It’s Easier to Be Critical Than Creative

Criticizing, correcting, editing, rejecting—these are easy compared to the hard work of creating, originating, and inventing.

In every human endeavor I can think of, there is a time and place for both. What’s also true is they don’t go together. It seems intuitively obvious that the correct order of operations is to create first and edit later.

And yet, we too often mash the two ideas together. Here’s an idea! Nope, that won’t work. What about this? Nope.

Most people give themselves too few alternatives because they’re too busy pointing out what’s wrong with them rather than how they might be right.

My advice?

Put away the red pencil. Withhold judgment. Don’t be so sure you have it all figured out. Respect the energy, creativity, and risk-taking involved in exploration, invention, and origination.

Give new ideas a chance.