Permission Granted

by Ed Barguiarena, Creative Director

It takes courage and vulnerability to be creative—to open yourself up to creative risk. I see it all the time in interviews and master classes with my creative heroes.

Q: How do you start developing a project or idea?

A: “Every time I start a project, I feel like I’m unworthy. That somehow, this time, people are going to see that I really can’t do it—that I don’t have what it takes. And then I get to work.”

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This is what it feels like to be creative. Sometimes it’s an easy-going process, 99% of the time it’s hard work that will test your willingness to endure.

If you’re seeking permission to be creative, you have to say yes. It has to come from within, not from someone else. The truth is, you have to say yes to more than just being creative. You have to say yes to possibilities. Yes to failure. Yes to the unexpected. Yes to who you are.

When I see clients tap into their creativity, when they are vulnerable and fearless, this is their most common self-reflection: “I feel like I’ve reconnected with my true self.”

We all should be working—in business and life—as our true selves. Say yes.