Comparison and Judgment are the Enemies of Creativity

I am fortunate to have joined a talented group of bloggers for the Global Writing Challenge. Each month, we write about a very broadly defined topic, and the responses are quite varied. The group includes Deb’s World, Marsha in the Middle, MK’s Adventures, Rosie Amber, Suzy Turner, Women Over 50 Living Well,   and now me.

This month, Marsha selected the topic of Creativity...a theme that is close to my heart as a writer, photographer, jewelry designer, and general crafter and "maker." It's also a topic that has received a lot of attention from social psychologists, and the research backs up the wisdom of artists, educators, and quite possibly the astute people in your life -- judgment and comparison are the enemies of creativity.

Creativity & Judgment

This quote attributed to Andy Warhol is probably my favorite quote about making art:

Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad. While they are deciding, make even more art.

It gets to the very heart of the importance of separating the act of creation from evaluative judgment. When people start judging their work as good or bad, especially as they are making it, this induces mental shifts that hinder creativity. Judgment...

• Reduces risk-taking

• Impedes experimentation

• Creates a fear of failure

• Encourages conformity

• Shuts down the imagination

• Interrupts creative flow

• Disconnects from deep emotion and intuition

At its most extreme, prospective judgment - evaluating the work as "probably not good enough" in advance - can stop you from creating anything at all!

For creative makers, it's better to create, then consider what you've made afterwards. And that consideration is more productive when it takes the form of discernment before - or in place of - judgment. Discernment involves detailed, objective observation of something, while judgment involves a value-based, subjective classification of it. Applying a discerning eye to your creations can provide feedback to improve your skill and help you develop as a maker, if that is important to you. It doesn't have to be!

Creativity & Comparison

As everyone who has ever spent time scrolling through the social media "highlight reels" of people they knew in elementary school or random strangers who are actually bought-and-paid-for influencers peddling a fantasy, Theodore Roosevelt knew the score back in the 1800s:

Comparison is the thief of joy.

This is equally true when comparing your own skills, abilities, and creations to those of other people. Comparison to others...

• Lowers self-esteem

• Reduces motivation

• Shifts focus from strengths to perceived shortcomings

• Induces negative emotions like envy and sadness...which are distracting and make people more cautious

• Increases depression and anxiety

For the vast majority of us (and perhaps all), there is zero value to comparing yourself to other creators! We can gain ideas, direction, motivation, and energy from looking widely for inspiration, and other creators can be a source of inspiration rather than comparison. It can be helpful to break down another person's creation to see how they got the end product/effect. What materials or techniques are they using? What themes/motifs are they addressing? How are they using color or line or other design elements? Whether their creation is "better" than what you can do is not relevant...even if you are following a tutorial and making the very same kind of thing!

If we do make comparisons, a much more valuable route is to focus on our own creative paths. This is comparison for internal growth, not external validation.

For Your Inspiration/Amusement

On Monday, my husband took a vacation day, and as a little outing, we went to a Goodwill store in the next town over to look for "things to make stuff from." Everything in the store was crazy high-priced not just compared to the Goodwill prices I was used to, but high relative to the prices they would have cost at retail.

For example, the entirety of their jewelry section was a single revolving rack of very low-quality new earrings for $5.99 a pair. (It is difficult to express how cheap-looking these earrings were; I'm not sure what store/brand would even sell stuff like this - Temu? There is no way anybody would have spent $5.99 on them when new.) I saw clothes from JCP/Kohls stores that were priced the same as the equivalent new item on sale. I looked at some small plastic storage containers that were in the range of $7 each and a bit dirty/damaged; you can get a much nicer one the same size new from Walmart for less.

The books were more reasonably priced. In the kids section, they were $1.99 for softcover and $2.99 for hardcover. I was looking for picture books with pages I thought might make good paper beads or paper pendants, and I came home with 4, plus a wild-card (all softcover). There were a LOT of children's picture books - we could have spent all day going through them - so when we'd found these, I called it a day. I have never made paper beads from a book, but since many picture books have wonderful, colorful drawings, I thought I'd experiment with it. (If it bothers you to imagine cutting up books, you are welcome to feel that way! But I basically agree with this perspective on using non-rare books in crafting. )

Here is a look at each book's cover and a couple pages from inside...

Book 1: Gorgeous rich color palettes with a broad range of colors - every two page layout has different colors, so very versatile; nice nature motifs

Book 2: Beautiful colors in a consistent color palette throughout - I could make a lot of beads that coordinate with each other; nature motifs with bonus points for rabbits!

Book 3: Robert found this one, which amused him because he likes to sing his own lyrics to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the vein of the song featured on the cover ("Take me out of the ball game / Take me out of this rout" is a common one). I actually dislike the style of drawing in this one, but because I like the color palette and the intricate details, I think it has good potential for paper beads.

Book 4: An almost completely unused adult coloring book that I would not have paid the cover $9.99 for but that intrigued me for $1.99. I don't think I will painstakingly color in these detailed paisley design pages in the classic coloring book style; my first idea is to wash colors over the page in blocks, stripes, etc., and let the paisley design show through underneath, if that makes sense.

Book 5 - the Wild Card selection: I picked up this book out of curiosity, and when I saw how lovely the sketches were, I decided to buy it, not for paper beads/pendants. I have no talent for drawing, and I will likely never actually make any serious attempt at sketching these animals, but I have already started reading through it and will get more than $1.99 worth of enjoyment from learning about animal sketching and examining the examples. If it makes me even one iota better at drawing animals, that will be a bonus.

Related reading: Creative Hobbies to Conquer Boredom

Check out what other bloggers have to say about Creativity:

Debbie: Debbie wonders at times if she has a creative bone in her body. She looks at different ways we can be creative and discovers something about herself in the process.

Marsha: Marsha always used to think creativity meant you could draw really well.  She has since learned creativity means so much more!

Mary Katherine: She is on vacation.

Rosie: Rosie tells us about creativity in her English cottage garden.

Suzy: Suzy writes about discovering her creative side — and realising it’s been there all along! From writing and blogging to exploring new hobbies and projects, Suzy shares how creativity shows up in unexpected ways in her life.

Sue: She is on a break from blogging.

Do you do any creative hobbies? Do you like making things? Do you ever get caught by the social media social comparison trap? Do you ever feel judgment or comparison affecting your creativity? Do you ever find craft supplies (broadly defined) at thrift stores? Have you ever upcycled a used book in a craft project?

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