And the number one opponent of creative greatness, Ladies and Gentlemen? Drumroll PLEASE…
Paranoia.
We don’t know what we don’t know, but we think we know what we DO know. And it seems to be working - for now, at least. But when we become paranoid about peoples’ motives (are they trying to encroach on my turf?), ideas (what if this isn’t comfortable for me?), and vision (I can’t see that far…are there monsters?), we are slamming the door on possibility. Worse, we are teaching everyone around us to stuff their ideas, look backward and conform to some intangible and undefined "greater ideal". If we want to do great work and we want great people to engage in that work with us, we need to learn to be uncomfortable. As we’ve said before around here, if you want to be on the cutting edge, you must be willing to bleed a little.
I don’t want the spine of my biography to read, "It Could Have Been Great, But We Settled Because We Were Scared of Breaking It".
If it’s truly great, you’re not going to break it. You might hurt it for a while, but greatness rises from the ashes. Stop being scared of greatness and embrace it.
It takes intentionality to engage with creative projects on our own time - they don’t just make themselves. In this episode, we talk about some disciplines that can help us creatively engage and get moving on our “pet” projects.
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