Strategy kills creativity

Strategy kills creativity. Why? Because when you’re creating with an end goal in mind-when you’re creating for a result-then you’ve automatically boxed in your creativity.

Before I jump into why I believe strategy kills creativity I should mention that I am not a sloppy creative. I don’t believe in just creating by “being moved” or that I don’t have a system or plan in motion! I am the queen of planning and systems for my business. I take my workflow very seriously.

What I mean by STRATEGY is this. I’ve seen and heard far to many creatives ask the question “how will DOING THIS benefit my business.” I have also heard them say “how will THEY benefit my business.” Two of things I feel are very strategy related. When you start to operate this way you then become sort of controlled by these two elements of money and people pleasing. And when you strategize for these things…you in some form are releasing rights to your own creativity.

I believe in planning for success but if you’re spending too much time wondering how your new ideas are going to make you money then you’re going to lose the spark, you’re going to lose the idea. Creative ideas are like hunger pains-they come to let you know that you are hungry and should get something to eat, but if you don’t feed the hunger, the hunger goes away.

In the end, we all want to be successful and make a great living doing what we love. But I ask you this one question….is your own strategy plan stopping you from unleashing your greatest potential? Could it be that you’ve silenced your creative hunger because you didn’t see how it could benefit you? Would you dare to create without an expectancy of return?

Here’s my challenge to you my creative friend. The next time a CREATIVE HUNGER PAIN hits you -FEED IT-don’t overthink it.