What’s something you believed about yourself but no longer do?
For the longest time, I believed that I was not a CREATIVE person.
To me, I always associated being CREATIVE with being an artist – a painter, a musician or an actor who is talented at envisioning something bold and producing something beautiful.
I never viewed myself as a visionary or trusted myself enough to create anything.
Which is why, early on in my career, I mostly took on roles and opportunities where I played the helping hand – operating in the shadows and helping other creative visionaries execute on their dreams.
I remember ruling myself out of so many opportunities because I just didn’t believe I was that “creative guy”.
But at some point more than 6 years ago, something flipped inside me!
I remember reading Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like An Artist where he shared that
Creativity is everywhere and for everyone. And that you don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself.
Reading these words was a breakthrough moment for me.
Because at that moment, I remember receiving the permission to suddenly question something I had believed to be true for so long!
In that moment I received the permission to ask myself – what does being CREATIVE really mean to me? And is it really true that I am not a creative person?
I’ve realized that GIVING YOURSELF PERMISSION is one of the most important aspects in the process of shifting a belief – either your own or that of a client you work with.
In today’s newsletter I am going to share the 4 levels of permission that most of us tend to operate from. I first read about it in Marshall Goldsmith’s book Lifestorming and it really stayed with me.