Episode 20. Failure and Creativity

The Creativity for All Podcast

Welcome to season 2 of the Creativity for All Podcast!

While season 1 focused on the origin of creativity, Season 2 is going to explore the many ways in which we can nurture it. You might find it highly ironic that I’ve chosen failure as the topic for the first solo episode of 2021. In fact, I can’t think of a better way to kick off the second season, than by wrestling with this particularly tricky notion.

After all, fear of failure prevents many from accessing and using their creative potential and if they have tried to do so and failed, then failure often becomes the reason for not trying again, for deciding that only artists are being creative, that there’s no other way to be creative and, since they’re not artists, the case is well and truly closed.

Failure is a loaded word, entirely negative, and final. There’s no recovering from it, only shame and self-criticism, both of which are intensely paralysing. But what do we mean exactly by failure and what does failing at being creative look like? Could there be a way to free ourselves from the pressure and fear of failure by reframing it?

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The Creativity for All Podcast is sponsored by Blue as an Orange, where we believe in creativity through communication and offer mentoring and coaching for aspiring writers, tailored language tuition for individuals and companies, and editing/translation services.