The Doubt That Haunts
When most people are asked to produce something creative, they freeze. They panic. They choke. They seize up with self-doubt. “Creativity?” they say. “Not me!” If you disbelieve this statement, consider how often you try new things in your life. How readily do you try something creative, such as writing, drawing or singing? Most of us believe we can't create and have believed it for so long that the belief has become reality. People possess a large capacity for self-doubt about their creative ability in terms of writing, drawing, and music.
Writing offers a classic example. About 90 percent of adults believe they cannot write, although nearly all young children believe they can write. Self-doubt seems to creep in as we grow older. I witnessed this last year in a college writing class when the instructor asked the students if they ever wrote outside of school. One student raised his hand. When the instructor asked how many students thought of themselves as writers, no students—zero out of twenty—raised a hand. By contrast,a first grade teacher had asked her students the same questions and received quite different responses. Did any first graders write outside of school? Twenty out of twenty-two hands shot up. Did any first graders think of themselves as writers? Twenty-two out of twenty-two hands went up. Plainly, adults are more self-conscious about their creativity than children are.
Drawing is another creative ability that many adults doubt they have. For instance, at a recent family party I suggested we play “Piclionary,” which involves drawing clues for secret words. “Absolutely not!” my family said “We can't draw.”The interesting part, however, is that we played “Pictionary”, and had a wonderful time with some very creative drawings. This experience showed me that people often doubt they can be creative because they haven't tried.
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Self-doubt about creativity in areas such as writing, drawing, or music seems nearly universal among adults. It seems probable, however, that almost all adults have the capacity for creativity in those areas. People all have the potential to be creative and would be able to express their creative side as long as they try. What keeps people from being creative? In my opinion, people are afraid of looking inept,so they hesitate to try creative things. If people would learn to do things to please themselves rather than to please others, maybe their doubts would disappear.
