The Internal Shift: The Difficult Side Of Creativity And Innovation

“Without vulnerability, you cannot create.”  -Brene Brown 99U

If we are ever going to move past our current circumstances, to that special place we dream about, that we consider, but have determined not to share, to keep hidden and below the surface, to do that thing we really want to do, but scares us the most.

Will require an internal shift…

From fear, judgment, condemnation, criticism, and the 100 and 1 other reasons that are holding us back. From the deep and dark recesses of those very 100 and 1 reasons, to the courage and vulnerability necessary to put ourselves out there, to put ourselves on the line, to say, “Here I am, take your best shot!”

Which is the difficult and dark side of creativity and innovation… 

The courage necessary and needed, the vulnerability demanded and required to engage those ideas and dreams that are welling up inside each of us.

Those who are out there sharing their ideas, living that dream, accomplishing what they once considered impossible, are no different than any one of us. Except, that they chose to step out, to take action, to jump over or step around those many obstacles that get in the way of us moving on those very ideas and dreams that are welling up inside of each of us.

Creativity and innovation is not just the ability to come up with new ideas, it is being willing to put them and yourself out there, out on the line. It is in being willing to step out into the unknown, knowing full well that those very ideas and dreams have laid themselves open to an onslaught of criticism and ridicule. And that is never easy. In fact, it is deep down, painfully difficult and hard. Which is why very few choose this path.

Creativity and innovation require courage…

If we are going to be creative, if we are going to be innovative, if we are going to engage those ideas that are welling up inside of us, screaming to get out. If we are going to show others what we are thinking and what we are capable of, it will require us to step out of our comfort zone.

It will require us to lay ourselves wide open to those things, the fear, judgment, condemnation, and criticism that often hold us back, that stall us from being and becoming what we dream of.

And that requires real courage, the deep, down gritty kind.

Or, as Brene Brown puts forth, “If courage is my value, I have to do this. Whether it is successful or not, is irrelevant.”

So, to all you makers, creators, thinkers, tinkerers and disruptors, I leave you with these words from Brene Brown, words to those critics, to those 101 reasons, to those thoughts that lead us towards fear, judgment, condemnation, and criticism.

“When I am trying to do something new, hard and original, when I’m trying to be creative and to innovate, to those critics I say, I see you, I hear you, but I am going to show up and do this anyway.”

(Inspiration the from talk, ‘Why Your Critics Aren’t The Ones Who Count’ by Brene Brown for 99U)

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