What is creative confidence?
Creatives seem to suffer more than most when it comes to our internal belief system. When your heart and soul goes into the creative process, it can be hard not to take criticism as a personal attack on your abilities.
And hey, we’ve all been there! You get 99 pieces of great feedback, but it’s the 1 negative critique you’ll remember for the rest of time.
So how do we overcome this self-sabotage and restore our confidence levels back to our 4 year-old crayon-masterpiece crafting Picassos? Let’s define what creative confidence is and what it is not.
01: A muscle
Arguably, we’re all born confident! We don’t doubt ourselves as kids at nursery, using finger paints and instruments made from rice and yogurt pots. But at some point in our lives self-doubt starts to creep in. But creative confidence is a muscle you can train. Something to master and practice daily.
02: The art of letting go
Once you’ve pressed send / publish / go, it’s out of your control. Whether that’s influencing a client’s opinion on the latest draft, or how a passer-by appreciates your street art. But understanding that second-guessing your talents can't change the outcome, will free you from that devil on your shoulder.
03: Trusting in the process
It’s knowing when an idea isn't quite there yet, acknowledging that the shitty ideas are part of the process and help guide you towards the great ones. They’re not a reflection on your overall abilities.
04: Fear of judgement
That’s right. Just because you have creative confidence doesn’t mean you don’t care what people think. We’re all human! Exposing yourself to criticism in any format is anxiety-inducing at the best of times, however, it’s safe to say you're your own worst critic.
01: Arrogance
There’s a huge difference between confidence and arrogance. Self-assurance is fundamental to the subject in hand, but don’t confuse this with an overinflated sense of importance.
02: Expecting too much of yourself
Let go of perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist. Creative confidence isn’t expecting every single project to be flawless or being fooled into thinking everything you create is sent from heaven. It’s being OK with imperfection and the messy journey to the end-product.
03: Blind optimism
Finding creative confidence isn’t about ignoring feedback, blocking out negativity and looking solely to the future with rose-tinted glasses on. To grow and improve, we must first reflect on what’s worked well in the past and what could be better. We focus on the big picture, and our long-term goals, but you can’t change what’s happened in the past, you can only learn from it.
Why it's important
Self-promotion
To promote yourself, you must first believe in yourself! There’s nothing less convincing than a half-hearted pitch, that even you yourself don’t believe. A lack of confidence is often taken advantage of sadly as you underprice yourself and in turn, the value you can bring.
The creative process
As previously mentioned, finding peace in the journey, and acknowledging that from bad ideas, good ideas come, will benefit your overall creative process. Creative confidence gives you the reassurance you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone, explore new avenues and have faith that you will strike gold at the right time.
Reduce your stress levels
By letting go of the things you can’t control, filtering through the feedback you take onboard and separating criticism from your creative abilities, for obvious reasons, reduces your stress levels!
Your new content, confident self, now sleeps better, communicates with your team better and on the whole, creates better work. It’s a win-win right?
Opening new doors
You say yes to more opportunities you’d of previously doubted yourself too much to accept. You’re pushing yourself and your boundaries and as a result, new doors are now open to you that weren’t before.
You’re more productive
Less time spent stressing = more time spent creating. With creative confidence, also comes the ability to know when you can step away from the screen, the canvas or the workshop. Knowing when to call it a day, take a break or resist the urge to tweak just “one last thing”.
So now you have a fresh perspective of what exactly creative confidence is, go free! Create the work you’ve always wanted to create and deep down, always knew you could.
