Why comparison kills creativity

do you know the feeling

when you have a clear idea in your mind

maybe you’re creating an artwork maybe

you’re writing something

or working on a project you know

how it’s supposed to look like but when

you put it on paper

maybe you paint it or you build it or

you write it down

you look at it and it’s not satisfying

you might even say it’s a complete

failure

what makes it even worse is that

everyone

around you does better work

you look at your peers maybe look online

see all the people you admire from your

field

and they all do better

work and that does not feel good right

it might feel even frustrating

have you ever experienced something like

that well if you have

it might be because of something called

the gap

what does that mean we heard the concept

of the gap

from ira glass a radio host and producer

this is how we understand it

when we start learning a new skill we

get exposed to a lot of good work

our theoretical knowledge develops fast

we learn how to recognize what’s good

and what isn’t

but our skill our ability to do it

develops much slower than that

and during the time when our skill

doesn’t match our expectations

we are in a perception gap

not only can’t we do it but we are

painfully aware

that whatever we produce just isn’t good

enough

and this can be unreassuring even

extremely discouraging

gaspar and i were in such a gap for a

long time

we learned to sketch from our professor

at university

he created these beautiful sketches in a

blink of an eye

and we saw how they should look like

and then we tried it out and they looked

nothing like that

and we were so frustrated

so we went out and looked for quick

solutions

one was we bought the same pen the

professor had used

because if we’d had this one pen our

work would look amazing

right wrong you might have guessed it

wasn’t the pen that was making the

difference

and despite that we kept on going

for a long while until eventually after

years of practice we started hating our

sketches less and less

and with time became comfortable with

the sketches we produced

we closed the gap but once we did

we set new goals for ourselves we

decided to learn how to use color

so we watched online tutorials we read

the books and we learned about color

theory

you know blue and yellow produce green

violet and yellow look good together

things like that and then we tried it

out but the results

looked horrible to us what had happened

well you guessed it we slipped into

another gap

because once you close one gap

you set yourself with a new set of goals

and expectations

and you start another cycle and then the

third one

and the fourth one we call this the

progress

dna the progress dna

is a series of gaps as time passes

we move from one gap period into another

and all this time our skill is improving

is this raising of expectations towards

ourselves that propels us forward

and there will be short periods of bliss

but

most of the time it will be

uncomfortable

what makes things even worse is there’s

internet

and social media we follow the leaders

in the industry

and their profiles you probably also

follow a few

right we see the amazing work

they produce and might think to

ourselves

our work just can’t keep up with it

so it might even discourage you to that

point

where you just stop creating what you

love to do

that is why comparison is the death of

creativity

the more you compare yourself to others

the bigger the gap will get

don’t compare yourself to others but to

you

from yesterday why is that important

others will always be better at

something than you are

for example i’m good at sketching trees

but whenever i try to draw a portrait

most of the time i will fail

miserably so if i compare myself to a

portrait artist

i might feel i’m an awful artist and if

i do this often enough

i might get discouraged to a point that

i will quit

a much better idea is to think of what

you do and here comparison

can be used as a positive tool for

example

can you think of something that took you

a long time to learn

like a skill or a craft you have it

okay so can you remember

how good were you when you were starting

out

you probably realized you progressed

you’re doing

well and if you look back at your work

you will also notice the

areas you can still work on and you can

improve in

so go through old stuff you might even

find some forgotten gems there

and remember stop comparing yourself to

others

instead compare yourself to you from

yesterday

meanwhile if you want to start

practicing

feeling comfortable in the get periods

on the progress dna we suggest an

exercise

it will rekindle that fun creativity

that got you starting started what you

love to do

in the first place it’s a drawing

exercise we do quite a lot

and all you need is a pen and paper

you don’t have to be an artist and

actually you don’t even have to know how

to draw

are you up for it together we’ll create

a couple of doodle monsters

it’s great exercise to practice

your visual thinking and imagination and

it will also help us let go of our

expectation

and perfectionism get your pen and paper

we’ll draw free blocks or shapes

let’s start let the shape be

as random as possible

great don’t think about it

there’s no right or wrong way to do this

once you’ve done with the first one

let’s

do the second one

and maybe do it a bit differently this

time

let your hand flow freely

and let’s move to the third one

great you’ve made the first step

remember

it’s okay that it’s completely random

now

it’s time to turn on our imagination

let’s look at the first blop and imagine

it’s a small monster

let’s ask ourselves a few questions to

make it a bit more interesting

what kind of monster is it what kind of

character does it have

in what kind of mood is it right now

decide that

for your blob

this one is grampy i would say give it

two eyes

anywhere on the shape wherever it feels

right for your monster

a grumpy mouth

curving down

two legs

two horns

and a tail

congratulations you have created a small

monster

out of a random doodle this wasn’t too

hard right

let’s move to the next one how about

making this one happy let’s give it two

eyes

a happy smile

with the tongue sticking out

two legs

and two arms

remember keep it simple how do we feel

about the third one

let’s make it surprised

draw two big eyes

a round small mouth

maybe add some hair

and this time six legs

and we’re done

congratulations you just drawn some fun

and interesting

monsters be proud of yourself you can

put your pen down

rest and just listen and if you enjoyed

this exercise

you might also want to try doing some

smudge monsters

with coffee smudges or paint smudges at

home have fun with it

give your monsters names and you might

even want to invent backstories for them

this is a fun creativity exercise anyone

can do

no matter if you’re an artist or not it

rains

your imagination but most importantly

it makes you feel feel comfortable

in the gap do you still remember what we

said about the gap

it’s when you feel uncomfortable or even

frustrated because the results

don’t meet your expectations in this

exercise

you had to create something with

random doodles on paper you couldn’t

predict

the end result you were training

to feel comfortable while producing

unexpected monsters and for those of you

who want to keep improving and feeling

better

on the progress dna we have a challenge

would you be ready to give it a try you

already did the first step

with us by doing the doodle monsters

we call this the shitty art challenge

we did this with our students earlier

this year

what you do is you commit to doing bad

art or shitty art

every day for a certain amount of time

for a period of 30 days

now why intentionally create bad art

when you start creating something if you

do it with the intention

of turning out kind of shitty then this

completely removes the pressure of the

work having to be good

and this is fantastically liberating

and there’s more if you don’t care how

the work will turn

out then you give yourself the liberty

to experiment

maybe you want to experiment new

techniques new materials new ways of

thinking

you will break the boundaries you have

created for yourself

who are trying to create perfect work

so here are some examples we did during

our challenge

this is something i did

and here’s another example a horse with

a

bit of a strange leg you can see it from

the back here

and this is something sonia did

and these are some examples our students

did for the challenge

they’re all drawings here but they could

be anything they could be

shitty poems or photographs or paintings

whatever your creative field is we

committed to doing this every day

to create a habit because doing a little

bit of something every day

is much more effective than doing a lot

of something only once in a while

and by the end of the month sonia’s

challenge sheet

looked like this and

mine looked like this

i had to give myself five extra lives in

order to get through

we encourage you to try it out again you

don’t need to be an artist to do this

this exercise is great for anyone who

wants to

work on their perception gap it will

free you from comparing yourself to

anyone else because the

goal of shitty art is not to look good

or better

you can’t compare it and as we know

comparison is the depth of creativity

and you can already put the first cross

in your calendar

for doing the doodle monsters with us

today

so next time you’re mastering can you

skill remember it’s going to be a long

path

along the progress dna there will be

periods of gap

and periods of peace and each period

will pass and not to make the gap

periods too long

remember don’t compare yourself to

others

but to you from yesterday and if despite

that

a gap period might seem to take forever

keep the following in mind progress

comes

in form of jumps and plateaus

let me explain have you ever had the

feeling

that you’re improving too slowly and

maybe you’re not improving at all

well it might be that you’re just

standing on a progress plateau

and you’re missing the big picture your

next jump

might be around the corner so patience

is key here

bill gates once said most people

overestimate what they can do in a year

and underestimate what they can do in 10

years

so next time if you feel unsure of your

work

or frustrated remember you’re moving

through a progress dna

and if you do that you will become more

patient

you will be able to focus on yourself

and your work

instead of others and i bet you’ll be

more happy

and you will allow yourself to create

wondrous things

so keep on going compare yourself to you

from yesterday and you will stay

creative

thank you very much