I love the creative process. Yet I hate it, too.
Creativity is almost always a love/hate/love relationship.
Creativity is a glorious, and frustrating, and absurdly difficult but infinitely rewarding process of transforming a boring idea into a fascinating one.
Why is it so glorious, yet so frustrating?
In my experience, every creative process has 5 emotional stages.
From the start of a project all the way through execution, you’ll probably hit all 5 stages along the way. I’ll show you why there’s one stage that’s more critical— and more brutally frustrating— than all the other stages put together.
Here’s how to diagnose which of the 5 stages you’re in
Stage 1: Possibility
You’re coming up with all the easy stuff. You might have some interesting starter ideas, but really, you probably have nothing. It feels like fun, free-range exploration. You’re probably saying to yourself, “Here’s a cool idea. Here’s another one. And another. Man, I’m pretty good.”
Stage 2: Doubt
As you begin to look at your ideas more closely, you realize, um… they’re actually not that great. Doubt sets in and uncertainty set in. You might become defensive, and start questioning the process, and yourself.
Stage 3: Agony
The most grueling of all steps in the creative process, this stage is a red-blooded struggle. Nothing seems to work. Your co-workers get stressed by the perceived lack of progress. You worry that you’ll be exposed as a hack. Ughhh. Suddenly, the whole project seriously sucks.
Stage 4: Epiphany
You’ve done it! You’ve just invented a big, new idea. With a burst of energy and relief, your breakthrough has happened.
Stage 5: Finesse
Now you’re crafting the raw idea to be more strategic and purposeful. Your skill and training really begins to shine through, as you hone and refine your concept into the best possible execution. Now you gain momentum with focused, purposeful engagement. The goal is in sight.Here’s what to teach your clients about the creative process:
Before the process begins, tell your team (including your partners and boss):
“I realize we have a limited timeline, and that we need to craft our solution ASAP. But if we truly want the best result, we can’t shortcut the process so drastically that we end up presenting and producing a lame idea. Lame ideas are expensive. They cost as much to execute as a brilliant idea, yet generally get pretty mediocre results.”
Then, before the creative process begins, build in enough space to embrace the struggle of the Agony— time to get past the quick and easy ideas, and actually bring your clients something that will be persuasive and memorable enough to deliver the results that everyone needs achieve on this project.
What helps YOU be your most creative? Any tips you can share with the rest of us?
Leave a comment, below!
28 Comments
Well there is a reason why it’s a called a process. Although I loved this 5-stage process I would add, from my personal experience, another stage that we might called: “Disengagement “. In order to go from the “agony” stage to the “epiphany” stage you should go through a stage where you forget everything about the project you are working on and engage in other things, put your mind at ease, and let your unconscious do the work. You’ll realize that when you go back to the project the great idea will emerge triumphant. Hope this tip helps when you are stuck in the agony stage. Watch a movie, go out for a walk, do something you enjoy doing or just relax and give a break to your thought process, it a way also to have some perspective once you get back to create.
It’s very refreshing to see the reality of the creative process laid out so beautifully. And it’s much less grizzly than the old sausage making analogy.
This is brilliant. I just newly formerly discovered I am a creative. These 5 stages are so helpful. I spend a lot of time in the possibility stage and get stuck in the doubt phase and boy know the agony stage all too well. I get to the end only on things that really FIRE ME UP. So spend time figuring out who you are and find what that is for you.
Ahh… the throne of agony. I sit up it daily. http://www.slideshare.net/sallyhogshead/sit-on-the-throne-of-agony
Dear Sally – You are one of the people that keeps me moving forward. I’m a solo-infopreneur who doesn’t have a professional support system, and I look to genuine and innovative leaders online to keep me motivated. Thanks for being you!
I love this. I find that for me the agony stage is usually about 3 quarters of the way through the process. I feel like nothing much is getting done for those first 3/4 and then when the epiphany comes it all comes together and gets finished so quickly.
Totally agree here Sally creativity is a love/hate thing for sure! I’m in the middle of the Agony phase with a project and it’s sucking the fun out of it. Any tips for breaking through the pain?
I actually embrace the agony stage because I have to go through this stage to access those inner depths of fuzz.