There are expectations in society that if you have the knowledge for something then the application should follow suit. I’ll be more specific in saying that if you have access to knowledge then you should know how to apply it. Our culture is oversaturated with information. We have a responsibility to know how to do everything because we have the ability to find someone else, either in person or online, who knows how to do it. All of our lives we have been taught different systems in which the world runs. We are told rules in school and in society that if you invest in a particular way, you will yield expected results. If you want to know how to learn an instrument, paint a picture, or sculpt a building, people everywhere will tell you how to do it and the manner in which it should be done. Replication is encouraged more than innovation. There is an emphasis on learning as fast as possible which usually comes in the form of knowing before experimenting. If we can know then we believe somehow we can perform better. But what about those who figured it out for themselves? Not because they were attempting to come to a specific solution, but because they were enjoying the art of experimenting.
Because of the learning system we have in place, it is extremely easy to rely on someone else to show us how to do something instead of giving ourselves an opportunity to figure it out. When we don’t know something, we ask Siri or Google or Alexa. When we want to decorate our house, we go to Pinterest or YouTube. Maybe we arrive at the same place or maybe we don’t. I realized for myself that my stagnation in playing guitar comes from a lack of confidence in my abilities and fear of failure. I feel more assurance in seeing others do it, believing that I can and need to be like them in order to accomplish my goals. Though there is benefit in learning from others, I have felt more comfortable relying on their skills than my own. I am more familiar with their style than my own. I have limited my chances of exploration. Do I truly believe I have the capacity to create on my own without using the expertise of others as a crutch?
One of my favorite movies is “August Rush”. It’s a story about a little orphan boy who is incredibly gifted musically. He is introduced to the guitar and plays it in an unusual yet phenomenal way. He doesn’t strum or pluck in the way most people do. He discovers and plays how it best suits him. Confidently, he banged and sputtered as he made exceptional sounds on his guitar. He didn’t consult others to affirm or verify if what he was doing was right. He just knew for himself. I believe we have the ability to expand our creativity when we rely on our own intuition to make something beautiful. Knowledge is valuable in creating but it also has its limits. With knowing comes expectations, and when we don’t meet them we can feel stifled in our unique ability to invent.
Allow yourself to create out of order. We are more likely to make more unpleasant sounds, splashes, and images, however, we will become attuned with our own creativity in a way that we could never learn from someone else. You have the opportunity to be the best teacher in allowing yourself to experiment and have fun without rules!
If you knew you couldn’t fail, how might you show up differently when you create?