leave the big, bureaucratic firm that he works for and start his own
practice. Why doesn’t he? He’s scared. His critic is still barking like
mad every time this man contemplates “being different” and leav-
ing the traditional path. (The critic views leaving as death and then
subtly—remember the critic is smart—gives you all the cogent
reasons why you should stay: five weeks’ paid vacation, matching
401(k) benefit, great health plan, and on and on. This man’s critic
is so smart that he actually ends up boasting about how great he
has it in his current job, even though at other times he’s quite
despondent.) What should the man do? Who knows? But I will tell
you one thing for sure: he won’t realize his creative potential where
he is. And that’s a shame, because he is naturally creative and
brilliant (INTP). This man has admitted privately that he won’t be
proud of his safe career once he’s old and retired and reviewing his
life, after it’s too late to change anything.
What can be done? To show you how the process of trans-
forming the critic into an ally works, I’ll use myself as an example.
I had a nasty critic for most of my adult life. True, in many ways
it helped me build a good résumé, with high marks, good schools,
promotions, and the like, but I wasn’t having much fun doing it,
and I certainly wasn’t tapping into my full creativity. In fact, one
of my first bosses pulled me aside on my second day of employ-
ment and said, “We like people who don’t rock the boat.” This
proved true. A few months later, I got dirty looks for bringing in
the first computer to the office. The culture was control-and-com-
mand oriented. Very conservative, very risk-averse. But I stayed
there because it was safe and lucrative. Sound familiar?
Understanding your critic is essential to freeing your creativity.
Ask yourself, “In what ways do I criticize myself? What fears arise
if I think of leading a much more adventurous, risky life? What
beliefs do I hold that limit my creativity?”
The Stones divide critics into three categories: lightweights,
middleweights, and heavyweights. They believe that “Heavyweight
Critics just hate us. They want us dead.”The Creative Investor 13314-25 ware 133 1/19/01, 1:14 PM