When you are in a creative occupation, like with any other job, you have to deliver. Not just occasionally, but all the time. I have great admiration for people who continue to be prolific for years and years, long past the point where I would have ran out of gas.
A good example is Stephen King. He has written, by my last count, 29 million different pieces of fiction – so much work that many people have criticized the quality of his output in recent years. “That’s not writing… that’s word processing.” Was one memorable quip I read a while back, one that I myself repeated in casual conversation. It’s an unfair statement, and the fact that I parroted that comment makes me wince. How smarmy, how witty I was!
The reason it’s unfair is he could have stopped creating – he didn’t. The fire in his belly didn’t go out, even when people were complaining that his recent work “wasn’t very good.” When you have a huge body of work you end up competing not only with other creators but also with your own achievements. And when your creativity is public, it’s even harder. You’re fighting with your own public ghosts.
I don’t have that problem, thankfully – my work as a user experience architect, while “public”, doesn’t have my name attached to it, even though millions of people use it every month. I do have another problem, though… I’m comfortable.
I’m successful, and that means that while I’m still tasked with creating and delivering, many times I can “get by” with work that is… well, not my best. It’s not that the work is bad… it’s not up to my previous work and standards.
Yes, I’m sure many of you are reading this and going “oh, poor guy, he’s successful in his career.” Yes, I’m working on a major contract/project in Australia and I’m very well compensated, thank you very much. But if that fire in MY belly goes out… then that’s a problem and in business, like in life, it’s not “what have you done for me – what have you done for me lately?”
So, I’m cranking up my focus and working on my “game” – I need to rekindle my passion and start executing. I’m using four techniques to do this:
Question every assumption. I’ve been tasked with doing innovative design work, and part of doing that requires thinking differently. That means that I have to question conventional wisdom… and myself. That means going back to the drawing board, and doing more and more research on the domain. User experience design is very much like being a lawyer – to be very adept at the core discipline of a domain (user experience design) but also the ability to learn the details of a particular area (the domain they are designing in). Good lawyers, like good designers, become experts in certain fields, and are always learning and asking questions.
Work with critical people. I am embracing criticism and surrounding myself with smart people who I respect and collaborate with. I need to work with people who can be honest and direct with me, and not “yes men”. Having a peer or team member who can tell me something I am doing isn’t very good is quite liberating. I can then “kill my darlings” with a higher degree of confidence and certainty.
Crank out ideas. If your goal is to deliver quality, the best way to do it is to… well, generate as much work as possible. Ideate all the time. Capture the ideas and go back to them. Extend and enhance the good ones, and throw away the bad ones.
Never stop creating. That whole life/work “balance” thing? Well, it’s great if you have a job that allows you the luxury of separation. I – and many others who have to create as a discipline – don’t. We don’t punch a time clock… we have to act on inspiration whenever it hits us.
And, if I want to continue to push my limits… to challenge myself… I need to act and grow and execute whenever that happens.