Being Creative

By Michael Granados

        Over the past several months, I've had this deep and constant desire to "be creative", yet I rarely produce a thing. Day after day, I tell myself "Man… you really need to make something great later today." And therein lies the problem. That sentence contains the word "later" and that's exactly what happens. I push it back and push it back and push it back until my head is hitting the pillow and I have to add another tally to the "Didn't Make Anything Today" column.  Sleep well.

        A friend of mine recently wrote a post that resonated very deeply within me. He is a fellow designer (on an insanely higher level) who experiences this internal battle regarding his "taste." As designers, our taste for what is great usually exceeds our own skill-set, and our inability to produce work that accurately reflects our taste prevents us from making anything at all. This may seem like a silly circumstance to some, but to me it is too relevant. Maybe the real reason I don't create anything today is because I'm scared I can't make it great enough.

        No matter how "good" I may be at design now, I'm realizing I will never get better if I do not practice. Practice is interesting. Practicing something only leaves room for improvement, but this can be a tedious and intimidating journey because one may face dissatisfaction all along the way. I will be dissatisfied with some of my work. I will be dissatisfied with the speed of my improvement. I will be dissatisfied with how good I actually am.

        However, I will be better than I was the day before and when my head is hitting the pillow, I'd rather be marking a tally in the opposite column.