You may have heard of creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson. He is asking people to rethink how we educate children because we are teaching them to fear making mistakes. And that fear will squash creativity. He says that if we aren’t prepared to be wrong, we won’t do anything original.
Charise’s turn:
I used to fear improvising as a dancer. What if I went blank and didn’t know what to do or did something wrong? Who was I to invent movement? I was comfortable copying movement I’d been given. Until the time I was in a show and the wrong music came on when it was my turn for a solo. I stood on the steps to the stage, stunned. My fellow dancers were urging me to begin, and one of them said, “you’re not getting any other music, this is it". The music was playing, the audience was waiting and the stage was empty, so I stepped forward and acted as if this was just the way it was supposed to be. I played, I worked with the music, and became amused at how wrong it all was. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was for me to get out there and commit to what I was doing one hundred percent.
Get Fired Up:
If you have a hunch about something, a creative spark, consider this a prompt, a calling from your muse. Pay attention. No need to reason with yourself or talk yourself out of it. That could be fear talking. Practice saying “why not?” instead. Practice saying “why not?”
