Creativity Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect: Starting with Small Wins!

How does creativity bring us confidence and strength?

Last Saturday, I attended an engaging book club discussion on creativity. All participants were colleagues from BUB Talent Accelerator, with Rikke leading the discussion on Creative Confidence. Rikke strongly emphasized that, alongside input, output is crucial for truly retaining what we absorb. This inspired me to share my reflections with everyone.

Book Introduction

Creative Confidence by David Kelley and Tom Kelley, founders of IDEO, emphasizes that creativity is an innate ability possessed by everyone, dispelling the myth that only a select few are creative. The book offers practical techniques and mindset shifts to overcome fear and build confidence in problem-solving.

IDEO is a leading innovation and design consultancy renowned for its Design Thinking methodology.

Foto di Saurav Thapa Shrestha su Unsplash

Believe that we all possess creativity!

What does “creativity” mean to you? We often hear people say, “Be more creative,” as if being creative is something distant from us, or that only those in the arts need it — that one must work hard and practice to “become” creative.

But creativity can actually be applied in every aspect of life. The author argues that creativity is inherently present in everyone. What we need to do is “rediscover” our innate creativity and practice applying it. However, the author also emphasizes “unity of knowledge and action” — it’s not enough to just have ideas; we must put them into practice.

Compared to success at once, practice how to fail.

We often abandon before even beginning because we fear “failure. Yet failure is utterly normal — unsuccessful attempts may simply mean we haven’t failed enough times. On the other hand, successful people are merely those who failed many times over. Our obsession with perfection and instant success breeds an increasing terror of failure.

This reminds me of words from an Irish professor during my university days: “Fail, fail again, fail better.” The original words come from Irish modernist playwright, novelist, and poet Samuel Beckett’s 1983 short prose piece “Worstward Ho”: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Photo source | https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/samuel-beckett-on-the-couch

This reminds me of a small observation during my exchange in Italy and internship in the Czech Republic. In many European countries, universities and graduate schools offer two or three opportunities to take final exams. When students feel their grades are unsatisfactory, they can retake the exam until they achieve a satisfactory result. In Italy, it’s even possible to take a “make-up exam” more than a year later. Students who feel unprepared can also choose to take the exam later, providing significant flexibility. In Taiwan, constrained by professors’ willingness or procedural deadlines, this is highly unusual. It makes us, who already fear mistakes, increasingly terrified of failure.

The book mentions that when circus performers first practice juggling, the very first move they learn is the “drop.” Similar concepts appear in other sports: when practicing a tennis serve, the hand must learn to toss the ball straight and high, where “perfect toss” means landing steadily, enabling a powerful strike. Volleyball players train to roll on the floor to avoid injury and recover quickly. These actions teach them how to “fail well.”

Be “Quick and Dirty” rather than accurate.

To break this habitual mindset, we can “set achievable goals,” as accomplishing them builds confidence and hope. But taking that first step remains challenging. Thus, when an idea arises, try to devise an actionable solution within five minutes — beyond that, we’re likely to abandon it. So, at the beginning, be quick and dirty, give some possible methods, and do it!

This concept reminds me of the “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) approach. It allows us to gain small wins and the courage to try again, because whether developing a product or attempting anything new, success rarely comes on the first try. We must experiment with different approaches multiple times to eventually iterate toward the best version.

That night, Rikke did something interesting. She said the ideal state is to think of something you can do immediately, as soon as possible, no matter how small. She wants to be someone who walks the talk, so she said she wanted to hydrate, then picked up her water cup and took a sip. This action wasn’t a big deal, but it did remind me that we can think about things in many different forms and ways — it doesn’t always have to be about doing “big things.”

Take that first step!

In the end, Rikke gave us a small exercise: identify what you fear most right now and take action against it.

1. First, ask yourself: “What am I most afraid of right now?”
2. List two or three deep reasons.
3. Try to find insights from the reasons you listed.
4. Ask yourself: “Are these insights true? Have I missed anything?”
5. What can I do next to achieve a small victory?
6. What can I do “right now”? (Immediately!)

It took less than ten minutes to decide to have this event. Two days before the meeting, we had a small gathering where everyone chatted, exchanging ideas and stories. I’m so grateful to have such proactive and generous friends who enjoy doing interesting things together and growing together!

It’s been years since my last book club gathering. Recently, I’ve rekindled my reading habit — flipping through books I’d bought ages ago but never opened, and adding a few titles to my list based on friends’ recommendations. After this session, I immediately reached out to a friend who’d mentioned a book, proposing we host the next gathering. I’ll share more with you all then!

Have you read “Creative Confidence”? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. If you enjoyed this post, please share it with family and friends — and don’t forget to leave some applause before you go. Thank you for reading!