I found a new way to look at problem-solving in art and making, “the confidence of creativity”. Once you solve enough problems you begin to understand you can always learn more to get where you need to go.
by Dave on Feb. 20, 2021, 7:43 p.m.
My brain has been putting together all the things I learned, and have heard over the last 25 years or so about art, creativity, making and learning. The newest addition to my toolkit is the idea of confidence. The confidence to know, even if you don’t know how to do something yet, you can always figure it out. Many of the folks I am inspired by have developed this confidence. I feel like I have also build this, in some fashion, along my journey or learning to make things, physical and digital.
I have great confidence I can solve a web application programming or database problem, even if it is something I have never seen before. I know I have in my toolkit the knowledge to figure out where to go, to find the information I need to learn the next step. Once I get the first step, it becomes easier, and each new problem to solve becomes easier, as my toolkit gets a little more full.
Not only is this a valuable skill, if you can find folks who value this you’ll always have work, it is great fun. Great satisfaction comes from using your unique set of skills and experience to solve a problem in a way few other folks could. Well, there’s probably a lot of folks out there, but not everyone.
This can happen in any discipline. Do you remember the Parks and Rec episode where Ben helps the accounting firm solve a particularly tricky problem? They spend all night going over different scenarios using their unique knowledge of the darks arts of accounting and finance to solve a problem in a creative way. Their excitement and satisfaction at coming to a solution is easily understood, even if you couldn’t care less about the subject. The joy is infectious either way.
I did a search for the phrase “confidence of creativity”. There were not that many results, but most of them are about teaching children the joy of figuring things out, through the use of art, and creativity. This works well for kids of any age, from 0-99 years old and beyond!
I think curiosity is a great part of this confidence. The curiosity to try something new, and learn along the way definitely plays a part. Creativity to think of new and possibly unusual solutions goes right along with the curiosity to learn a new subject or skill to solve a problem in a different way.
There’s probably more to say. I’ll let this idea live in my subconscious and I hope to build on it in the future.