002: Diverge-Converge
"We're back with Episode II"
This includes:
- Some things that scare me
- A diagram of (part of) the creative process
Since last week
When I hit 'publish' last Monday, it felt great.
30 seconds later, that was replaced by embarrassment and fear: Did I just commit publicly to something I can't deliver on?
I'd been so busy choosing color palettes and designing a website, I hadn't actually made anything else. The reality of the work ahead set in.
Luckily, someone replied with a reminder:
The hardest part of anything is getting started.
You'll probably change the house you're building about a thousand times - just lay a few bricks down and see where it goes."
One step in front of the other.
Some common barriers
What seems to derail creative endeavors?
An incomplete list of obstacles:
The (ego) obstacles are real.
I encounter them often.
Then, there are the process risks: One of them is getting stuck trying to create and analyze simultaneously.
You may have seen some version of this concept before (credits: systems scientist Béla Bánáthy, British Design Council).
To me, it means that generating ideas and refining / executing concepts are separate stages. People can't do both effectively at once.
This is why brainstorming aims to generate huge quantities first (deferring assessment of quality). That's the theory, at least. For me, it looks like:
If people like certain things here, it might signal I should make more. If you think other posts are boring, that's good to know. Feedback helps.
Along the way, I'll try to test and learn.
How do you move through creative fear?
When do you generate ideas vs. evaluate options?
See you next week 👋
