Ask the Readers: Living in the Gap

By Mindy Holahan

Today, a little food for thought on creative growth, from This American Life’s Ira Glass:

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In the first two minutes of the video, Ira talks about a gap that all creative professionals experience in the beginning of their creative career: you’ve got great artistic taste, but your skill level doesn’t live up to your taste. Many inexperienced professionals grow frustrated by this gap and simply give up.

It’s point that hits close to home for me. It makes me wonder:

  • In what ways did you experience this gap when you started out in your career?
  • How did you stay motivated to keep pushing forward? What kept you from giving up?
  • If you’re still living in the gap, what are you doing to close it?
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About Mindy Holahan

Mindy's passions are writing and teaching people to use new tools, from technology to crafts. You can connect with her on Twitter, at MindyHolahan.com, and at her Make Cool Stuff column at The Nerdist.


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Comments

  • Heather Ebert

    I love that you ask this question! Once, almost 15 years ago, I finished a novel by one of my favorite authors, and his brilliance left me in despair. So beautiful was his work that I thought, “How can I call myself a writer when there are authors like him in the world?” Comparing myself to others is part of why I didn’t write much during those next 15 years at all.

    But the desire to create doesn’t go away, even if you give up. It just takes on really neurotic shapes and behaviors when not given a proper outlet. It becomes too uncomfortable *not* to create. The early efforts toward crafting a creative life can also be uncomfortable, but the relief provided by engaging one’s gifts is motivation to keep exercising and honing those same gifts.

    Knowing my current limitations as a writer can be freeing — I accept it and write within my abilities — but by freely doing so, I’ll find that those boundaries keep incrementally expanding outward.

    • http://twitter.com/HolaMindy Mindy Holahan

      Thank you so much for sharing! I like your phrasing: takes on neurotic shapes and behaviors. As I said above, this topic hits really close to home for me; I often find myself feeling overwhelmed by how poor my writing is compared to where I want it to be. 

      I’m trying to outwork the fear, setting aggressive goals to write as much as I can while surrounding myself with writing much better than my own, pushing myself to try a little bit harder each time. I don’t know yet if that’s a good strategy or not.

      Does anyone else have experience with this tension that you could share?

  • Kevin

    The gap IS what motivates me. Fresh challenges, new territory to explore and new skills to build. This curiosity and drive to explore is the same curiosity that motivates me to create in the first place. No gap, no gusto!

  • http://twitter.com/sgottreu Scott Gottreu

    I’m still in the gap and just fighting to stay motivated and consistent to fight my way out.

  • FJR

    I love having moutains to climb and climbing them. I think once one can do some things extremely well and can flow at that, there is a sort of emotional buffer that makes it easy to be a beginner on another climb. One knows how the climb feels, that there will be challenges on the way, and that one has a good track record for successful climbs, particularly in proximate areas.

  • Tina

    Interesting! I don’t think the gap ever closes – if you’re good at what you create you’ll probably always see further ahead, always see the possible and something new to aspire to. And the joy achieved through my own achievements as recognised by myself – not client based – is what keeps me going. I hope the gap is always there. It’s what makes creating fun, the constant challenge.

  • Kate

    When I first started writing professionally, I cherished every word, agonized over every sentence and resented every edit.  Fortunately for me, my first editor was ruthless.  He red-penned me to death, challenged my assumptions and sometimes simply grabbed the page, crumpled it and tossed it into the trash.  From him I learned the truth of writing….First, learn the basic principles so they don’t stop your progress, second, there is no ONE correct way to express yourself. Third, words are a never-ending resource, you can always make more.  

    Now I insist on the foundations, respect the differences and forget the last batch of words as soon as they hit the trash.  For me, the psychic stress of writing is mostly a thing of the past. 

  • Anonymous

    Wow! Thank you so much for posting this! As a new(ish) design student, I have felt the frustration of “the gap” when my work does not come out as I had hoped, often due to lack of technical skill.

    I think it is this “gap” however, that often weeds out the ones who really want it from the ones who fall in. I don’t think that it’s ever too late to climb out though. I also think that the ones who close that gap are the ones who grow the most as a creative and also as a person, and are rewarded with the next version of themselves.

    This video is so helpful to hear and will inspire many, myself included, to keep pushing forward! AC you rock!