OPINION

Confidence in creativity is not given; It is earned

Here are my experience in building creative confidence.

Illustration by Kit8

Humans need the confidence to survive. In the olden days, we needed the courage to escape from predators. As time evolves, we need faith to overcome false prejudices like the sun revolving around the earth.

There are two different types of beliefs in us: Social and Personal-one. While the former is a form of self-expression outwardly, the latter is the courage to face fears from within. And the people who do creative work are those who have sensitive and vulnerable minds.

When I was in college, my drawing class was full of students from all the fine arts majors: graphics, interior design, fashion design, and industrial. Upon being marked, our lecturers arranged our assignments in different classroom areas based on the points, so it was apparent for everyone to know each other’s scores. My score was usually in the average group, which made me lose my confidence for a long time. That was the moment that I call “crashing belief.”

Until…

I accepted it, understanding that my drawing skill was not so good, so I focused on something else to offset it. After that, the projects were often more potent in ideas than demonstrating abilities. Therefore, I was able to catch up with my classmates.

Creativity is a field that doesn’t have many clear metrics of the outcome. Hence, as designers, we need to equip ourselves with a certain amount of creative confidence to work better, present more convincingly, and love the profession more.

Here, I want to share the things that have helped me gain confidence in my work.

Overcome the fear of being judged

I have learned to overcome the fear of judgment: the brain does not like to receive information that could make its beliefs misleading, so we often feel uncomfortable when being judged or commented on by others.

Or even we are afraid of letting others judge us. If we want growth or improvement, then the first thing to do is eliminate this irrational fear. Accept the views of others with an open and bright mind to draw the most value…