If you want to be good at something, you must first let yourself be really bad at it
I started hand lettering not long ago! The photo above is NOT my work...
The one below is.
And although I have more control over the pens on day 10 than I did on day 1, I still suck. Putting the letters together into words is a whole other kettle of fish!
Putting out my messy early attempts feels risky in our perfection obsessed Insta/ Pinterest-worthy world.
But people are welcome to judge me, as long as I don’t judge myself. I mean what is happening with that x?!!! 😂
I’m sharing it because it can seem as if no one shares the process they go through to get to mastery. Maybe messy practice isn’t usually something we want anyone else to see.
But if I can make peace with my failure to be perfect right off the bat, then so can you. 😂
I always wanted to learn calligraphy as a teenager but something held me back. Perhaps it was fear of failure that lead to my procrastinating and never getting around to trying it.
I’m sure there was a voice telling me “I can’t” do it because I lacked the talent. No one every told me that just because you can’t do something well at the start, that doesn’t mean you can’t ever learn.
Because I used to believe that talent was innate.
You’re born with a magical ability to draw, paint, write, dance etc. Or you’re not.
You’ve either got it, or you don’t.
And if you don’t, then you’re a fool to even bother trying.
Horrible, self-defeating train of thought! Right?!
I mean society cultivates this belief but that’s a whole other discussion.
These days I believe our curiosities and pre-dispositions may be innate, but everything else is a learned skill.
I was speaking to someone the other day who said they’re not creative enough to write a book. My response was that writing a book is a learned skill. It has much less to do with how creative you are and a lot more to do with whether you’ll nurture and grow your writing skills and your creative courage.
If the desire exists then you have the capacity inside you to achieve the mastery you so admire in others.
Mastery takes practice, perseverance and most of the time it happens alone, when no one else is watching.
And, there may always be a gap between the perfect image in your head and the one you create on the page. Making peace with that imperfection is part of what it takes to achieve mastery.
But perfectionism will stop you before you ever give yourself a chance. Ask me how I know?!
Creativity takes courage and Courage is a Muscle
“But basically courage is risking the known for the unknown, the familiar for the unfamiliar, the comfortable for the uncomfortable, arduous pilgrimage to some unknown destination. One never knows if one will make it or not.” -Osho
I’ve been working on two new things for those of you who want to step out and try new things but keep holding yourself back.
The first of these is The Courageous Creative (Hu)Manifesto. I was hoping to have this ready today, but there was a slight delay. It will be available for download by this time next week.
The second is Creative Courage 101. It’s a short course to get you started (or restarted) on your courageously creative journey.
More about this in August after I’ve returned from my trip to the UK.
But you can join the waitlist now if you’d like to be informed when this is ready and get a super special early bird price: https://kamsinkaneko.podia.com/intro-to-creative-courage
Stay curious, creative and couragous,
Kamsin