One of the ways we disqualify an idea is to create the excuse that we have other important things to attend to. We didn't even give the idea a chance of survival probably because we don't want to bear another burden of committent. There's also another angle to that "Manson’s law of avoidance: The more something threatens your identity, the more you will avoid it."
There are good, important opportunities that we consistently pass up because they threaten to change how we view and feel about ourselves. They threaten the values that we’ve chosen and have learned to live up to. Mark Manson mentioned about a friend who, for the longest time, talked about putting his artwork online and trying to make a go of it as a professional (or at least semiprofessional) artist. He talked about it for years; he saved up money; he even built a few different websites and uploaded his portfolio. But he never launched. There was always some reason: the resolution on his work wasn’t good enough, or he had just painted something better, or he wasn’t in a position to dedicate enough time to it yet. Years passed and he never did give up his “real job.” Why? Because despite dreaming about making a living through his art, the real potential of becoming An Artist Nobody Likes was far, far scarier than remaining An Artist Nobody’s Heard Of. At least he was comfortable with and used to being An Artist Nobody’s Heard Of.
Sometimes our attempts to try something new are crippled by our attempts to avoid the failure of the unknown. When Pablo Picasso was an old man, he was sitting in a café in Spain, doodling on a used napkin. He was nonchalant about the whole thing, drawing whatever amused him in that moment — a woman sitting near him was looking on in awe. After a few moments, Picasso finished his coffee and crumpled up the napkin to throw away as he left.
The woman stopped him. “Wait,” she said. “Can I have that napkin you were just drawing on? I’ll pay you for it.” “Sure,” Picasso replied. “Twenty thousand dollars.” The woman’s head jolted back as if he had just flung a brick at her. “What? It took you like two minutes to draw that.” “No, ma’am,” Picasso said. “It took me over sixty years to draw this.” He stuffed the napkin in his pocket and walked out of the café. The number of times you've failed at anything will determine how much you've improved at it and how big of an impact your successes will be. If someone is better than you at something, then it’s likely because she has experienced greater failure than you have. If someone is worse than you, it's probably because he hasn't had to go through all the difficult lessons you have. When a small child is first learning to walk, they will trip and harm themselves countless times. That child, however, never pauses to consider that perhaps walking is not for them. I'm not very good.
We eventually come to understand how to avoid failure. A large part of that, I'm sure, stems from the way our educational system works, which strictly evaluates students based on performance and penalizes underachievers. A significant portion of it is also caused by overbearing or judgmental parents who don't allow their children to make mistakes on their own frequently enough and instead discipline them for attempting something new or going against the grain. And then we have all the mass media that repeatedly shows us triumph after triumph, but does not show us the countless hours of tedious practice and toil that were necessary to reach that accomplishment. Most of us eventually reach a point where we're terrified to fail, where we automatically steer clear of failing and just do what's in front of us or what we're already good at. We are constrained and stifled by this. Only when we are willing to fail at anything can we truly succeed. We are unwilling to succeed if we are unwilling to fail.
Overcoming Creativity Myths Series has been an eye opener for me too. as I get encouraged and inspired from the insights I have been sharing over the past few weeks. I'll be holding on here :))
I'll next share on The Dimensions to Nurturing Creativity.
Enjoy your weekend.
Cheers!