Podbean logo
  • Discover
  • Podcast Features

    Your all-in-one podcasting solution.

    Podcast Studio

    Easy-to-use audio recorder app.

  • Livestream

    High-performing audio live, without limits.

  • Podcast App

    The best podcast player & podcast app.

  • Ads Marketplace

    Join Ads Marketplace to earn money
    through sponsorship on your podcast.

    PodAds

    Manage your ads with dynamic ad insertion capability.

  • Patron & Paid Content

    The seamless way for fans to support you directly
    from your podcast.

  • Apple Podcasts Subscriptions Integration

    Effortlessly publish and manage exclusive episodes for your
    Apple Podcasts subscribers directly from Podbean.

  • All Arts Business Comedy Education
  • Fiction Government Health & Fitness History Kids & Family
  • Leisure Music News Religion & Spirituality Science
  • Society & Culture Sports Technology True Crime TV & Film
  • Live
  • How to Start a Podcast
  • How to Start a Live Podcast
  • How to Monetize a podcast
  • How to Promote Your Podcast
  • How to Use Group Recording
  • Log in
  • Start your podcast for free
  • Podcasting
    • Podcast Features
    • Live Stream
    • PodAds
    • Podcast App
    • Podcast Studio
  • Monetization
    • Premium
    • Patron
    • Apple Podcasts Subscriptions Integration
    • Ads Marketplace
  • Enterprise
  • Pricing
  • Discover
  • Log in
    Sign up free
Cracking Creativity Podcast with Kevin Chung

Cracking Creativity Podcast with Kevin Chung

Arts:Visual Arts

78: Kristen Fagan on the Downside of Perfectionism, the Power of Play, and Following Your Intuition

78: Kristen Fagan on the Downside of Perfectionism, the Power of Play, and Following Your Intuition

2017-09-19
iOS Android Share
Kristen Fagan has always been a creator. Even when she was young, she would create coloring book drawings for her younger family members to color in. That creative mindset helped her get a degree and a...

Kristen Fagan has always been a creator. Even when she was young, she would create coloring book drawings for her younger family members to color in. That creative mindset helped her get a degree and a job doing graphic design.

After a few years working in design, her interest in art was reignited. Her job allowed her to work on her art while also working in design, which fueled her interest in paintings and drawing. Her passion for art grew so much that it even led to creating her own painting workshops.

In this episode, Kristen talks about letting go of your perfectionism, the power of play, and following your intuition.

Here are three things you can learn from Kristen:

Let Go of Your Need to be Pefect

One thing that plagues many creatives is the idea of perfectionism. We spend all of our time worrying about making things just right, that we are petrified to make mistakes.

Kristen believes we need to stop worrying about making things perfect and just let go. "Just keep letting go. Just keep letting what happens, happen on the canvas. Paint dries. You can paint over it. You can always change the outcome... and that's the same in life. You can always change the outcome. You can always do something different. Try something different. And that is so much more empowering and so much more exciting to me than being perfect."

The way we let go of our perfectionism is by taking on the mindset of a beginner. Beginners aren't afraid to screw up. They go into things head on without the fear of doing something wrong.

When you are a beginner, things are exciting and new. You get to experience things for the first time. Instead of worrying about how everything that can go wrong, look at how exciting it can be.

"You have to be a beginner. You have to allow yourself to be a beginner. And by being a beginner, then all of these wonderful things happen. If you just came in and knew how to do something right away, there you go, it's done, what fun is in that? What did you really learn in that journey? What things did you take away in the end? Nothing. You just came in, created it, then you're done."

So stop creating unrealistic expectations for yourself. The harder the struggle, the more fulfilling and unexpected it will be.

"So I feel like it's within those struggles that the reward is even greater and you feel like you were really able to express yourself in a way you didn't even imagine because you didn't come in with any expectation of what you were gonna do. You just let it happen."

The Power of Play

One of the things that prevents many people from being truly creative, is their unwillingness to let go of their inhibitions and just play. As children, we let our imaginations run wild. We embrace the impossible. That all changes when we begin to grow up.

Kristen believes we need to let go of these imaginary restrictions and learn to just play again.

"As we get older... the world becomes labeled more with this and that, and good and bad, and right and wrong. And it becomes really difficult to remember that childlike wonder, and I think play is where that really brings you back."

Kristen believes the symbolism of the paintbrush prevents many people from getting started. Instead of embracing the canvas, they are let the paintbrush and canvas intimidate them.

"You can almost finish an entire painting without picking up a paintbrush, and that kind of gets people out of that mind. It's like when they pick up that paintbrush they get really nervous."

When she removes the formality of the paintbrush people begin to let go.

"If you're just playing with bubble wrap or you're playing with tissue paper or all of these random items, you don't really know what that outcome is, so you can kind of let go of it a little bit more."

Once people figure this out, it becomes much easier to play. Instead of worrying about making the wrong choices, her students are able to embrace their choices. When they learn to trust their own intuition, it leads to some amazing results.

"You just figure things out... As you go, as you play, you just start to figure things out on the canvas. And I think in the long run, you start to build a... trust of yourself because you're not worried about 'Oh, I'm gonna make the wrong choice.' You go 'I'm just gonna make this choice and I'm gonna do it. If I don't like it, I can paint over it... And other times you go 'Wow, what did I just make? That's amazing.' And now you have this whole new feeling of trusting your intuition and that I can do this on my own. And you don't have to show me every step. I can just play and see where this leads."

Let Your Intuition Guide You

Early in our creative careers it's easy to take every job that comes our way. We want to gain exposure and we want to open ourselves up to as many opportunities as possible.

But as we grow, and demand for our services grow, it becomes much harder to decide what we should work on. Kristen has solved this dilemma by relying on her intuition.

"You have to know what your mission is and not get too distracted. And I think the work on my intuition over the past two years with my painting practice has made it easier for me to feel like when something is right, or maybe something is a little bit off. And feeling a little nervous when you say yes to something is one thing, but if you feel sick... you should say no."

Listening to your intuition is easier said than done. Some opportunities sound good on the surface, but they might also drive us crazy. In the end, it all comes down to being in touch with yourself.

"It really comes back to working on your intuition and being in touch with yourself, however that means for you... and when other things arise, you can say 'Is this a feel good nervous yes or is this a uhh this sounds terrible,' And really be able to tap into that and listen to yourself."

It's all about listening to what your mind and body are telling you. And just like other skills you want to perfect, honing your intuition takes practice.

"When you're not practicing your intuition or you're not in touch with it, sometimes it's hard to tell. I think when you give yourself that space of self-care and all those things that allow you to make those choices when stuff comes up, because you can really listen to what it is your body is telling you."

More shownotes from episode 78 with Kristen Fagan

view more

More Episodes

[Recap for Episode 91] Creativity vs. Natural Inspiration, Stealing in Art, Taking Chances, and Learning from Your Mistakes – Cracking Creativity Episode 91

2019-03-06

92: Nick Gray on Turning Your Hobby Into a Business, Standing Out in a Crowded Market, and Being a Leader

2019-02-21

91: Erik Young on Creativity vs. Natural Inspiration, Stealing in Art, Taking Chances, and Learning from Your Mistakes

2019-01-08

[Recap for Episode 90] Chalky White on Asking What If, Being Persistent, and Never Giving Up

2018-12-04

90: Chalky White on Asking What If, Being Persistent, and Never Giving Up

2018-11-13

[Recap for Episode 89] Victor Yocco on Tailoring Your Message, Finding Support, and Having an Effective Website

2018-10-23

89: Victor Yocco on Tailoring Your Message, Finding Support, and Having an Effective Website

2018-10-01

[Recap for Episode 88] Shawn Coss on Being a Popular Artist, Defining Your Success, and Business Being Hard Work

2018-09-18

88: Shawn Coss on Being a Popular Artist, Defining Your Success, and Business Being Hard Work

2018-08-22

[Recap for Episode 87] Derek Miller on Creative Action, Having Positive Mindsets, and Not Getting Down on Yourself

2018-08-02

87: Derek Miller on Creative Action, Having Positive Mindsets, and Not Getting Down on Yours

2018-07-25

Katie Hornor on Sharing Your Gifts, Respecting People, and Defining Success

2018-06-19

[Recap for Episode 85] Ron Dawson on the Power of Stories, Putting in the Work, Learning on the Fly

2018-05-23

85: Ron Dawson on the Power of Stories, Putting in the Work, Learning on the Fly

2018-05-10

[Replay] Colin McCann on Productivity, Taking on an Ambitious Project, and the Power of Beliefs

2018-05-01

[Recap for Episode 84] Brett Michael Innes on Adapting to Your Situation, the Power of Mentorship, and Not Giving it to Fear

2018-04-10

84: Brett Michael Innes on Adapting to Your Situation, the Power of Mentorship, and Not Giving it to Fear

2018-03-28

[Replay] Natalie Kim on Choosing Yourself, Being Vulnerable, and Dealing with Mixed Reactions

2018-03-13

[Recap for Episode 83] Cebo Campbell on Putting Everything Into Your Work, Taking Your Time, and Striving to be the Best

2018-03-07

83: Cebo Campbell on Putting Everything Into Your Work, Taking Your Time, and Striving to be the Best

2018-02-20
  • ←
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • →
012345678910111213141516171819

Create your
podcast in
minutes

  • Full-featured podcast site
  • Unlimited storage and bandwidth
  • Comprehensive podcast stats
  • Distribute to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more
  • Make money with your podcast
Get started

It is Free

You may also like

Team Deakins

Team Deakins

579 4.7k
Recording Artists

Recording Artists

54 115
The Week in Art

The Week in Art

477 1.6k
Art2Life

Art2Life

369 2.6k
Learn to Paint Podcast

Learn to Paint Podcast

323 827
  • Podcast Services

    • Podcast Features
    • Pricing
    • Enterprise Solution
    • Private Podcast
    • The Podcast App
    • Live Stream
    • Audio Recorder
    • Remote Recording
  •  
    • Create a Podcast
    • Video Podcast
    • Start Podcasting
    • Start Radio Talk Show
    • Education Podcast
    • Church Podcast
    • Nonprofit Podcast
    • Get Sermons Online
    • Free Audiobooks
  • MONETIZATION & MORE

    • Podcast Advertising
    • Dynamic Ads Insertion
    • Patron Program
    • Apple Podcasts Subscriptions
    • Switch to Podbean
    • Submit Your Podcast
    • Podbean Plugins
    • Developers
  • KNOWLEDGE BASE

    • How to Start a Podcast
    • How to Start a Live Podcast
    • How to Monetize a podcast
    • How to Promote Your Podcast
    • How to Use Group Recording
  • Support

    • Support Center
    • What’s New
    • Free Webinars
    • Podcast Events
    • Podbean Academy
    • Podcasting Smarter
    • Badges
    • Resources
  • Podbean

    • About Us
    • Podbean Blog
    • Careers
    • Press and Media
    • Green Initiative
    • Affiliate Program
    • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Consent Preferences
  • Copyright © 2015-2023 Podbean.com