Creative people are risk takers. We invest time, energy, and oftentimes a lot of money pursuing our ideas. Ideas that are not guaranteed to work. Creativity researchers have identified risk taking as one of the most important aspects of the creative personality. Simply put, if you’re not willing to take risks, you’re not going to be a highly original thinker, or, at least you want get those highly original ideas in front of the public. People who are too shy to take risks, tend to not be creative people. Being able to take risks is that important. 

---

---

Dealing with risk isn’t easy for creative people. There’s no single rule that can tell you when to take a risk or even how much you should risk. Every creative idea is, by its very definition, something new that hasn’t existed yet. There are no rules because it’s an entirely new game being played. 

When we have already created an idea, risk is much easier to assess. An entrepreneur develops an idea and then they can take a relatively accurate guess at how much time and money it’d cost to implement it. This is the most obvious risk we take as creatives, which is why it tends to get the most attention, but it’s not the most important. The biggest risks a creative person faces isn’t anything that they can quantify easily. The biggest risks come throughout the process of creating the idea itself.

When you are creating an idea, you’re constantly taking risks, both big and small. Problem solving is usually a small risk. You have a set goal and you can make good judgements about how much time it’d take to solve it. You risk your time and energy, but since it’s a short-term goal, there’s not much you can really lose. 

That changes the bigger the project gets. Large projects have a lot of moving pieces. The person writing a novel has the immediate, concrete problem of writing this chapter, but they have the abstract, long-term problem of writing the entire book. Each chapter of the book contains a new set of problems to deal with. 

By writing the book, the novelist is making a bet. He’s risking the time spent on chapter 1 because he believes that when he’s on chapter 2, he’ll be able to solve any problems that arise. This is why ego-strength and resilience are also important aspects of the creative personality. You won’t write chapter 1 if you don’t trust yourself to eventually figuring out any problems that arise in chapter 2. 

Risking your time and energy is one thing, but perhaps even more important is the risk a creative person takes to their ego. Failure hurts. As creative people, we have it within us to create ideas that can powerfully shape culture. Knowing what’s possible is inspiring, but it also makes us acutely aware of when we fail to meet our goals. We have to simultaneously hold the inspiring vision we had and the lukewarm response we got. This isn’t easy.

The biggest risk to your ego is when you’re trying to market your idea to others. It’s when an idea moves from your basement to the store. This ego risk is a huge factor when it comes to how hard we try to convince others of our ideas. 

Often, the rules of the game are unfairly set up so that we can’t win. On one hand, we don’t want to invest too much of our ego when there’s a chance we’ll be turned down. On the other hand, we generally don’t like to be seen as full of ourselves and over-confident. This is incredibly unfair. We’re not allowed to sit out the game, but we’re not allowed to play hard. It’s no wonder that so many creative people struggle when it comes time to persuade others of their ideas. 

How do we fix this broken system? By realizing that those rules are merely in our own heads. Scientific studies on creativity show us that marketing and persuasion are important parts of the overall creative process. If you aren’t willing to market your ideas to others, you better find somebody who will. The world simply won’t notice the genius of an idea by themselves. 

Again, this is backed up by research. You need a champion. You need someone to fight for your idea… first to survive and then to thrive. Perhaps that’s another person or even a marketing company, but for most creatives, we have to do it ourselves. Perhaps that champion is you, or perhaps that person is a version of you that you COULD BECOME.

We all have the abilities to be our own champions, even if you’re a shy, timid person. Whoever you are, whatever personality you have, it’s your job to figure out how to use it. There is a path leading from where you are to where you want to be. That path does exist. The question is whether you’re willing to do the hard work to find that path and then walk it. 

Want to learn how to consistently get into a creative flow? Check out Tapping Your Creative Muse.