4 Books to Cultivate your Creative Confidence & Boost your Growth

1. Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All, by Tom Kelley and David Kelley

Do you fear of being judged? Do you fear your work will be criticized by industry peers? Do you doubt your creativity? If you haven’t read this book written by the two brothers behind the IDEO design company, we highly recommend it. The book draws on the brothers’ experience helping to unleash creativity in people who describe themselves as "not the creative type”. Their approach can be best called a guided mastery, working in series of small successes, thus turning fear into familiarity. Building creative confidence is the key to working on projects without letting fear of being judged stop one from realizing full potential. Creative confidence is what will allow you to focus on work rather than comparing yourself to your peers. Besides the tools to build your creative confidence and change your mindset about fear, the book is written with a lot of warmth and empathy which makes it for a positive and empowering read. 

2. Creativity: the psychology of discovery and invention, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Did you ever wonder how certain people in various fields become innovators, bringing discovery and breakthroughs to our lives? To understand creativity one should define first how it comes to be. This book is a great read for an in-depth understanding of life circumstances of successful artists, scientists, politicians, business leaders. It is based on a 30 year research analyzing the creative process, breaking it down into specific steps. Each step cultivates creativity through a succession and combination of learning, concentration, supportive environment, resources and rewards. The book teaches how to cultivate personal creativity in every day life understanding the pillars of creative growth. One main take away of the book is to foster discovery and creativity is to “try to be surprised by something every day”. 

 

3. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, by Steven Pressfield

How often do you find yourself struggling with creative block? The War of Art - is a short and extremely useful book for any artist, creative, and entrepreuner. The book addresses how to deal with internal block and demotivation, which can become an obstacle to growth and development. You will feel energized after the read, and empowered to work on your creative discipline. It is a great complimentary read to Creative Confidence, as it also tackles fear. After reading it, you will get back to work with a new mindset and attitude towards your craft. 

4. The Power of Habit: Why we Do What we Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg

Remember the first time you had to edit a shoot, and how much time it took you to decide on saturation, color tones, etc.? Now think about the ease and automatization of the process from your latest editing session. Everything we do in our lives is a result of repetition of an action - a habit. The book gives examples of habits imposed in masse through marketing, such as brushing teeth, to changing bad behaviors such as alcohol drinking. The book describes each of the elements that constitute a habit, how long it takes to form one, and how it can be applied in every day life. So if you are struggling to get those blog posts out on weekly basis, schedule your editing to deliver in time to clients, or simply going for a run in the mornings, this book is a good start to understanding how to form habits that will help you be better both personally and professionally. 

One thing that shouldn't be underestimated is learning. After all, as someone once said: growth should be your ultimate goal in life, as you will always have something to strive for. 

Creatively yours,

Squaremuse Team.