[Adriana]

Today, I realised something.


You have the right to screw up.

No one is allowed to violiate this right.


No one, not even yourself. You must invoke your right to screw up. You don't have to be perfect, and neither does what you make or do. So don't force yourself to -- don't violate your own right to make mistakes. Mistakes are good for you. Without them, you will not reach your goal.

You have the right to practice -- you don't need to be perfect right away. In fact, most people, yes, even really talented people, have to screw up at least 500 times (or more) before they can be even nearly perfect.

So go on now. Do what you've wanted to do -- be it photographing, writing, painting, singing, playing the piano, kissing your neighbor, smiling at strangers, baking lasagna, meditating, running, badminton, driving, composing, or advanced math. Practice. Practice, practice, practice! Make every mistake you can possibly make! That is your right.

Remember G.K. Chesterton: If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.

 

[InsideOutBoy]

Nice post.

I try (it's difficult) to create the things that make me happy, whether or not they are good or bad. To be a child again and play with art.

Sometimes you get lucky with this and create things that other people like too.

 

[niki]

Nicely said!

along with this, this is what I'm reminded again recently, simple but very true:

We are, after all, just a human being,
who can err and make mistakes (due to our 'limited' senses etc).
so, don't be too hard on yourself, forgive yourself,
and keep learning and pushing forward.
after all, Learning is one of the essence of our human's life.

I've realized that this might go too deep into the 'bigger picture', but I feel it's also closely related and can apply in terms of INFP as the 'harsh self-critic creatives'

 

[JoCZker]

I agree with you, completely. But i must say, that its much harder to not just "know," but really feel it and live by it . . . There is the problem. At least for me.

 

[MikeTheKnife]

Thank you for this, you've inspired me.

I just recently crapped out on a creative writing project because I felt my writing was bad. I've been afraid to show up at the creative writing forum because I chickened out at the last minute. I can't even bring myself to read the stories by the people who stepped up because I just want to forget about my giving up.

You know what, tho? I'm gonna finish that story, and it's going to be TERRIBLE. And I'm gonna be happy I did it

 

[Adriana]

(I know it's not chic to bump your own topic, but I laugh at my own jokes without shame so I can do this too!)

First off, thank you for the compliments! I'm really happy I've been able to inspire/motivate some of you with my two cents.

Secondly, I stumbled upon this article. It says writing, but writing is just used as an example.

On insecurity and Writing

A good friend mentioned he’d write more often if he dealt with his insecurities about writing.

I look at this differently.

All writers are insecure: they have doubts and fears that never go away. Kafka didn’t want any of his books published, and lived with perennial doubts about his talents. Fitzgerald and Hemingway both despaired about the quality of their current projects, whatever they were, afraid their new works wouldn’t measure up to their last (despite feeling this way about their previous works too). Talk to any creator while they are creating and insecurity is everywhere. Will this work? Is this the right choice? Should I cut this or make it bigger? It’s part of the deal, as making something means you have to find your way as you go.

Anyone who creates anything has an endless game of ping pong between confidence and fear going on in their minds. And although one might score an ace or a slam, neither ever wins, it’s an endless game. Complete confidence creates shitty work, and complete insecurity ends work altogether. Both confidence and fear are needed and must be lived with, not eliminated. Experience with creativity means familiarity with this process, not an avoidance of it. Fear is an asset if you use it as fuel for your fire, rather than a way to smoother it, or as an excuse for never starting it in the first place.

Writing is hard. Painting is hard. Competing at sports is hard. Everything interesting is hard. The risk of failure is what makes the challenge interesting. Take away any chance for failure, which you’d need in order to feel completely secure, and you take away motivation.

I say choose to do it anyway. So what if it’s bad? So what if no one likes it? So what if you read it and don’t like it yourself? So what so what so what so what. SO WHAT. At least you will have done it and can decide not to do it again. But to spend hour after hour just thinking and talking and torturing yourself about something you don’t do, while pretending, based on zero study of the craft, that there is a magic way to avoid all the hard parts no other productive maker has ever avoided, is beyond arrogant – it’s insane.

It’s okay to be insecure. Just be insecure about something you are actively making, instead of being insecure about some imagined reality that will never exist if you don’t sit down, shut up and get to work.

Scott Berkun, 23rd of January, 2012

So, go on now! Chop-chop! Off to work!