What's Your #1 Creative Struggle and Superpower?

Inspiration

Ask the Readers: What’s Your #1 Creative Struggle and Superpower?

By Mindy Holahan

Today’s post is all about you!

We believe healthy relationships are an integral part of prolific, brilliant, and healthy creating. With that in mind, and because we have so many new faces joining our community, we want to give you the opportunity to introduce yourself.

Please take a few moments to post a comment below, answering any (or all!) of these three questions:

What’s your #1 creative struggle? This will help shape our articles and podcasts over the coming weeks.
What’s your #1 creative superpower? We all have a special gift or talent to share. Your superpower may assist another member to overcome their kryptonite.
Where do you live? Finding like-minded creatives nearby can be tough. Use this thread to find other AC members in your immediate area or region.

It’s okay to be bashful. Only share what you’re comfortable with. But if you have the urge to unload, go for it!

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.

THE BOOK:

Comments

Vancerains

I’m a pastor – so there is a danger of falling into the same weekly routine, and not to have to be creative. But, I work exclusively with college students, so there is both a challenge, opportunity, and responsibility to provide experiences (retreats, worship experiences, etc.) that are creatively engaging.

What’s your #1 creative struggle?
I’m actually pretty creative. But, I really want to push the boundaries of expectations. I typically tweak and re-tweak within fairly familiar boundaries.

What’s your #1 creative superpower?
According to the book “Strength Finders”, I am a collector of artifacts, ideas, experiences, stuff. I seem to have the ability to be interested and curious about lots of things, and to bring diverse ideas, looks, experiences, together.

Where do you live?

Tallahassee, FL

http://twitter.com/HolaMindy Mindy Holahan

Thanks for sharing! I’m a big fan of the Strengths Finder book/survey too (and also got input as my key strength).

I live in the Philadelphia metro area if anyone is looking to form a face-to-face circle.

Tami

My kryptonite is Twitter. Or, more specifically any procrastination-supporting distraction.

My superpower is being able to pull a great idea out of my butt at the last minute. Probably due to my kryptonite. ;)

I live in Orange County, CA.
http://twitter.com/ideasuploaded Tara

What’s your #1 creative struggle? Deciding which idea to choose from. I have so many ideas, but this means I cannot see the wood from the trees – ideas for inventions, characters designs, blogs, business ideas. It’s a bit of a double edged sword
What’s your #1 creative superpower? Lots of ideas
Where do you live? Northamptonshire UK

Jeremy Worrell

Great. At least one other person from the UK. I’m in Warwick.

Ddilworth

Creative Superpower: Rabble-rousing. I can stir people up, get them excited, get them to go, experiment, play. (Strengths Finder tells me I’m an Activator, btw. A shaman recently told me that my totem animal is the river otter. Huh.)

Creative Kryptonite?: Doggedly negative thinkers – those folks who afraid of both failure (theirs) and success (others’) and work tirelessly to block creative insight and effort with objections, rules, and “concerns.” For every new solution, they present 4 problems. They wear me out, wear me down.
Dr. Gigi @Maremel

@Maremel: I build knowledge hubs around technology: teaching, books, events, programs.

#1 creative struggle: Formal organizations and waiting for THEM to bless my work. Related struggle: Not finding more distribution partners who “grok” my work, and letting inertia grab me.

#1 creative superpower: Super melding powers.

Live: Monrovia, CA
Dave Mariano

struggle: fear of stuff being not good enough/not starting
superpower: when in a relaxed environment with trusted colleagues or friends, I thrive; I’m probably best with finding the right words (singer/songwriter)
Cleveland, OH
http://twitter.com/HeatherEbert Heather Ebert

I’m a part-time freelance writer who quit a full-time corporate job to write my first novel.

My #1 struggle is fear. Specifically, fear of the blank page and fear that sucky writing will fill said blank page. That perfectionist streak can keep me from showing up at all, and even when I do, it’s after a lot of procrastination and wasted time. I think I take my writing too seriously, at least that’s the latest insight.

My #1 superpower is either the ability to make miracles happen under pressure (meaning, still make deadlines after ridiculous procrastination) or being able to find just the right words to describe deeply emotional states (relationally, I’d call that “speaking into pain”).

I’m in Nashville!
Jeremy Worrell

Struggle: Having the organisations I work with accept the value in creative thinking.

Superpower: I know how to generate creative ideas (even if they don’t just flow from me unbounded!) This means I can help other people generate them too.

Following the “Strengths Finder” theme, my number 1 is “Futuristic”, but I have input in the top 5 too.

I’m in the UK.
http://twitter.com/sgottreu Scott Gottreu

Creative struggle: Sprint Focus. I have a notebook full of half-started blog posts and short-stories. I haven’t quite developed the marathon mentality in writing like I have with actual running.

Creative superpower: Determination. Once I have bought into a project and start, I’m like a dog with a bone.

I live in Fort Worth, TX
Curt

I’m a community recreation and summer camp program director. One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is to come up with new programs, events, activities and ideas.

#1 Creative Struggle: The Follow-Through
I love to come up with ideas but when its time to put it in action I find other things to distract me.

#1 Creative Superpower: Reworking Other’s Ideas
I love to take ideas from other places and rework them to make them either better or more conducive to my intended audience.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area
http://twitter.com/HolaMindy Mindy Holahan

These are fantastic, folks! If you’re just joining, keep them coming!
http://www.birdandflower.com birdandflower

Kyptonite: interruptions
Struggle:choices and do overs and a bad start
Super power: My journal its visual, and beautiful and feels good like a good workout
CoachNJ

Superpower: Stretching myself

Kryptonite: Using my vegetable analogy, I am like a Green Bean. I am very individualistic like the green beans that each grow separately reaching out in different directions. If left to myself and my personal determination, I can reach out in too many different directions, develop a tough outer pod, and find it hard to reach my inner wisdom.

Solution: Connect with creative people who have different strengths than I do and appreciate what they have to offer.

Great discussion!
Stillwater in Flow

I live in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. My special gift is inter-relating computer workspaces and tools to create systems for efficiently, effectively and satisfyingly accomplishing tasks and projects. I have done this for clients from multi-national telecoms to individuals. My challenge is marketing this in a way that provides a consistent flow of resources and allows for a balanced lifestyle.