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What Your Self-Doubt Says About Your Creativity
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners.
Your creative cure—weekly insights, lessons, and inspiration from the greatest minds.
Today’s email is inspired by one of my best friends, Sarah—a kind soul and a beautiful ceramicist—who, a couple of weeks ago, wrote a vulnerable piece where she highlights the power (and challenges) of creative work as a tool for self-discovery.
In it, Sarah gives you an account of her latest struggles as a creative running a creative business and what she’s doing to overcome them. You can read it here.
TL;DR: If you're scared, just do it scared.
Sarah’s piece got me thinking about a little theory I have:
All creative people are a little insecure, and that self-doubt is a good thing—a sign of untapped creative potential.
But more on that later …
Without further ado,
TODAY’S MENU
💡 What your self-doubt says about your creativity
🧠 The Right Kind of Stubborn
⛰️ How to Take The High Road
🤗 Lessons from Muhammad Ali
— Santi
P.S. If you love THE WORK, share it with a friend. And if you hate it, share it with an enemy.
Creative Insecurity or Untapped Creative Genius?
The following is a 400-word snippet from a longer essay. If you have the time, I recommend you check out the full piece.
Ok, so back to my theory.
All creative people are a little insecure because of their constant exposure to great creative work.
And Ira Glass, the genius creative mind behind some of the most popular podcasts of all time, such as This American Life, Serial, and S-Town, would agree.
This is what Ira had to say about creativity:
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it's normal, and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met. It's gonna take a while. It's normal to take a while. You've just gotta fight your way through."
This "gap" Ira describes is the reason for the creative insecurities of many.
It's tough to feel good about your writing after reading Hemingway or your acting after watching Emma Stone.
Ironically, the only way to become great at your craft is to study the greats so you can recognize great work when you create it.
Now you know—your insecurities are simply an indicator of your great taste and untapped creative potential.
What ideas are you chewing on nowadays? What’s stopping you from sharing them with the world? Just hit “reply” to this email and let me know. I’d love to hear from you!