Why do we feel sorry for creative people?

When I was six I was shy beyond words - literally. During kindergarten and first grade I wouldn't say a word in class or to my teacher. One day we were talking about what we wanted to be when we grew up, our teacher talking to us one by one. I went to a long curtain and twisted myself up in it so she couldn't talk to me. My teacher came over and sat down on the floor, saying that she really wanted to talk to me and really wanted to know what I wanted to be when I grew up.

For some reason I got a sudden struck of bravery, I began to unroll myself in the curtain, and then I peeked my mouth out a little bit and whispered a ballerina. My teacher giggled and hugged me in the curtain, saying oh how cute. Obviously I never became a ballerina. But I always wonder what if..

Yesterday I met a young man visiting Denver from L.A. He was working as a secretary or assistant of some sort at HBO, doing the dirty work that no one else wanted to do. But he did it in order to be in the business and to pursue his lofty goal of being a director and screenwriter for feature films. He had received his undergrad in electrical engineering and then decided to follow his true love and pursued his graduate degree in film. He described the extremely difficult nature of the film industry, how you have to produce something to find a manager, and then earn the trust of your skills further in order to find an agent. He had both of these, and in his free time would write screen plays - with the plan to gain a reputation for those and then one day be able to negotiate a place as a director. Everyone in the room asked him why he wanted to do that, what if he didn't meet the right people, what if he never got his break, wasn't electrical engineering a better bet for a more predictable life?

This conversation sparked my memory of a talk I once saw on TED.com - a place with a variety of 20 minute talks from people that have an idea to spread. 

The talk was by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, one of my favorite books. She described her similar dilemma as the young man I met last night - she said that it is completely possible that at the age of 40 that the best work of her life was behind her (Eat, Pray, Love was a memoir of her travels and was a unpredictable world bestseller). In her talk she asked- Is it rational or logical that anybody should be expected to be afraid of the work that they feel that they're on this earth to do? And why is it when we learn of someone choosing to pursue a creative venture that we have the instant worry for their mental health? 

I'm sure you have met someone like I did, someone with the ultimate passion to be a writer, an actress, an artist, a ballerina, or a comedian. Do you remember that slight sliver of pity for them, asking them if they were afraid they wouldn't succeed? Or maybe you were like me, with a passion that was the only word you'd say all year.

And then there are people that are actually doing it - like my dad. He used to be a director in a libertarian think tank in D.C. - now he is a thriving percussionist and drum instructor, going to finally pursue his Master's of Music. Long ago he had the same dream but decided he'd be more stable as a professor. I'm so proud of him for finally following his dreams

Just a thought to do what you love, and never feel sorry for someone that wants to truly be creative and make it their life's work. :)

Watch the talk here: Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity | Video on TED.com

Move away from "The Voices of Reason" - be your own kind of creative

“Today you are You, that is truer than true.

There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
~ Dr. Seuss

Hey all, Jules here. I've always tried to be the kind of thinker and creative person in my daily life that takes peoples advice and criticism for face value, but not let it necessarily keep me from doing something that I think is a good idea. It's really hard to do this, mostly when you respect the people giving the advice. Things in our society move so quickly and its easy to stop being creative. Its hard enough to keep up with the new technology, the new internet sites, the new telephone applications, the new ways to teach, and the new ways to learn, to think of any new ideas.

In business school, we often talk about the trials and doubts that now-successful business owners had to go through in order to be successful. I think the hardest thing for a creative thinker is having people tell you right from the start that your idea is fruitless. This natural resistance from the "voices of reason" has occurred when folks look at only what currently exists to determine what can be. The change-makers were often the outcasts, fending for their creation, invention or vision with little support at best - and dyer, tortuous circumstances at worst. 

The following quotes, compiled by Mycoted, are examples of the push-back of status quo thinking felt by many a visionary and pioneer as they tried to introduce something new into the culture - whether in the world of business, science, academia, or technology:

• "Everything that can be invented has been invented." --Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899. 
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• "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." --Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

• "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." --Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

• "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

• "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." --Western Union internal memo, 1876.

• "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." --A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

• "Who wants to hear actors talk?" --H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

• "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." --Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind."

• "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." --Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

• "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

• "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." --Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

• "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." --Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

• "So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'" --Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.

• "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." --Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

• "Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." --Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

• "Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction". --Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

• "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon". --Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

I often try to remember examples like this, that even some of the innovations that have literally changed the way we exist day-to-day were once seen as laughable. Then even the little things I want to do, that seem a little risky, probably aren't that hard to do. Everything just takes a commitment, and it will succeed if you have enough passion, you need to know that maybe you are the one to make it happen. Like the Dr. Seuss quote earlier, everyone is different and everyone has different abilities and capacities to make things happen.