Creativity isn’t something to control. We love to feel like we’re in control and endeavoring to be in control in really appropriate in many situations, like when we’re operating a band saw. But creating requires that we loosen up, engage in process, and see what happens.

You can exert some control over the creative process by doing formulaic work and by repeating yourself, but how creative is that? It’s much better to say, “Let me try this out and see what happens” than to say, “Let me wait until I’ve perfected this in my mind and only then begin.”

We can’t do that perfecting, we can’t make our creative efforts come with some sort of guarantee, and we can’t circumvent the reality of process, which includes making mistakes and messes. Let all that be okay!

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