now. Why not instead use the SEVEN questions to start REALLY getting under the skin of problems and issues? Easy to read, practical, a must read for every manager and leader.
What I’m reading:
'Likeable Badass' - Alison Fragale
Talks about how we can be a ‘badass’, meaning Warm and Assertive at the same time. An informative, easy to read and entertaining book about how to go about creating a higher status in the eyes of others. (Unfortunately still a necessity for a lot of women - and men too).
The creative economy - John Howkins
A dense book about how the creative economy works and how people make money from ideas.
🔴🟡🟠
Tineke Tammes is a Career & Creativity Coach supporting professional women in creating fulfilling work and happy careers. Besides that she is also a lifelong feminist, part-time portrait artist, never-only-read-one-book-at-any-time reader, and obsessive doodler.
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We are all creative and can use it in any enterprise. Love the illustration!