Yet if you try to shortcut the Agony, you’re skipping the most critical stage of all– the stage where breakthroughs are born.
In my latest SlideShare, I’m exploring how to create breakthroughs by getting really, really comfortable in the Agony.
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Like these ideas on creativity? For your tweeting pleasure, here’s a list of pre-fabricated bits to cut and paste:
There’s a reason it’s called a “breakthrough.” You have to BREAK THROUGH something. Here’s how: http://bit.ly/pSaxTi via @SallyHogshead
Would you rather be creative, or comfortable? Find out » http://bit.ly/pSaxTi via @SallyHogshead
Want breakthrough ideas? Sit your butt in the Throne of Agony: http://bit.ly/pSaxTi @SallyHogshead
Boring ideas are cheap. Fascinating ideas are precious. » http://bit.ly/pSaxTi @SallyHogshead
You are the ultimate technology. (Not Twitter… YOU.) http://bit.ly/pSaxTi @SallyHogshead
Creativity is essential, precious, and rare. http://bit.ly/pSaxTi @SallyHogshead
According to @SallyHogshead, creativity has 5 emotional stages: Possibility > Doubt > Agony > Epiphany > Finesse. Here’s why: http://bit.ly/pSaxTi
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Awesome post. Been in that spot more times than I can count and it’s always been worth it. Thanks!
John, I’ve squirmed in that spot as well– and gone on to look back with gratitude for giving myself the space to struggle.
Sidenote: A big thank you to my clients who have given me the space to struggle through the Agony, and reach the Epiphany for them!!
Sally, I was just there myself last night! I have been going back and forth with the idea of starting my own business, and last night it was time to bite the bullet and do it “for real” and get my own website, or sit back and let everything I have worked on go on as it has been; a side job I do when ever and hope people ask about. It’s so scary to take that step, to put your neck, your money, and your skills on the line! The thoughts of failure “I can’t do this, what will happen if this doesn’t work?” become a mantra in your mind. Thanks for pointing out how important this is to the creative process, and to remember it is PART of the process, a step on the way, and not a permanent resting place!
You continue to inspire me with every post. Thank you!
-Alissa
P.S. Your blog post about “Passion isn’t Frosting!” really inspired me to make the leap into starting my own business – I want the frosting & the whole cake!
Wow, what you said really hit home. It’s good to know that agony is part of the process, something that creatives normally go through. I have always loathed that stage and its difficulty has made me think that I loathed design, but then, when epiphany came, nothing felt better in the world than being a creative. I still don’t know that I’ll sit comfortably in the throne of agony, but now I have a new perspective to look at. Thank you.
Bingo! One thing I’ve found about the Agony Phase: you needn’t sit on the throne alone. Isolation is the enemy of innovation and sharing your half-baked awful idea with another is the best way to up the likelihood of it moving towards true inspiration.
Sally, I love this! I think so very often we get stuck in that Agony and never move forward to truly create what we are meant to.
A phrase I’ve heard recently to describe what happens in the process of change I think equally applies here, is that we either have to go through the pain of discipline or experience the pains of regret. I think those “pains of discipline” are exactly the “throne of Agony” in your model.
Is Finesse in your model similar to what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi refers to as Flow? I recently wrote a blog entry about this after I watched a talk by the writer Leone Ross where she describes her own definitions of flow.
It’s interesting how these same concepts are described by researchers and creative people all over, only with slightly different terms.
Thanks for another perspective and ideas to think about.
Creative or Comfortable
I agree – you have to push yourself in order to break that creative barrier which allows you to produce outstanding work.
I do it every day – sometimes I fail, sometimes I rock – but every push and every bad idea will get my creativity to THE NEXT LEVEL !
Alissa, You say that perfectly, that it is a step on the way.
I can profoundly relate to your feeling of “being in the Agony” place. It’s a step on to the next place — Epiphany!
I’m thrilled the “Passion Is Not Frosting” piece is helpful. Have you seen my book on careers? It’s available free here.
Branda — the space of Agony is rooted in (very natural, and very common) insecurity.
If you can stop making the Agony mean something about you, and start seeing it as a predictable and normal stage of the creative process, you can start to focus less on the fear and more on your idea.
Kat, you can share my throne any time! :)
Travis, very very interesting question about “Flow” and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I researched quite a bit of his work while writing Fascinate.
Here is an excerpt from my book on this point:
Think of when you’re “in the zone.” Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes what he calls a “flow state,” and its loss of self-consciousness. “Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus.”
Picture how your body zones out when you’re engrossed in a movie, or mid-thought. You might stand perfectly still, jaw slackened, pulse rising, so transfixed that you lose track of time and the world around you. You might be so engrossed that you’re lost in thought during a lecture, or you may experience the sense of being “in the zone” in a basketball game. Again, a loss of self-awareness.
Mars, I always smile when I read your perspectives.
Cheers to “the next level”!
Agony is a necessary phase?
I’ve come to accept that I often go through an agony phase in my writing projects. But it never occurred to me that other people go through this. This helps me feel better about it.
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