Creativity is something we have in all of us.
It's our ability to create novel connections
between unrelated things to draw the beauty in
everyday life.
Integrate new things that don't exist yet.
Our creative voice is our art.
And the more we have of it in this world the more
meaningful connections we can make.
So how do we unlock our full creative potential?
How do we develop our creative voice and find
our own unique form of self expression Hello I'm
Matthew Encina.
I've been working as a creative professional for
over 15 years as a designer director and
content creator while I normally create content
for creative professionals who work
with clients.
This one is dedicated to the artist in each of us
who have something to say but need help finding it?
I was invited to attend Adobe MAX this year in
beautiful Los Angeles California.
While there I attended the sessions met with
creatives from around the world and left feeling
inspired with new ways to hone my creativity.
In this video I'll share some of the things I've
learned from the events about finding your own
creative voice so you can do your best work your
creative voice is the thing that makes you, you.
No one else can claim that space. When you can
fully embrace all the qualities that make up
your unique identity.
You become the most powerful version of
yourself.
The problem is as we grow older we tend to lose our
creative voice in our identity trying to fit
into a role in a life that doesn't quite fit us.
Listening to the many stories of success and
failure from some of the most celebrated artists
around the world I found that there was a common
thread in all of their messages.
The reason why we lose our creative voice is
that we spend too much time listening to the
noise around us, of expectation, validation,
and comparison. In this noise,
We stopped listening to ourselves.
Instead we spend all of our time trying to live
up to the expectations of others.
The thing is we weren't meant to fit in a
pre-defined box. Creative expression is not one
size fits all.
So if we quiet the noise around us we can start to
hear ourselves again.
So how do we do this?
The first thing I learned at Adobe MAX break the
mold.
Embrace the qualities that make you uniquely
you.
If you went to school or have entered the
workforce, what's been taught to you is to fit
in.
But as I've learned from the talks given by people
like Meg Lewis, you don't have to fall in line with
everyone else. Instead, standing out could be the
key to your success. In Meg Lewis' talk Full
Time You.
She spoke about her career as a designer
trying so hard to fit in.
She curated her social feeds, posted the kind of
work other professionals did, and tried to be like
every other designer.
It was an uncomfortable time in her life.
She was wearing somebody else's clothes and
ultimately she was unhappy.
The thing is she's weird.
She has many quirks about her and has a vast array
of interests like branding acting and
illustration.
But these are precisely the things that make her
unique.
Once she was able to embrace these sides of
herself and express them freely she started to
forge a path for her career that was unique her own.
In this she discovered her own voice and has created
career opportunities that look nothing like the
traditional nine to five.
So how can you discover your own superpowers?
You can start by asking yourself a few big self
discovery questions.
What are all the personal qualities that make you
different than everyone else?
What are your best skills?
Things are exceptionally good at?
What are your hobbies and what do you enjoy doing
in your free time?
In what gives you purpose.
Write these down as lists where these overlap and
connect is where you'll find your voice and where
you'll create your most compelling and impactful
word.
It's not easy but it's a simple way to start and
reflect.
So you can gain perspective on yourself
and learn what meaningful work could look like to
you.
The second thing I learned from Adobe MAX is
that creativity can become a habit in several
of the sessions I attended.
Many of the speakers shared their methods for
success.
You know what the secret was? Show up! Work on
getting incrementally better every day you'll
suck at first but nothing gets better without
effort.
If we want to close the gap between where we
currently are and where we want to be there's a
very practical solution.
Practice.
Make time everyday to practice creating
something even if it's as little as 15 minutes.
Think of it as gym time for your brain to workout
and stretch when things get tough.
Push through and develop those creative muscles.
An easy way to implement this is by creating
personal challenges for yourself.
Small assignments that are time bound with a
specific focus for me.
I'm currently working on a small series of posts
on my Instagram to help me with writing and
personal expression.
To do that I'm treating my feed like an open
journal where I'm using typography and imagery to
communicate some of the ideas I've been
reflecting on as I've been going through my own
creative journey.
My goal is to knock out two or three of these a
week and only spend up to three hours on an idea.
This gives me small goals to hit without making it
too overwhelming of a task.
Since I've started these creative exercises I've
had a surge of new ideas.
I feel like my writing skills are improving and
I'm seeing benefits beyond these small
assignments.
So what small creative assignments can you make
time for to practice your creative development.
The third thing I learned from Adobe MAX focus on
what you can control.
Don't waste energy on the things you cannot.
We all get lost at some point in our career.
We have ups and downs.
Moments of clarity in moments of ambiguity. Even
the great creative minds we celebrate have had
their slumps in their own career where we tend to
lose our way is by investing our creative
energy into the things we cannot control.
Like whether someone likes her work the number
of followers we have the economy the market while
these things can play an external role to our
success.
And we do have some influence over it.
They are largely outside of our control and it can
be a heavy distraction to creating our work to have
the most significant impact on our creative
journey,
we should be focusing all of our energy on the
things within our control like learning new skills
refining our craft and viewing our own work with
a more objective lens.
When we focus all of our energy here we can hear
our own voice away from the external noise and we
can focus our creative energies on the things we
want to say.
So the next time you work on a project, think about
how you're investing your energy.
Are you counting the number of likes you're
getting or are you counting all the ways you
can make it better?
Before I go let's recap the video.
Embrace your real identity.
Make time to practice and focus on the things you
can impact. When you can define all the things
that make you unique.
Embrace that. Put effort into exercising your
creative muscles and developing your voice by
giving yourself space to be you with room to
explore,
you may end up shaping a career for yourself that
you've never expected the journey to find our
creative voice is a long one.
There is no roadmap, there is no final destination.
Instead it's an endless pursuit of development
welcoming new sources of inspiration to guide our
direction along the way and discovering ourselves
in the process.
Hope these tips will help you find your own
creative voice again.
I believe it's the key to unlocking the best parts
of ourselves so we can make this world a more
interesting and exciting place.
Remember as the saying goes be you because
everyone else is already taking she enjoyed this
video let us know by leaving a comment below.
And if you want more of this type of content to
help you grow as a creative individual.
Subscribe to the creative cloud channel and check
us out at The Futur.
I'm Matthew Encina and I'll see you in the future.