I always wanted to start my own thing , something creative , something worthy or just something which will help me meet people with similar interests . We often hear the phrase “ I want to start my own thing” being thrown around us and undoubtedly all of us are good at things which other people would love to know and learn as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wonderfully quotes - “Give what you have . To someone , it may be better than you dare to think” .
The hard part is getting over the trenches of anxiety , self-doubt and criticism . Recently I came across this wonderful book called “Show your Work” by Austin Kleon . It changes the way you look at creative work . It helped me learn a lot and here is the reflection of my learning. I hope you will get some great insights from this as well .
Well there are many myths about creativity , but the most dangerous one is the “lone genius myth” . Austin Kleon states an interesting concept which was introduced by the musician Brian eno . It is the concept of scenius . Under this great ideas are often birthed by a group of individuals -artists , curators , thinkers , theorists and other tastemakers who make an - Ecology of Talent , If you look back closely at history, many people who we think as lone geniuses were actually part of a whole scene of people who were supporting each other , looking at each other’s work , copying from each other , telling ideas and contributing ideas . Much like the evolution of a species doesn’t take place in solitude neither does art and maybe that is why we have the Era of Pop ( 1940’s) and Era of Rock and Roll ( 1950’s) in America and Fortunately or unfortunately The Hindu calls the period of 2009-2019 as the Era of EDM in India with the rise in popularity of EDM festivals like Go:MadrasX and Sunburn (Well the best fact about EDM is that we only like it when we are not sane , Just saying ) . An excellent example of the concept of scenius is the "PayPal Mafia" .
And the wonderful aspect of the idea of scenius is that it makes a room in the story of creativity for the rest of us : the people who do not consider themselves a genius . The internet is actually a bunch of sceniuses connected together , divorced from physical geography and here I am contributing something to this scenius as an amateur .
We are all terrified of being revealed as amateurs , But well it is the amateur - the enthusiast who pursues her work in the spirit of love ( In French , the word means “Lover” ) regardless of potential for fame , money or career . Mind of an amateur is full of possibilities , an amateur can take chances and experiment as they have little to lose , some people may perceive you as a stupid person doing random things , so what you are still creating something on your own .In his book Cognitive Surplus Clay Shirky writes “The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act” .
We have always been taught to work for others , there is nothing bad about it but we should have our own creative space , We should keep working on new things on our own as Facebook asks “What’s on your mind” , Dribbble does it even better by asking “What are you working on”
The best time to start your own thing was yesterday and the next best time is today . So let us get rid of our inhibitions and doubts and not be mere actors of someone else’s show . Let us think out loud with raw enthusiasm , it is contagious . Let us start our own show , maybe we could become “The Greatest Showman” .