Every new project begins with a series of assumptions and guesses.
These guesses might relate to our audience, offering, content, messaging, marketing strategy, and any of a near endless list of other variables.
If we’ve done our homework and talked with our audience, many of these guesses will be at least somewhat educated.
Many, however, will not.
Some of these uninformed assumptions are based on an incomplete understanding of the challenge at hand. Some are based on what we would like to believe is true. And some are simply pulled from the ether. When we don’t know what we don’t know we have to start somewhere after all.
If we’re lucky, some of the guesses and assumptions we’ve made will be correct.
But no matter how lucky, prepared, or well-researched we are, many of our assumptions will always turn out to be just plain wrong. It’s these false assumptions that often get–and keep–us stuck.
In these cases, it feels like we’re looking at a math equation where all the variables seem to be laid out correctly but we continue to get the wrong answer no matter how many times we run it. We blame the formula for being broken, without realizing we’ve made a false assumption about the value of one of the variables when constructing it.
Unaddressed, these false assumptions lead us to beat our heads against the wall for weeks, months, and even years as we try and muscle our way through a problem that can’t be muscled through.
If we want to move forward, our job as creators, is twofold.
- Identify the areas of our work in which we’ve made guesses or assumptions.
- Find out where we’re wrong.
If there’s one assumption that’s helpful, it’s that we’ve guessed wrong about a great many things related to making and marketing our work.
No one gets it all right the first time.
The most successful creators are simply those who have tested their assumptions enough times to eventually stumble their way into the right answer. Which means achieving great work is more about humility and perseverance than any kind of elusive creative genius.
To me, that’s an encouraging thought.
While true genius might be reserved for a select few, humility and perseverance are readily available to all of us.
But first, we need to admit all that we don’t know, and question honestly the decisions and assumptions we’ve built our work on.
Only then can we begin to correct them.
Explore how to navigate a creative life that matters
This article originally appeared in my weekly Creative Wayfinding Newsletter. Each issue is the product of a week of work, and contains something not available for sale.
A fresh perspective, a shot of encouragement when you need it most, and maybe even some genuine wisdom from time to time.
Each week, we explore a different facet of the question “How do we navigate the wilds of creating work that matters?”
It’s something I’m proud to create and I’d be honoured to share it with you.
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