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Updated November 3, 2022Youβre reading an excerpt of Creative Doing, by Herbert Lui. 75 practical techniques to unlock creative potential in your work, hobby, or next career. Purchase now for instant, lifetime access to the book.
One of the simplest ways of communicating value is showing the effort that actually went into the work. That might involve literally showing the process of making it, though it might also be more biographical. You may ask yourself, and answer, questions like:
When did you first get the idea for this piece of work?
How did the idea start?
What did you see throughout this process?
Who influenced the work?
What parts of the work might have emerged from stories in your life?
What skills did creating this work require? If you had these skills already, how did you hone them? If you didnβt, how did you learn them or who did you work with?
How many times did you try making this work?
This process involves metacognitionβthinking about how you think. If you find it too heavy a lift on your own, you can act as if youβre talking to your best friend about it. You could also enlist the help of a friend who might be available.
When you start to answer these questions, youβre taking someone behind the scenes of your work. Youβre also learning to articulate the value of the work, based on what went into it. (To borrow an industrial analogy, this would be describing the raw material and the processing.) You could write it all up, or record a video, or prepare this communication in whichever media you feel most comfortable with.
When Michael Saviello talks about his work, he also offers to show it to the person heβs talking to. He allows them enough space and time to take it in, and he can see how theyβre processing it. He doesnβt just plunk them down; he learns about the person. Sometimes, he even lets them sit in, watch him paint, and ask questions along the way.
β¬ Or flip this prompt: Make Something You Wonβt Ever Show Anyone Else
If people had the attention span to sit for a few hours with your work, then certainly it would speak for itself. But, they donβt. Still, if they were curious to learn more, or knew how to help you, they would. If you experience a reluctance, hesitation, or fear of telling people about your work, itβs even a greater reason to try. The more reluctant you are to talk about your work, the more potential youβre blocking up.
Derek Sivers writes in Your Music, Your People, that when people ask you about your work, giving a boring answer is rude. I wouldnβt go that far, though I would agree that even just a minute of preparation could help. Sivers writes, βBefore the conference, come up with one interesting sentence that says what you doβincluding a curious bit that will make them ask a follow-up question.β He gives the example of, instead of saying βIβm a bassist,β introducing yourself as βBassist of the Crunchy Frogsβthe worst punk bluegrass band ever. Weβre headlining the showcase tonight. Our singer is a pirate.β
If I were talking about my book, for example, I wouldnβt say, βIβm an author,β Iβd say something like, βIβm the author of Creative Doing, a book that debunks the biggest lie in creative thinking. It has 75 prompts to make the reader more creative. Itβs the only book with a shape as a mascot.β