Creative people tend to have wide interests – it’s part of what makes us creative. But sometimes this blessing can turn into a curse, when we feel pulled in so many different directions that we don’t know which one to pick.
This is the challenge facing Lateral Action reader Jonathan Price, who left this comment in response to my invitation to tell me about your creative blocks:
Any idea what one can do about having multiple, diverse ambitions and the insatiable desire to do them all at once? I feel like I can do many things: draw comics, write novels, perhaps even build an indie game-but whenever I start one I get inspired to try something else because of something I see. I can write, draw and do all kinds of digital work fairly well so I struggle with picking a single medium and sticking with a project until completion.
Thanks for writing in Jonathan. Without meeting you and learning more about your situation, it’s impossible to recommend any one path, but here are some options for you to consider.
Could it Just Be a Matter of Time?
It’s not obvious from your website what stage of your career you’re at. If you’re nearer the beginning than the end, then it could just be that you are the stage of exploring, experimenting and discovering what works.
Personally I’ve pursued all kinds of weird and wonderful creative and career interests, and it took a while before they coalesced into a meaningful pattern (and a viable business). So if you are in the early stages of your career, give yourself permission to explore different pathways and stop and smell the roses along the way.
If you’re further along in your career, then the question may feel more urgent, in which case you’ll want to explore the following options sooner rather than later.
Are You a Creative Generalist?
Creative generalists are people who are most comfortable and most creative when they have lots of different projects and interests on the go at once. Rather than restrict themselves to a single specialism, they have their fingers in lots of creative pies.
Some people criticise them for being shallow dilettantes, while others vigourously defend the value of creative generalism. There’s even an entire Creative Generalist blog, hosted by Steve Hardy.
Here’s a question to help you decide whether you are a creative generalist or not:
Does having multiple creative interests make you feel more comfortable or uncomfortable?
A true creative generalist will feel restricted by the idea of narrowing down his options to a few specialisms – you won’t feel comfortable without having several things on the go at once.
But if you are a specialist at heart, you are likely to feel overwhelmed by having too many interests, and it feels a relief when you pick one thing and focus on that.
(More on creative generalism vs specialism.)
Or Maybe You’re a Whirling Dervish?
In Carroll Lloyd’s superb career guide for creative people Creating a Life Worth Living
she describes several different ways of organising your work around your creative ambitions. One of these is the whirling dervish.
A whirling dervish has several different creative careers, which complement and support each other, and which are pursued in rotation, over several weeks or months at a time.
I’m a bit of a whirling dervish. My interests include poetry; writing about creativity and business; one-to-one coaching; live training workshops; and e-learning. My work goes through phases, where each of these is centre stage for a while, then fades into the background.
I hate multitasking but I also get bored doing one thing all the time – the whirling dervish gives me the best of both worlds, since I get the stimulation of working in different fields, as well as the satisfaction of focusing on one thing at a time.
The whirling dervish has turned out to be a popular model for many of my students who cannot imagine focusing on less than three full careers at a time. What is important about the whirling dervish is that the three careers are interdependent on one another. They don’t pull you in three different directions, but spin you inward!
(Carol Lloyd, Creating a Life Worth Living
)
Another important aspect of the whirling dervish is that you don’t just hop from beginning to beginning – you stick with each project to completion.
Okay, we’ve looked at two different options for keeping your options open – now let’s consider some ways you could narrow them down.
What Is in Your Bones?
Twyla Tharp is a world famous choreographer. But she could have been a painter. In her book The Creative Habit
, she describes making sketches of dancers and their costumes and realising she was pretty good at it – and then banishing the thought because it interfered with her ambitions as a dancer.
It’s like a great high school athlete who plays football, basketball, and baseball equally well. If this athlete wants to continue playing sport at the highest collegiate level, at some point he will have to commit to one sport over the others … in the end the choice should be based on pure instinct and self-knowledge. What sport does he feel in his muscles and bones? What sport was he born to play?
When I was a kid, I used to draw all the time, and like Tharp, I enjoyed it and was pretty good at it. But it was nothing compared to discovering poetry. I enjoy visiting art galleries and I appreciate good visual design. But when I read a real poem, it goes through me like electricity. It wasn’t even a choice: poetry chose me.
Stop thinking about your choices and notice how your body responds when you’re engaged in each activity – drawing comics, novel writing, game design. Which one do you feel in your bones?
What Can You Be the Best in the World at?
In case you’re tempted to ignore your real passion in favour of something more ‘sensible’, consider Seth Godin’s proposition that each of us should aim to be the best in the world at what we do:
The secret to being the best in the world is to make the ‘world’ smaller.
Alan Scott was the best community-focused artisan pizza oven builder in the world. A niche that didn’t exist before he got there, but one that spread, that engaged people, that created a tribe and that supported him…
It’s entirely possible that you will choose a niche that’s too small. It’s much more likely you’ll shoot for something too big and become overwhelmed. When in doubt, overwhelm a small niche.
My original training was in psychotherapy. I’m good at it, and still enjoy working with therapy clients. But I’m never going to be the next Freud or Jung.
I used to work as a conventional business consultant, delivering coaching and training to large corporate organisations. My partners and I had a great little company, and we did a superb job for our clients, who loved us. But eventually I looked around and saw several other great little companies like ours, and realised that from the outside, we probably all looked the same.
I’ve always been good at academic studies. A few years ago I got a distinction for my Masters, and my tutor asked me if I’d like to do a PhD. Part of me was tempted, but I realised I didn’t have the passion to make it as a top academic.
It was only when I combined my different interests – in creativity, communication, psychology and business – that I was able to carve out a niche for myself as a business coach for creative people.
The world has plenty of psychotherapists, consultants, academics and even poets. There aren’t so many poet-coach-entrepreneurs.
Take some time to reflect on these questions:
Which of your interests could you be the best in the world at?
Could it be a subset of one of your interests?
Could it be a combination of several of your interests, rather than just one?
What Would You Most Regret NOT Doing?
If you’re still struggling to identify your best way forward, here’s my ultimate deadlock breaker.
Fast forward in your imagination until you can picture yourself at retirement age. This is the end of your career, when you’ve done all you were going to do. The choices have been made, the options closed down.
Pick each of your creative ambitions in turn, and imagine that you DIDN’T pursue it – then notice how that feels.
So for example, in one scenario you imagine having abandoned comics in favour of novel writing or gaming. How does that feel? How much do you regret never having created all the comics you were capable of producing?
Do this for each of your interests, and notice which one gives you the biggest feeling of regret.
Now do it the other way around – imagining you DID achieve each ambition, and noticing how much satisfaction it brings you.
Once you’ve done that, your choices should be a lot clearer.
Over to the Readers
Have you ever felt torn between different creative ambitions?
How did you make your decision?
What advice can you offer Jonathan?
“The world has plenty of psychotherapists, consultants, academics and even poets. There aren’t so many poet-coach-entrepreneurs.”
That’s going to be a contender for most thought provoking statement I encounter this week Mark. I am a generalist at heart but I’m very comfortable with it and embrace it. Like you I’m full of contradictions between what I’m naturally good at and what I’m naturally interested in doing. Pulling from a number of disciplines and combining the good with the interesting is what makes business and life fun.
Thanks for the wonderful read today! Keep the insightful posts coming.
My pleasure Joel, plenty more in the pipeline…
Great article, feel so much better now! (I thought I just had a low boredom threshold!) Seriously though, simply being in contact with a wide range of creative people makes my personal and professional life so much more fulfilling, and the cross fertilisation of ideas that results is essential to my creativity. I don’t see it as diluting my creative output at all, quite the opposite. My advice would be, become comfortable in who you are and where your passions lie, and the rest will fall into place. Good luck!
You’re not the only one with a low boredom threshold. 😉
Ah, my life long struggle! It has been a long journey to accept and embrace this gift given to all of us. Notice, I now call it a ‘gift’. For many years it definitely was a ‘curse’! Great article, Mark. I have probably read most books on this subject. Both books Mark mentions are great. Here is another one for you:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=refuse+to+choose&x=0&y=0
Thanks Tina, that looks a great book. Love the title!
Sounds like Jonathon is a Sparkler / Scannerpreneur (my words for “Scanners” as termed by Barbara Sher in ‘Refuse to Choose – A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything You Love”).
I know, because I am one. I wrote a post about how to tell if you are a Scanner, and am creating a resource site for those of us who are scanners AND entrepreneurs (hence, scannerpreneurs hehe). Another term for us is Renaissance people – Da Vinci, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Nicola Tesla all belong to this club. We keep good company!
Excerpted from my post, here is what A Scanner’s Process looks like:
*Discover new passion
*Become obsessed and think about it day and night
*Learn all you can about it, delve into information as though it’s Nutella
*Give in to burning desire to tell the world what you’ve discovered, cos of COURSE this is the most amazing thing since fire was discovered
*Started talking about _____ (in my case, scanners) to anyone who’ll listen
*Start doing ___ (a weekly telecall series discussing Refuse to Choose a year ago)
*In true scanner tradition, either lose interest / finish grudgingly / quit with the intention to complete later, ________ (we did about 6 calls and then dropped the ball)
And so on. Scanners are just wired differently and we get into trouble when we think that every new idea or project has to be taken to the logical end, ie mastery. Not so!! Think of bees and flowers. Bees go from flower to flower because their purpose is to spread pollen. No one ever accuses a bee of being mentally unstable or flighty because it didn’t get ALL its pollen from one flower – it simply can’t! It’s not made that way, a bee’s made to gander about and have a blast.
Just like bees, many of us are Sparklers and are BORN to sample a variety of things. Unlike Lasers, who were born to do one thing (scientist, lawyer etc). This isn’t to say we will always keep bouncing between passions. No, what it means is some of our passions will be taken to intermediate level, some to mastery, some just flirted with and the biggest thing to know about that is that this is how it’s meant to be and not beat yourself up for everything you leave undone.
I highly recommend Barbara Sher’s books to anyone who has a zillion interests and passions when it comes to career and life choices, and thinks that being unable to choose between them or make a lasting career out of one makes them flighty or confused. You will learn how untrue that is and embrace your scannery sparkliness AND find ways to make it work and have everything you want in due time. She’s got a ton of resources and strategies to help and I’m bringing a lot of that stuff together on my site in the next few months.
Here’s to us sparkler types!
OK maybe I need to read this book…
I don’t know what you’re talking about. 😉
I’m with Tia. Remember when people with multiple creative passions were called polymaths or Renaissance Men? (Author Margaret Lobenstine calls them Renaissance Souls.) Specialization is a relatively recent obsession!
Great article. The issue of fear of failure might be one more aspect to consider when dealing with the anxiety of not knowing what to do or crowding oneself with many projects. There are those that just can’t finish anything, too.
I think it would be hard to find a creative person who isn’t multi talented. Unless you are a savant, being creative to me has meant that I began as a singer picked up a paint brush and now I’m a painter, but I’m also the family handi-person who can creatively figure out how to fix anything.
I have to say that age does have something to do with the decision of when it’s time to choose what to concentrate on. I’m two days away from my 60th birthday and feeling a deep pressure to get it over the top because the days here are stumbling to closure. If you are younger there should be time to experiment on anything that passes your fancy. For me, having concentrated on one thing for 30 years because I did evaluate what I couldn’t live without, feels more immediate for me to get where I’m going sooner then later.
In this day of specialization it is a pressure that is felt by the young that I didn’t have in my 20’s. Being creative does has many benefits though. Most of those specialized PhD’s aren’t prepared to work at McD’s. We creatives are much more prepared for what life throws at us.
Thanks Peggy, as I’m halfway between 20 and 60, it’s really interesting to get your perspective on the timescale thing.
Happy Birthday for Wednesday. 🙂
I have struggled with this syndrome of wanting to be involved in more than one kind of creative endeavor. I have been drawing since childhood, became involved with writing in my teens and fantasized about writing my first novel by age 20, went to art school and was a commercial illustrator for many years, painting on the side. I was a pretty good singer and taught myself to play guitar. I had sewn my own clothes from about age 14 and played around with fashion design, learning about pattern making, etc., moved on to designing fabrics and textiles, making my own kits for needlepoint and quilting; taught myself to tat and designed complex embroideries; moved on to silk painting and even talked with Ken Bridgewater from Ehrman Designs about working with their company. I am also a photographer. I always painted in the meantime, and eventually that love took precedence in my 50s. I use all these interests in ways that enhance the painting and it is a bit of a relief to have found a focus and no regrets at age 65. I feel blessed to have never been bored.
I’m not surprised you’re never bored with all that on the go!
Your post reminded me of Mervyn Peake – one of my creative heroes, and I guess you’d have to call him a creative generalist. (Or maybe synthesist.)
Mark:
What an excellent post. It’s consistent with all I’ve read and observed about creative people – the best of them seem to have chosen a specific niche/skill/core interest/focus. After years of painstaking efforts to essentially “own” that core niche, whatever it is, they go on to branch out, but it’s always in some way that relates back to the foundation they’ve built for themselves. In the examples Im thinking of, the branching out would not have been feasible or successful had it not been for the foundation.
Twyla Tharp is an excellent example. I just read about her in Tim Harford’s new book “Adapt,” which I recommend to everyone. Harford writes about Tharp’s years of work and focus in choreography, which continues to this day. It was well after she established her own niche that Billy Joel entrusted her to create something out of his life’s (the play “Movin’ Out”). She utterly failed at first, but managed to transform what the critics hated into something they later loved. From Harfortd’s explanation, it appears that what enabled her failure to success trajectory in that instance was the strength, skill, and perseverance that came from years of work that culminated in “owning” her own niche.
The best books I know of about creativity are Hugh MacLeod’s “Ignore Everybody” and “Evil Plans.” From them, it’s clear that many of the the things MacLeod has done stem from the foundation he spent years building – namely his work as a cartoonist in a style all his own. From there, he’s become other things as well, e.g. a business a consultant, a wine merchant, and an author.
Again, great post. I think your readers will find it super helpful (as I have), and I hope they’ll have a look at some of these books.
Best,
Susan
Great story about Tharp, I hadn’t heard that one. And Hugh is another inspiration – you might want to check out the interview I did with him a while back.
First of all, thanks a lot for this, Mark. I’m glad I inspired you to write on this subject. The article and the comments have given me a lot to consider and think about, more than I will get into here. But I want you all to know that it has definitely helped me a great deal just by reading it!
Thanks Jonathan, delighted to hear it was helpful. And thanks for raising the topic, as you can see from the comments, it’s something other creatives grapple with too.
Mark, I appreciated your raising the possibility that a person might naturally be a creative generalist and particularly your noting that often a person’s seemingly disparate interests are fundamentally linked. Understanding how different interests are thematically connected can help a creative person understand how moving toward mastery in one may actually enhance her ability to pursue another connected interest later or alongside. An interesting life can include several interests pursued in succession or several pursued simiultaneously but sometimes emphasizing one and sometimes another.
I also appreciate the post above that suggests that one doesn’t need to pursue a great interest to mastery for it to be worthwhile. For some the aim of being the best in the world at what he does, unless that niche is defined as just being himself, can prevent a person from enriching his life with activities at which he is unlikely to become the best in the world. I’d hate for someone to become too narrow in his efforts in order to define a niche small enough to be the best in the world.
Yes and this is the part that can take time to become clear. Sometimes you have to trust your gut feeling about a new direction, and it’s only later that you realise how important it was to follow up that path.
Well Mark, I thought I was just nuts (with family and friends quick to affirm my suspicion).
After focusing primarily on photography for over 20 years, here am I banging away on an electronic keyboard at all hours, covering canvas with paints and odd scraps of metal, and working out a story line for some sort of musical theater…
I am far from focused, but having a wonderful time. So Jonathan – I see no need to choose. Why shackle yourself? Draw your comics, write your novels, and build your games! Embrace your freedom to do it ALL.
One of the nice things about writing this blog is I get to meet lots of people who are just as ‘sane’ as I am. 😉
Reminded me to Steve Pressfields way, if you can’t decided which project to do, do the one that scares you the most. Missed seeing you at the lean startup streaming event last night Mark, thanks for this post.
Yeah, Steve always comes up with the answer you least want to hear. 🙂
I’ve come to a (at least temporary) solution by considering all the strings to my bow individually, like you suggest, Mark. I realised that, though teaching dance excites me, I could happily just dance myself and not teach, so I’ve let that drop for now.
Painting and writing seem more integral to me. I have a novel swimming below the surface and I’ve just started combining poetry and visual art in preparation for my next exhibition. We’ll see how well it’s received.
My blog is pretty much about the process of working with all this. Oh yes, and trying to get people to give me money for it :o).
Ah yes. That’s another story… 😉
This is one awesome piece Mark, great job!
I can confidently say I am a whirling Dervish, certainly not a generalist -focusing one project per time is my game.
I found early that I was great with words, both written and spoken. This broke out into different talents such as; writing fiction, poetry, songs, cracking jokes and anchoring events [MC]. But then I had to focus on a higher purpose in the end. I could have been a comedian, musician or writer of fictions. All these didn’t give me a sense of meaning, until I started reading non-fictions in the form of self help or personal development books.
Then I discovered a more purposeful use of my gift with words – public speaking, consulting, coaching, counseling, writing, training etc. Again, another problem arose, what main areas should I focus on that will resonate within me?
And that’s how I came up with three major areas that really really interested me -People, Business and Life. I wanted to use my gift with words to contribute significantly in the development of people, businesses and lives.
Meaning, I will speak, write, train, consult, counsel and coach only in these 3 core areas. Their interdependence makes it very possible for me to be a Whirling Dervish as I can always fight boredom by switching between these 3 core areas of mine.
I don’t also like to multitask, I really don’t think excellence can be achieved multitasking. So, being a whirling dervish works well with me and have helped in building my passion for people, business and life.
Thanks for crafting this great post mate!
My pleasure Tito, sounds like the Whirling Dervish cap fits!
Thanks for the info about Mervyn Peake! I am one of those who had never heard of him but after looking up the site on him I am definitely planning to find his books and start reading them (I am a voracious reader!). Love the artwork I have seen so far of his. I am always fascinated by what other creative people do or have done and learn a lot in the process.
Peake is amazing. One of my enduring inspirations. Try Titus Groan – one of my favourite ever books, let alone novels.
Wonderful to stumble upon this – at almost 70, 30+ years full-time professional artist, my progressions were linear til 5 years ago, adding figurative sculpture to my oeuvre (abstract painting) just 4 years ago. I blogged about the dilemma just a few months ago http://www.contemporaryabstractpainter.blogspot.com/
and OMG, has it been that long since i blogged? – was concentrating on NL’s instead, and NLed about it in Jan. (I do all the marketing for myself and sumi-e artist husband William Preston) – keeps me interested, inspired and (often) overwhelmed.
Thanks Marianne, great to hear it makes sense at your stage of the journey! 🙂
“if you can’t decided which project to do, do the one that scares you the most.” I like that. No sense in taking the easy way out…
That, along with the part in the article that starts with “What would you most regret NOT doing” are the parts I’m latching onto the most from this discussion. I don’t see myself as a whirling dervish because I have trouble finishing! That’s the biggest issue I have, not being willing (perfectly able, just afraid) to see something through to completion. Definitely a creative generalist. I can’t give anything up…and after reading much of what was linked in the blog and suggested in the comments, I don’t see why I should bother trying to specialize or “find my passion”. I have to find a way to use it all, and stop dwelling on it so much.
I really am surprised at the strong response this has gotten and continues to get!
I’m not surprised at the strong response – you’ve hit on one of the core challenges facing multitalented creative people.
Have you read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield? If not, I think you would find it helpful. Also his new book Do the Work. (Watch this space if you want to hear more about it on Lateral Action…
Meanwhile you might like to listen to this interview I recorded with Steve.
I pondered for about 30 minutes before I could write this comment. I was trying your idea of “imagine not doing each of the things you’re doing for work and see which you’d regret” and I got stuck…because I realized that I wouldn’t regret not doing a single thing I currently am doing (which is relatively scary since I started my own company and CHOSE each of the things I am doing). I am starting my 3rd year on my own, and have focused in on a smaller niche…and narrowed into the things that I like to do and am good at doing (and can make money doing)…but I still wouldn’t regret giving any of them up. I could quit everything I do currently tomorrow without any regrets.
So, I am a tad stuck in pondering mode.
You might like to sign up for my free Creative Pathfinder course – the first lesson is designed to help you find out what your creative passion is. You can get it here.
Great post, but my audience might take issue with this:
“Fast forward in your imagination until you can picture yourself at retirement age. This is the end of your career, when you’ve done all you were going to do. The choices have been made, the options closed down.”
Creative options don’t automatically close down at age 65! You might not win an Oscar, claim the Booker Prize and make millions if you take up acting or writing in your 60s (though some have), you can still get decades of enjoyment from those activities and perhaps even supplement your retirement income. There’s no “best used by” date on creativity!
The time to fast forward to is your last breath.
Thanks Elle, great points as usual.
And… I didn’t mention age 65! I said “the end of your career, when you’ve done all you were going to do” – which could be 65, 95 or 45, depending on your inclination (and bank balance!). Maybe I should have made that clearer.
I did think about using the deathbed, but then I thought of people like T.S. Eliot who retired from creative work once they thought they’d done all they could do, and enjoyed a well-earned rest. 🙂
Great post, I’ve always wondered whether I was cursed for being a ‘creative generalist’ — passionate about many things, skilled at a number of things, ‘genius’ at nothing. I identify a lot with figures like Leonadro DaVinci, who painted, designed mechanisms and studied physics.
Of course… I’m no DaVinci 😉 I aspire to be a designer, am ridiculously passionate about comics and working full time as a mechanical engineer, while maintaining a passing interest in a number of other things.
I wanted to share two notions. Recently, a comicker friend of mine confided in me that, while he has been working very hard for the past few years to build a career in comics, he was actually more passionate about animation. He was worried that all of his experience in comics (especially the network he had built) would be ‘wasted’ if he pursued his animation dream, and that he’d never be able to go back. I told him that NO experience is wasted. The site-building, networking, panelling/storytelling and convention-tabling skills he built in comics WOULD help him in the future… perhaps in mysterious ways that he would not expect. Then, if the animation thing didn’t pan out, he could ALWAYS come back to comics later on, and the experience he’d gained in animation would still help him. NO EXPERIENCE IS WASTED!
Secondly, many in comics and writing find ways to explore multiple passions. Zach Weiner (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal) is studying math and physics on his own while maintaining his wildly popular comic, and this has helped him come up with ideas and stay inspired. You can find the same story with a NUMBER of different comic artists/writers. There’s always an interesting way to blend multiple inspirations.
Another great post, Mark. When I compiled a list of the biggest myths that stop job-hunters, career-changers, and business-builders in their tracks, the belief that “I want to do too many things” was near the top of the list!
I’ve been referring people to Barbara Sher’s great “Refuse To Choose” book, and to some others about Renaissance souls, but this is a wonderfully succinct and elegant summary of the important points: you CAN (and should) do several things, if that’s what you’re called to.
I suspect I’ll be directing quite a few people to this page…
Man there are some great resources here.
Thanks for sharing all of this and spending tons of time on this subject of creative blocks. I am sure it helps a ton of people. Will be spending some time going through these
My pleasure Kyle, happy reading!
Thanks for the wonderful article, Mark.
I came upon it as I was trying to – yet again – “find myself”.
I am in my early 60’s and have a wonderfully exciting, creative, multi-interest life.
Yet, now, as I anticipate retirement (someday!) I once again find myself wondering how BEST to use my time. I teach and as part of my teaching I get to use a good amount of the talents and gifts I have (I have been blessed with the full gamut of creative skills: music, composition, writing, art…just about every one except dance!). I am grateful for the opportunities to share my skills and help others explore theirs.
Still, whenever I have free time I waffle between composing my next orchestral piece, carving gourds, learning a new instrument, learning a new language, writing a new play, etc., etc.
Much of the time, I am saddened to say, the time fritters away as I ‘wonder’ what to do.
Hey…maybe i need a…hobby! = )