Strategy – Why is creativity so hard?
- 12/05/2026
- Posted by: Steve Wood
- Categories: Established business, Leadership, News, SME, Startup
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They tell us be creative.They tell us… be yourself.They tell us… you need to be different. They tell us… you have to be creative. They say… “don’t just copy what others do, come up with your own ideas”. Sure! That’s easy to say, but rather difficult to do. When was the last time you actively tried to create something new? Or even something a little bit better than what you have now? It’s hard, isn’t it? In past few months I’ve been working on my Audio Podcast Series “creating your own roaring success!” I’ve never done anything like this before. Create a Podcast series. And. It’s. Difficult. However, because I really wanted to help those people who prefer to listen and watch, rather than read, I decided to go ahead and create this piece of work. Consistently and constructively creative.I’ve found out that in the process of significantly pushing my own comfort zone, I have learned much.Q: How does someone go about creating a series of audio pieces. A: One piece at a time. Q: What should the content be? A: I decided to use my existing books and business guides. That makes 25 episodes. Then I created two more – extra bonus episodes, if you like – one for established businesses with sales of $2m or more, and another for those people who are newer to business. Q: What are the themes of the Podcast Series? A: How to consistently and constructively make more money in business – hence “creating your own roaring success!” Q: But some people tell me that they prefer video. A: No problem. Each episode has a short 6-to-7-minute explainer video. They are free of charge. Q: How did you do that? It’s a huge amount of work? A: Yes it is. I have help from a fabulous team for the graphics and content structure, and I found out how to use some great online tools. Q: But why is it so difficult? A: Because it’s new. It’s a new activity. I had no idea what to expect. And no idea about the process to use. It’s easy to get bogged down in the minor details. What’s the big picture, again? It’s easy to get side-tracked. Since progress is slow, other things appear to need attention. It’s difficult to know what good looks (or sounds like) like. What’s the vision? It’s too easy for self-doubt to creep in. Comparing ourselves to amazing work already published. The eureka moment.Then we realise that this is always how it is.Creativity brings new. New is by definition not the same as before. New brings opportunity for doing things differently. For thinking differently. For trial and error. For learning about what works and what does not work. For making mistakes. For finding ways that aren’t quite as good as we had hoped. For taking the best of what we discover and building on them. It’s a journey. One step at a time. As John Cleese said in 1991, “Well, you’re either free to play or you’re not. So, you’ve got to risk saying things that are silly and illogical and wrong. And the best way to get the confidence to do that is to know that while you’re being creative, nothing is wrong. There’s no such thing as a mistake and any drivel may lead to the breakthrough.” What is your method to become consistently and constructively creative?To learn more about creativity and IP, you can read more within my book “The Four Aces”.The Four Aces – Ace 4: Valuable Intellectual Property; Chapter “Creativity Inspired by a Genius”, pp. 139-142 Or you can listen to “The Four Aces” audio podcast Ep02. |
Steve Wood is a management consultant who helps business owners to achieve their own roaring success.
