AS A TYPE A CREATIVE, IT'S HARD TO LET GO OF CONTROL

Dec 23

I am a Type A Creative. I’ll repeat:

I AM A TYPE A CREATIVE

Anyone fall off their chair in shock?? Yeah, didn’t think so. Being a type A creative is great a lot of the time … I’m not afraid to take charge, do what I love, follow an inkling, put myself out there with an idea, share my thoughts about a project even if they may not be what my client is suggesting … like I said, it’s great a lot of the time.

THERE ARE ALSO TIMES WHEN IT FEELS NOT SO HOT

Because I’m a type A creative, I feel a certain ‘responsibility’ to constantly have all the best ideas and to be creatively awesome ALL THE TIME … it feels like there is some sort of sign waving over my head for people to read that says:

IF ALL THE IDEAS AREN’T MINE - IT MEANS I SUCK AT MY JOB!!!

… and while we all know that sign doesn’t exist, it can feel bright red and blinking for a type A creative person. If you are a creative who has designed incredible things in your career and people take notice and come to you for that exact thing to happen for them, it feels very heavy when you can’t quite get it right.

When I can’t ‘get it right’ immediately, the pressure starts to build … I feel like my clients are watching me, staring, twiddling their thumbs … wondering: WHAT THE F*CK IS TAKING SO LONG!!?? Whether they are or they aren’t, this feeling of ‘needing to be faster’ throws me into a place of not being able to create anything great … it puts a cap on my creativity and leaves me feeling very anxious.

Now, there are some projects that bring in the ideas from outside sources … ideas from people that are on a ‘team’ that your client is surrounded by … and I’ll be honest, in the past I haven’t been very good about accepting advice or ideas from non-clients … but:

LATELY I HAVE BEEN PRACTICING ‘LETTING GO’ AND EMBRACING THE TEAM MENTALITY

… and it’s an amazing feeling when you can do this. I will openly admit that working on a team isn’t one of my strengths yet … and how do you get better at something you aren’t super great at?? With practicing and letting go of your fears. My fear of working on a team where ideas come in that aren’t mine - and my client is aware that not all the ideas were mine??? Revert to the top of this blog post: IF ALL THE IDEAS AREN’T MINE - IT MEANS I SUCK AT MY JOB … that is a very unhealthy way of working … and it takes a lot of strength to reposition that voice and say:

MY CLIENT BEING HAPPY IS WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING - THE IDEAS WE ALL HAVE BRING US CLOSER TO THAT GOAL

Letting go of pride and focusing on the end game feels amazing after you’ve done it. When you take the pressure off of ‘just you’ and allow for all the ideas to work together to form one killer idea - it’s very freeing.

NOW, I’M NOT SAYING I WILL GO ALONG WITH SH*TTY IDEAS …

I still have very high standards and I will still share my voice … if ideas are being thrown out there that I feel are bad for the website being designed or aren’t the ideal way to do things, I will share my opinion … but I am embracing being a better listener, being open to the creative ideas of other badass creatives around me, and reminding myself that: