WCT2012 #6 - Tiny Steps and Giant Leaps

[Dan James]

Welcome to a new Weekly Creativity Thread. 

This week's topic is Tiny Steps and Giant Leaps. 

As most of you know, I'm a great advocate of tiny steps - creating little and often, kaizen, and making steady, consistent progress in our work (and in our development as people) over time. 

Sometimes though, we take a giant leap. 

The reasons might be many, and some likely feel more voluntary than others. 

Sometimes the giant leap doesn't seem to change things much.

Sometimes though, it leads to a giant leap in other areas, and we have a breakthrough in our work that takes us to a whole other level. 

What your experiences of tiny steps, giant leaps, and the pros and cons of both?

Take a look at the following questions -

1. How often do you use a tiny steps approach in your work? How has this been of benefit?

2. How often have you taken a giant leap? What happened? How was this of benefit? 

3. Which of these approaches would you like to introduce more of in your creative life? How might you start to do that? 

As always, I'm keen to hear your thoughts. Just reply below.

Thanks for being here,

Dan

[image credit: John Haslam]

[Caroline Alexander]

Most of the time its slow and steady, baby steps, with the odd hop, skip, and jump, and land on my bottom or nose, then comes that "aha" moment, as Christopher says, when the only way forward is to go through like a rocket. But that does not happen if you don't first take those slow steady solid steps, just in case you miss something important.

Then of course there is that almost magical "accident"; but is it? Its probably the culmination of a lot of study, thought and effort, and a certain amount of subconscious dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s, that hits like a thunderbolt. So it goes back to the steady progress and little steps we take in honing and expanding our skills rather than any amount of natural genius on our part. Ability only gets any place if its worked at, and while I would love to take giant leaps, I suspect that baby steps are the better course for me, unless I am playing, in which case anything is possible and the end result is usually nothing like what I had in mind when I started. I love playtime, ;-)!!

[Dan James]

That's a really important angle to bring in Caroline - play! Which we also do in small bursts or longer, deeper chunks.

Your reply has made me think too that when we do make large leaps, and have no idea how we got there afterwards - however great the outcome - we'll struggle to learn from it, and be able to replicate it. Lots to think on!

[Claude Aimee Villeneuve]

1. How often do you use a tiny steps approach in your work? How has this been of benefit?

I always have different projects going on at the same time. Some are more long-term projects, many require many steps before I get everything done. If I'm working on an artist book for instance, where there are many phases that can be broken down into steps, I make myself a kind of chart with all the steps that have to be done and that's like my map or blueprint and once that's done, I know where I'm going. On the other hand, If I'm painting: I just set a canvas and start, without a preconceived idea and work as long as the inspiration is there... I'd say that I'm project-oriented in the way I work and organize my creative life - my creative life - working life - they are all intertwined and some of the projects I prepare when I give classes often come from what I've been researching or working on or developed over the years in my artwork and as I put an art class together, it enriches my artwork.

2. How often have you taken a giant leap? What happened? How was this of benefit?

I'm not sure what you would consider to be giant leaps... I see them in the forms of ideas that modify, enrich or change the course of what I'm doing or going. For instance, I woke up one day and decided I had to learn papermaking. I went out, bought a book, a starter kit, a video and that was it! Then I hooked up with a discussion group on Yahoo and that's where I learned most of what I know. About 5 years later, I woke up and decided that I wanted to teach papermaking. I prepared a course outline for a 10-week session and submitted it to the local cultural center.They liked the idea and I taught two classes in the next semester.  And it was the same with wool felting, I just woke up one morning and decided I wanted to learn about that and with a group of artist friends one of whom knew the technique, we did a day workshop and I was on my way. To me, the giant leaps come in the shape of ideas I want to put into action or projects I want to start.

3. Which of these approaches would you like to introduce more of in your creative life? How might you start to do that?

I think that every giant leap is followed by a myriad of little steps. That's the way it works for me and then I don't feel overwhelmed. I took a course a few years ago where the teacher's mantra was:   you can only eat an elephant one spoonful at a time...

[Dan James]

Claude Aimee, I love how you describe just waking up one day and deciding you need to learn a new artform! Even better that you get on and do it, and don't think about it for months and keep putting it off!

I hadn't thought about the giant leap followed by little steps, I've only really been thinking the other way around. I can see how I did this when I first trained to be a coach - for me the giant leap was enrolling on the training, the little steps were all the modules, workshops, assessments etc afterwards, and of course the continued learning and experience that is still ongoing seven years later...

[Anne Westlund]

I don't think we can judge what are small steps and giant steps.  It's more how we feel about it that determines whether they are small or big steps.  I'm writing a poem a day on weekdays, which to me is a very small step made a bit larger because I'm turning it into habit.  To an outsider it may seem to be a giant step. Really!

One giant step I took this fall was to take up cross-stitching, which because of its rigidity and adherence to pattern is really hard for me.  But I started with a beginner's kit (small step) and have progressed to following small patterns in a book while still doing beginner's kits, more small steps. 

I think sometimes we get caught up in the enormity of what we're doing (writing a novel, play, or poetry book) and can't move forward on it.  It helps me to either break down the project into little steps or downplay what I'm doing.  Like I'll just type that up, when I'm really revising or I'll just sub that poem to that little magazine or I'll just write for awhile.  Almost like fooling my subconscious or inner critic into letting me write. 

Maybe what's more important than the size of the steps is, we're taking steps!  We're not blocked.  Knock on wood!  We're moving forward.  We're not talking about the work we want to do, but we're doing some kind of creative work. 

I had a hard time letting go of my "dusty novels" until I told myself they were learning experiences.  I'm working through The Writer's Adventure Guide (free on kindle on Amazon until tomorrow) and almost at the point to start another book.  To get to this point I had to tell myself some things that may be outright lies... this is just for my critique group, this is a "practice" novel, I'm not going to submit it to publishers or self-publish it.  I had to give myself the freedom to fail, to quit, to not finish just to get started.  So while writing another novel is a HUGE step for me, to do it at all it must seem like a series of small steps or at least medium steps. 

[Dan James]

Anne, great comments, much to think about, thank you.

Good point that what might be a tiny step to us, might seem huge to others and vice versa. We forget how much we do and how much we create without thinking, that others would find amazing and see as very difficult if not impossible.

Probably more important is our own measure of our own steps, like you say.

In the procrastination course that's currently running, a key point early on is that we are the ones procrastinating, no-one else, and actually the myriad ways we manage to find other things to do instead of getting down the the work is in itself a highly creative use of our minds! Like you say too, we need to be even more creative and almost devious and trick ourselves into making it easier to create.

I like the idea that there are medium steps too!

[Anne Westlund]

Dan, no one else really cares if we are creative.  They might see the benefits, that we're happier or more fulfilled, but past that they don't really give a damn.  So if we are procrastinating, it's just us putting off the creating, no one else.  I agree with you there.

[Julia]

Right on there girlfriend...nite all....a new day arises...hope I feel better tonite...back soon as I am able

To Susan...I haven't forgotten you sweetie, just over taxed this month...will write :-

[donna]

Well, to answer that is difficult because it all depends on what I am doing. Somethings require leaps to get started other things require teeny tiny steps to even approach it. It is obvious when I make the wrong approach choice but then again in the end sometimes what looks bad is often good because I might have a bias of thinking I approached it wrong. Sometimes an outside eye of a non creative puts things in perspective. Sometimes we creatives get so caught up in stepping and dancing around a project, even in leaps and bounds because the creative energy is almost like a high when it really hits, you need a tether to bring you back down, grounded to realize what is needed- tiny or big to complete.