Hi Friend,

 

Let’s talk about your ego. 

 

Your ego gives you shape, self-worth, and a strong sense of self-preservation. You need it.

 

But your ego impedes your creativity. Your ego is the part of you that believes that what you feel is real and what you think is true. It’s the part of you that thinks you’re always right. 

 

To be creative, you have to fail, to try, and to stumble. None of which is possible unless you can temporarily unplug your ego.

 

Today is the fourth of our newsletter series devoted to 5 Daily Practices for a More Creative Life.

 

Practice #4: Perspective Shifting.

 

Perspective shifting is a two-step process. First, you must exit your own perspective— to accept that you’re not always right. Second, you imagine actions that another person would take.

 

Once you unplug your ego and establish a healthy detachment from your actions, you can feed your imagination with new perspectives, expanding your realm of possibilities.

 

By doing so, you develop a strong sense that there is more than one way to go about things and, over time, you build up the trust that when one plan fails you can come up with another without sacrificing your sense of self-worth. 

 

This resilience is your creativity’s gift to you.

 

Here's the fun part. In order to get there, you need a robust collection of other people's perspectives. And since you've been focusing on specifics, action, and spotting exceptional info, you're primed and ready to build your own personal reference library.

 

By Lizzy Shaanan Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115133391 

*Don't worry about getting their perspective “right." You can't know what someone would do in your position. What matters is that you've identified enough of what's unique about them to hoist yourself out of your own perspective and imagine a new future action. 

 

Next week, we talk about good conflict.

 

In the meantime, we're compiling a list of suggested biographies and memoirs. Will you let us know what you've read and loved?

 

Here are four that were recommended to us on instagram:

Personal History: A Memoir by Katharine Graham

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

Out of This Century: Confessions of an Art Addict by Peggy Guggenheim 

Tender at the Bone (and others) by Ruth Reichl 

 

And a few of our favorites: 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Into the Wild by John Krakauer

Just Kids by Patti Smith

 

Thanks so much for reading,

Sarah

 

P.S. Missed an issue? They're all available in our archive.