06: Seeing like an artist
i truly believe every profession contains an artistic element to it and the output you produce will benefit tremendously from looking at the solution to a problem from an artist’s point of view.
i grew up in a family of artists, my mom is an abstract painter, dad musician, aunt and uncle are art writers and lecturers, and my grandpa was a musician. i grew up being encouraged to “think like an artist” but can acknowledge that the concept may be foreign to some. “thinking like an artist” is approaching a situation with a focus on fun and creativity to solve an issue while disassociating from the result. when you approach an endeavor with the mindset of getting X or y result then you’ve already limited yourself to a narrow outcome which drastically limits the effect your solution will have. it goes without saying that this is not easy to do and takes practice —I’m still working on this myself. you want to draw a straight line from where you are to where you need to be, that’s just human nature. taking a step back and letting go of the result and allowing yourself to work creatively in the general direction of the outcome requires a huge leap of faith and trust in yourself and from others on your team and company. further, not every creative choice will pan out but each effort comes with a cascading effect of new learnings and ideas from the previous. Rick Ruban explains this well in his book the creative act,
A river of material flows through us. When we share our works and our ideas, they are replenished. If we block the flow by holding them all inside, the river cannot run and new ideas are slow to appear.
In the abundant mindset, the river never runs dry. Ideas are always coming through. And an artist is free to release them with the faith that more will arrive.
If we live in a mindset of scarcity, we hoard great ideas.
each idea you try won’t be a winner but each effort comes with a learning experience that fine tunes and inspires the next one. this creative approach also fosters a lighter more enjoyable work environment for yourself and others which is shown time and time again to produce better outcomes overall. luckily, practicing this does not require studying or reading books on “thinking like an artist” but simply being. thinking like an artist comes from living like an artist which is just looking at areas of your life from a different lense. it’ll be hard at first but start small and work your way up. don’t expect to become picasso overnight.
i relate to this in my line of work as a personal trainer. I’m presented with a problem —a client has pain when they move in a certain way which is limiting their activities and quality of life— i need to provide them with a specific and large enough stimulus to produce an adaptation while putting them in a position that (a) doesn’t further aggravate the injured area and (b) works on fixing the issue that’s causing the injury in the first place. when i view this from an artists perspective i see the general rules of exercise physiology; the sets, reps, progression patterns, and biomechanics. which in a bubble would produce results every time; but we don’t live in a bubble. so i take these rules and bend them a little, working between the lines and coming up with solutions that address the issues mentioned above.
this is what i love about my job. no client is the same, the rules remain fixed but how you bend them and toe the line is completely up to you. each client i work with provides learning experiences for the next, and the freedom and creativity i give myself permission to employ allows me to produce my best work day after day without burning myself out. give it a try in your line of work, i promise it’ll bring more joy to your day to day. I’ll leave you with a quote from oscar wilde;
“some things are too important to be taken seriously. Art is one of those things. Setting the bar low, especially to get started, frees you to play, explore, and test without attachment to results.”
:)
