Your Biggest (non-creative) Mistake

October 3, 2012 — 16 Comments

We all love mistakes.

Right? Well, maybe we don’t love them, but I certainly do.

Mistakes are sometimes costly and often embarrassing. Which is why I love them.

I love mistakes. I’ll proudly say that I’ve been known to watch the blooper reel of DVD’s before even watching the movie. Mistakes bring joy.

I love mistakes. I bragged about some of my recent ones in this post. Mistakes humanize us.

I love mistakes. Mistakes are a pathway to growth.

But there’s one mistake none of us can afford to make.

It has nothing to do with money and nothing to do with humiliation.

So what is it?

The biggest mistake we can make is to believe we are not creative.

Check out this small thinking…

What if great inventors like Edison, Ford and Jobs believed they were not creative?

What if great writers like Shakespeare, Fitzgerald and Twain believed they were not creative?

What if great blog post readers like you believe they are not creative…

Broken Belief

Your pathway to a more creative life starts with believing you are creative.

  • Creativity is not reserved for the ‘artsy’ type.
  • Creativity is not earmarked for a privileged few.
  • Creativity is not set aside for bionic, super-human brainiacs.

Creativity is for all.

You have something to offer that can change someone’s life and make the world better, more beautiful and more vibrant.

Confession Booth Question: What secret creative dream do you have trouble believing you can achieve? Leave it in the comments–it’s your first step to believing you’re creative enough to making it happen. (I’ll start us off…)

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Andrew Zahn

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I'm an actor who spends some time as a Public Relations Manager. On this blog, I pave a highway for creative growth by providing food, water, and shelter for those wishing to live, work, and play with creative zest.
  • http://www.zahndrew.com/ Andrew Zahn

    I have trouble believing I have something new to say. This belief failure held me captive from speaking about creativity (which I’m doing later this month–eek!) and from writing a book.

    I sometimes think “everyone has already done this–it’s not original Andrew.” And that’s probably true in a lot of cases.

    But I have to believe that my voice is different, even if the message or idea is similar to someone else’s message.

    I have to believe that what’s in my heart will connect with someone. That helps me push through the unbelief that I’m not creative and have nothing to say.

    • http://www.jasonvana.com Jason Vana

      Believing I have something new to share is a struggle for me as well. I face that fear every time I sit down at the computer and don’t have something stirring in my to write about, or any time I’m preparing a sermon. Something always comes, and usually it’s pretty good, but on the starting end I struggle with the thought that I might have said all I can say.

      • http://www.zahndrew.com/ Andrew Zahn

        I think a lot of people feel this way, Jason!

  • http://chrisvonada.info/ chris vonada

    Living the dream Andrew… :-)

    Love that quote… hee hee!!

    • http://www.zahndrew.com/ Andrew Zahn

      :-)

  • http://deuceology.wordpress.com Larry Carter

    You know Henry Ford never wanted to produce another car other than the Model T, right? And he was happy to produce cars in any color you wanted as long as it was black. I think we can all be small minded.

    • http://www.zahndrew.com/ Andrew Zahn

      I had no idea Larry. I wonder when he switched (or IF he switched) from small thinking to bigger thinking?

      • http://deuceology.wordpress.com Larry Carter

        I think he believed that you just made a product and there was no need to change…..even though he put the buggy whip industry out of business.

  • annette skarin

    I’m in the process of proposing to my church, a creative writing group. In trying to word the vision, purpose and goals of the group, I realize I know squat. I have never led or organized a group of any kind, so I’m essentially stepping out on the wobbly ground of laying the bare bones, then watching it form. This group will be focused on the people in the group and not about me the facilitator. I’m trembling. Hopefully, I will fail and the group will succeed.

    • http://www.zahndrew.com/ Andrew Zahn

      Fantastic Annette! We all have to wobble along at some point, doing our firsts or everything!

      That is going to be so empowering for people at your church… I’m sure that just staring the discussion with be a great resource for creatives.

  • http://twitter.com/tdiddy1234 Todd Foley

    I am such a people-pleaser at heart, so I always struggle with releasing my content to the world. Will they like it? Will they be offended? How could I make the most people happy? I think it’s the fear of not being liked, which can sometimes even trigger a panic attack. I’ve learned to press on though, whether or not I still feel the panic (which I still do). I find that I have to change my perspective from “What if people don’t like it?” to “Who will benefit from hearing/seeing/reading this?”

    • http://www.zahndrew.com/ Andrew Zahn

      I love that last perspective-shift question Todd… that’s good!

      I think being a performer myself, I’m very conscious of that ‘will-they-like-me” thing as well. When all we really need to do is offer helpful tools… people will use them, or they won’t–they’re choice, not ours.

  • Andy Black

    There are a couple of monkeys that I seem to carry around on my back. One is the Second Guesser. He can talk me out of almost anything and has me questioning the validity of lots that I do. His twin brother is Doubting Thomas. He likes to whisper disparaging remarks in my ear trying to convince me that I’m not nearly as good as I might think I am. When they get too loud I have to remember to lock them back in their cage and hide the key (I hope the ASPCA isn’t reading this).

    • http://www.zahndrew.com/ Andrew Zahn

      Those durn monkeys!

      What’s worse is walking around NOT KNOWING those monkeys sometimes influence us… good to know you know they’re back there.

      Why not replace them with one of these… smaller and cuter.

      • Andy Black

        :D I like that size! I would hardly be able to hear them! Amazing photo…

        • http://www.zahndrew.com/ Andrew Zahn

          I watched pygmy marmoset videos for about 10 minutes on youtube after finding this pic. *confession*