Hiya,
This one will be short'ish. I'm staying on a place called Mayne Island for the next two weeks. This is our view. Not a billboard in sight.
I'll leave your inbox alone until early Sept. But first...
About two years ago, I was helping a company with some brand stuff. One of the two founders was a graphic designer I used to work with years ago.
I said, "Dave, you're a creative idiot like me. But now you're a creative idiot with a company that's making millions. How'd you do it? What's one specific thing you realized or had to overcome?”
He paused for a second.
"I needed the other guy. I needed someone who didn't think like me."
It reminded me of an article I read recently on Inc.com—
"If you are the manic creative with no sense of structure, you might have the most amazing ideas in the world but you will be incapable of bringing them to life."
Things like structure, systems and discipline feel counterintuitive to creativity but without them most ideas never see the light of day. Sure, it helps to partner with "the other guy" but we can also help ourselves by allowing ourselves to be more like them.
I've been wanting to write about this subject for a while. And I was reminded of it through my most recent Creative Director interview with one of my faves, Katie Ainsworth, when she said—
"Don't give up your power because you don't want to figure out how to read an Excel sheet."
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fight against the creative cliches
Embracing creative stereotypes or the stereotypical creative lifestyle can be really damaging. These are things like—
"You can't control creativity. You just have to show up at the blank page and hope inspiration strikes."
"I don't book my own meetings. I don't even know how." (I'm not proud of it but I still get nervous sending calendar invites and try to avoid it. #creativeidiot)
"Being a creative is a 'cool' job." (It can be but it's also very challenging. We must be serious about our cool job.)
"Drinking is part of the creative process." (in one of my classes at ad school they literally said, "have a drink if you're stuck.")
"I'm a right-brain thinker." (You may want to sit down for this but you also have a left-brain. You're using it right now.)
"Spreadsheets are for nerds."
"I do my best thinking at night."
"I'm a creative, I can wear whatever I want to industry events."
Buying into these cliches takes us from the boardroom table to the kid's table. It's also a big reason why self-doubt, impostor syndrome and burnout are so prevalent. And why so many of us fail to make our own ideas.
We need structure, discipline and systems. Don't fight "the other guy". And don't fight being like "the other guy". Embrace your inner nerd. Learn new things, technical things. You'll become unstoppable.
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Ladies and gentlemen, Katie Ainsworth—
"There’s a false narrative in the business that account service folks are the adults and creatives are the children. Don’t fall for it. Don’t allow yourself to be infantilized."
Katie's interview should be required reading for everybody in every role in every creative company across the land.
If you don't have time to read it right now, please, please take 10 seconds to click through to give it a 👍 or a 💛 to help this idea spread to the one person who needs to read it this week. Thank you.
That's it for today. I'm off to go catch an orca.
❤️
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PS. Want to build your creative craft and confidence? Here are 3 ways I'm trying to help—
1. Last chance to get it for $100. After today, it's $179. My first course, Writing Under Pressure, helps you write headlines quickly when you're under the gun. For more info, click here.
2. To get the book, A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters, go here.
3. To 🪓 me anything, reply to this email.
If you liked this, share it with people you like. If you disliked it, share it with people you dislike—https://mailchi.mp/nelkencreative/thekidstable
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