There's a short parable I'm sure many of you have heard before. I think it illustrates quite well the mindset required to approach any creative endeavor. An art teacher once divided her class into two groups. Their assignment was to create clay pots. The first group would be graded on their very best pot while the second group would be graded solely on the number of pots they created. Not surprisingly, students in the first group, who had to create quality pots, put more time into their pieces. Most students created only one or two. Their pots were meticulous and studied. The second group, on the other hand, set off in a mad sprint to create as many pots as possible. Clay flew everywhere! Their work was often messier and some of the pots were malformed.
In the end, who made the best pots? Surprisingly, the students from the group required to make the most pots actually had the best work. Now, many of their pots were not perfect, but the repetition of the basics of pottery allowed them to excel over their peers who were hoping to create masterpieces. The lesson here is that trying to create a masterpiece rarely works. Instead, what works is creating continually, giving space for creativity, and not holding back the urge to create. At least in the beginning, until you find a methodology that fits you, it's important to focus on being prolific.
Often, focusing on results alone can lead to blocks in creativity. Our culture stresses over and over that results matter: we are graded, tested, evaluated, measured. But, this attitude has an assumption built into it that we are in control of outcomes. Thus, if the work is not well received, we have failed. This will cause us to worry about the reception of work before the work is even completed. We may even abandon our work if we think it won't be well-received. In reality, we are only in control of the process. We can do our very best, but the outcome (how well our work is liked, whether it's commercially successful, whether it wins awards) is largely out of our hands.
Imagine that you're taking a class on modern literature. You might approach the class and say "I will get an A, that is my only goal!" To do this, you might learn the style of writing your tutor likes most and then try to emulate that. You might learn all of the facts, write excellent essays, and pull off a few harrowing all-nighters. And, you will probably get an A. But, because you've labeled anything besides an A a failure, you will encounter stress, worry, and will limit your creative options. Instead, if you say, "I will be the very best writer I can be, I will stretch my creative limits!" Then, you do risk not getting an A (people may not like your style) but, you will *grow*. And, this growth will give you such exhilaration that you will soon find you are thinking of nothing but writing. You will find yourself knowing a new part of yourself - that is true education.
And, I would say too that the truly successful creative people are those who have a deep love of the process and take outcomes with a grain of salt. G.K. Chesterton said that "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." He meant that it's more important to *do* than to be perfect. Fear of imperfection will keep us from doing. At the end of the day, our own creative integrity is all we have control over. With everything, ask "am I doing my best?" and do not concern yourself with the rest. Of course, there is always room for feedback. But, ultimately, all we have is our own creative integrity to do our own best possible work.
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