How to Build Your Creative Confidence by David Kelly

David Kelly's TED Talk is about creativity is focused on what he calls creative confidence. While design schools and workplaces seem to divide people in two categories (creative and practical people), David says that anyone can be creative if the creativity is stimulated.

In his TED Talk, Kelly recalls a story from his school years, when his best friend Brian was working on a project that involved creating a horse out of clay. One of the girls sitting at his table said that the horse he made is terrible. Brian destroyed the model and placed the clay back where he took it from.

From that moment, Brian has never worked on such a project. There are many similar stories today, as David has heard from his class. Many students are discouraged by the negative opinion of other students and even their teachers. Some individuals just shut down their creativity and design aspirations at some point in their life. People lose their focus on creativity as they advance from childhood to the adult life. By doing this, they can suppress their capability of doing amazing things.

People today have this fear of being creative, because they also fear of doing anything unconventional. They don’t want to do things that will determine other people to judge them. David has a revelation after meeting a psychologist called Albert Bandura. This expert has developed some methodology to cure different phobias. One of these techniques was about taking the patient into a room where there was a snake. Eventually, the patient became comfortable with the snake and even touched it using a leather glove. Bandura has called this process guided mastery.

Another story is the one of a technical guy named Doug, who created MRI machine for kids. But, children had to be sedated before they entered the machine, because they feared it. Doug was disappointed about this and re-designed the machine, transforming it into an real adventure for kids. Fear is eliminated now. We can do the same thing with creativity and success. If we don’t fear them anymore, we can make them part of our lives. We must overcome our fear of creativity in order to thrive in creative environments.

So the takeaway point is this: step out of your creatively-confined shell and make something. It can be as simple as designing neon tank tops on the web, or as elaborate as crafting a stained glass lamp. Whatever it is, explore the inner workings for your right brain and tap into a deeper sense of artistic expression.