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Experiment Wildly! Setting Yourself Free from Creative Restrictions

By Dan Goodwin

Too many of us today feel such pressure to conform and fit in with those around us. Usually this is motivated by the natural human desire of wanting to be liked and accepted, of feeling we belong, and the fear of being different or standing out outweighs the urge we have to create and express ourselves in a way unique to us.

Also, the images and ideals projected in society and in the media are almost impossibly difficult to attain and usually drastically removed from where we feel we are at any moment. And so the majority of us spend our lives all trying to aspire to the same unrealistic and unattainable notions of what others tell us will bring us happiness, love and wealth.

This can also spill over into our creative work. Though creative projects are one of the greatest opportunities for personal freedom of expression, for many of us it’s still difficult to truly “let go” and freely experiment with reckless abandon.

We feel, even if we’re completely alone at the time we’re creating and no-one will ever experience what we create, that some omnipresent force is watching over us, analysing and criticising every note we sing, every line we draw, every word we write, every brush stroke we make.

How do you relate to this feeling? How does it affect your creativity and freedom of expression?

Imagine a chart, like a capital letter T rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise. The long horizontal line represents what we think is the mainstream, accepted way of creating, whatever form that may be in.

Maybe in music it’s a nice melodic pop song about being in love with the classic structure of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle eight-chorus-repeat to fade. In architecture it may be a regular box shaped house with rectangular rooms, the exterior pseudo-styled in the theme of some bygone era. And in film it may be a blockbuster with lots of action, violence and explosions and an obligatory and rather limp romantic sub-plot.

Now think of the way you create, and the most recent creative projects you’ve been working on. If the accepted normal, safe version of this form of creative expression lies exactly along the horizontal axis, how far either side of it does your creative work deviate?

Begin with a time say a year ago, and from this point move forward in time thinking about your recent projects. If this journey was plotted on the chart, moving in time from left right, what would this visual representation of your creative work look like?

Would it be a virtual straight line along the horizontal, rarely moving from the centre line of what’s comfortable, conventional, proven and accepted? Or would it be a wildly oscillating wave veering from the top extreme to the bottom, each new project being an experimental explosion of new themes, ideas and techniques?

The results may surprise you. If your chart is near-straight or very gently undulating, think about whether this is what you want, how well this serves your creative development, and more important than all, how much you enjoy it.

If we produce the same work over and over and don’t enjoy pushing the boundaries of what we, and what creative human beings generally, are capable of producing, then we’re in for a pretty dull and formulaic creative life.

So at least once in a while, forget about creating to produce an acceptable end product. Instead, be bold, daring and brave, throw some paint around, scribble over the lines, blast out some feedback, scream your heart out! Create a mess, let go, have fun, and simply create to enjoy yourself! •

© Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin

About the Author | More by Dan Goodwin
Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at www.CoachCreative.com.

08/09/06