FLEX. Annie Auerbach

can all do this, but what gets in the way is the belief that creativity only lies in the hands of very few select people. The notion that true creatives are artists, misfits at the edges of society or geniuses who are ‘ahead of their time’ is a barrier to creativity. It lets you say: ‘Creativity lives in others, but not in me.’ It stops you being brave and robs you of your chutzpah.

      One of the most generous and powerful speeches on this comes from the Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby. In her game-changing performance ‘Nanette’, she takes a swipe at the ‘great men of art’ school of thought, which characterizes people like Van Gogh and Picasso as lone, eccentric geniuses.

      Gadsby says: ‘People believe that Van Gogh was just this misunderstood genius, born ahead of his time. What a load of shit. Nobody is born ahead of their time! It’s impossible . . . Artists don’t invent zeitgeists, they respond to them . . . [Van Gogh] was not ahead of his time. He was a post-Impressionist painter painting at the peak of post-Impressionism.’

      We’re all products of our time. We all swim in the cultural soup. Our creativity comes from how we respond to it. Bravery, daring, escaping the old ideas – we can have them all. We just need the chutzpah to do so.

      ‘We all swim in the cultural soup. Our creativity comes from how we respond to it.’

       HOW TO CHANNEL YOUR CHUTZPAH

       1. Notice the moments when you have been brave in the past. When you owned up to a mistake. Or you called out an injustice. Why did you do it? How did you feel? If you recognize and cherish those moments, you can summon them again when you are in need of chutzpah.

       2. Don’t feel self-conscious and let it inhibit your ideas. No one is thinking about you. That sounds a bit sad, but it’s actually liberating. No one is thinking of you! They are too busy thinking about themselves. Remember Coco Chanel’s words: ‘I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t think about you at all.’

       3. Work out who diminishes your bravery. Who is your Achilles heel? Who do you always feel sheepish or inhibited around? These people are drains. Instead, try to hang around people who boost your mojo.

       4. Done is better than perfect. Obsessing about perfection is navel-gazing and paralyzing. Get it done, get it out, get on with life.

       5. If all else fails channel Dolly Parton. She said: ‘Find out who you are. And do it on purpose.’

      Then dare, shed the old assumptions – and create.

       SUMMARY

      Modern life is conspiring to make us into cultural zombies. Creativity is scarcer and more urgent than ever. In order to flex we need to interrogate what we really want, and what we need to change to get it – and to do this we must have the space to think creatively. Creativity is a muscle that needs exercising – think of it as cognitive yoga – in order to dodge the algorithmic monoculture that wants to swallow us up.

      So when an idea hits you, let it run. Comedian Dave Chappelle says that for him, creativity involves letting go. ‘If I have an idea, it’s the driver. The idea says, “Get in the car,” and I’m like, “Where am I going?” The idea says, “I don’t know. Don’t worry about it. I’m driving.” Sometimes I’m shotgun, sometimes I’m in the fucking trunk. The idea takes you where it wants to go.’ ⁹

      Let your ideas take you where they want to go. Swim in the cultural soup, read books, react to what’s out there. Listen to people, meet them face to face, empathize with them, look them in the eye and connect with them. Don’t try and be ahead of your time; be of your time and say something different about it.

      But, most importantly, trust in yourself, be brave and nourish your own chutzpah. Creativity doesn’t live in the hands of lone geniuses. It lives in us all.

      ‘Working nine to five, what a way to make a living. Barely getting by, it’s all taking and no giving.

      They just use your mind, and they never give you credit. It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it.’

       DOLLY PARTON