Creativity and Confidence
I love TED talks. I find them inspiring and excellent food for thought. In this talk, David Kelley talks about creative confidence and how flip comments from others can often plant the seeds to kill creative confidence in adult life. He tells the story of a school friend who was in the middle of making something when another blurted out “that’s terrible.” His friend was quickly embarrassed and trashed his project. I’m sure everyone has such a story. I certainly do, and more than one or two of them. Mr. Kelley then goes on to talk about “guided mastery” and encourages everyone to “let ideas fly” and to “touch the snake.” Wondering about the latter? Watch the video! It’s only 11+ minutes and totally worth it.
And, if you’re looking for another good TED talk, I recommend Elizabeth Gildbert’s talk called Nurturing Creativity. I wrote about it in 2009, I still periodically watch it (as it’s filled with good lessons that I need refreshers on), and you can find the link to it here.