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Are You Pretending to Be Creative?

By Peter Lloyd

Shakespeare offers worthwhile advice to creative people when he has Jacques of As You Like It declare, “All the world’s a stage” and “all the men and women merely players.” In our lives we play separate and distinct roles as parents, spouses, children, siblings, friends, neighbors, job holders, business partners, managers, employees, citizens... We act differently in each role. Not deceitfully, but because each role demands its own performance.

All of life is pretense, then, the cynic might conclude. Shakespeare ups the ante when his Macbeth calls life a “walking shadow” and “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury.” Some might even agree with the king’s conclusion, “Signifying nothing.” In any case, it’s Macbeth’s way of calling life an act.

In some training circles and among some of life’s many kinds of life advisers and counselors, I hear the call to declare what you are before you earn the title. The declaration is meant to kick off your commitment. Some parents respond to their children’s first attempts at art with, “Oh, I see you are an artist!” They give the child permission to play the role of artist.

Behind all this positive reinforcement is the idea that the first hurdle in developing your creativity is gaining the belief that you are creative. Without the belief, you won’t even try, and you’ll never succeed. Believing allows you to try, succeed in small steps, learn that you can be creative, and eventually gain the conviction that you are the thing you set out to become. In other words, to play the role.

Some actors attempt to “become” the characters they play. The more successfully they do so, the more convincing their performances. Since you already play many roles in your life, why not add a creative role or two?

Just Pretend
All creative work involves pretending. When you paint a picture, you pretend that the image you create is, in a sense, what it represents. When you write a story, you pretend that your characters live and breathe, speak and do. When you invent a machine, you first have to pretend that it could exist and that it will do what you want it to do.

Doing creative work can be a role you play. If you want to be more creative, pretend that I’m the stage manager. You’re about go out on stage. I turn you and say, “You’re on!”

See also:

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.

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