Failure is your friend...
How to adopt a growth mindset and succeed as an artist
As artists and creators, it’s easy to fixate on the finished masterpiece or product. But as many of you voiced in our recent reader survey, the mindsets we cultivate along the way are just as important for creative success.
How we choose to view the journey of creating profoundly shapes our experience.
Do we cling to outcome-driven notions of success and failure? Or embrace each step as an experiment full of lessons?
Are we guided by curiosity or constrained by convention?
The path itself provides meaning when we adopt mindsets of growth.
Not just what we build, but who we become. Each work is a reflection of our skills in this moment, not our worth.
As psychologist Carol Dweck wrote in her influentual book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success:
“The view you adopt for yourself profoundly
affects the way you lead your life.”
This edition will explore how adopting a growth mindset on the creative journey can profoundly shape and enrich the experience. How to nurture creativity with self-compassion. To meet yourself where you are in this moment, with possibilities ahead.
The path itself provides meaning when we adopt mindsets of growth.
Not just what we build, but who we become.
May the following perspectives inspire you along the way.
Balance craftsmanship and curiosity
In any discipline, there may come a point where honing your craft becomes an exercise lacking joy. We fixate on perfection, following established rules and techniques without room for improvisation. However, as Dweck wrote in Mindset, “The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset.”
But the most innovative work often comes from retaining a beginner’s curiosity — a willingness to experiment and explore new creative frontiers without judgement.
Think back to what initially drew you to your craft. Chances are it was the excitement of raw discovery, everything still fresh and unexplored.
How can you inject more of that youthful curiosity into your current process?
Give yourself permission to play, improvise, and wander without a set destination. Mix this spontaneous creation with your practice to energize innovation.
Picasso cultivated this balance beautifully, blending childlike freedom and artistic mastery throughout his chameleon-like career. When asked about the secret to creativity, he said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once grown up.”
Retaining that youthful wonder may be the key. 🤔
Your work is not your identity
Creative work always feels intensely personal. We pour so much energy, care, and time into each creation, that criticism can cut especially deep. It’s easy to equate the success or failure of a work to our own self-worth. But this close fusion of creator and creation builds unnecessary suffering.
The healthiest mindset is one of non-attachment — being able to step back and evaluate your work objectively, without taking feedback personally. As Dweck put it, “There’s a tendency in our culture to avoid challenging situations. But without challenges, our abilities never have a chance to grow.”
See each creation as just a snapshot of your skills in this moment, not a permanent definition of your worth. You are far more than any one creation.
Over a lifetime, we generate a massive portfolio of diverse creative work. Some resonates powerfully in its time, other pieces fail to find their audience. But collectively it represents a rich medley of human experience and learning.
As creators we grow through the process, often in unexpected ways independent of external recognition. Approach your work with curiosity about what it will reveal to you, not how it will be received by others.
Celebrate the process, not just the outcome
We live in a product-driven society that fixates on immediate results and immediate success. However, sometimes the journey is as equally important as the destination.
There is joy to be found in small incremental wins, in breakthrough moments of learning through creating.
Rather than rushing headlong towards some imagined finish line, is there space to appreciate each step along the way?
Documenting the process helps keep motivation high, even if an end goal is far off. Keep a journal and document your journey. Reviewing these entries reveal patterns, enabling us to consciously design conditions that bring flow.
Even work that doesn’t turn out as we expected provides value. Thomas Edison famously claimed of his experiments, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
As I like to say, “Failure is your friend.” What do I mean by that? Simply that the more you fail, the more you learn.
Reframing creates resilience. Each piece contributes to an understanding that guides the next. Savor the journey, wherever it leads.
Tackle immediate challenges
It’s easy when undertaking any large creative endeavor to lose motivation when facing the totality of it all. But seemingly insurmountable goals can be tamed by breaking them down into bite-sized steps.
Focus in on the immediate challenge directly ahead, letting go of future roadblocks for now.
If even the next step feels too big, get more granular. What foundational piece comes first?
Maybe it’s simply gathering supplies or reviewing past work for inspiration.
Maybe it’s just the act of sitting in front of your computer and playing until inspiration strikes.
By methodically addressing each incremental task, you build momentum. Before long, these small steps have traveled quite a distance together.
Tuning out distracting what-ifs helps keep your energy concentrated where it is needed most. When overwhelmed, ask “What is the very next right thing to move this forward?” Then channel your full focus there.
The rest will follow, one step at a time.
Creativity through constant reinvention
It’s tempting when initial success comes to lock into what worked and avoid risk.
However, the most memorable creators allow space for their interests to organically change over time. Avoid putting yourself in a box or attaching your self-worth to any one style.
Your skills and passions will roam and mature as you do.
Have faith that as long as you retain curiosity, you’ll continue reinventing yourself creatively through the decades. A long career brings the luxury of exploration. You are under no obligation to remain stagnant, or do the same thing over and over again.
David Bowie embodied this adaptability, shedding artistic personas and genres repeatedly to stay fresh. When asked whether he worried about confusing fans, he replied, “I have no idea who I am, and I’m really delighted about that.”
As Dweck would say, Bowie “approached challenges with a fire to learn” rather than worrying about confusing fans. Take inspiration from Bowie’s creative freedom and trust your evolving interests.
As we conclude this edition of The Intentional Artist, I wanted to leave you with this quote to reflect on — a sentiment I find meaningful in my own creative journey:
“Wherever you find yourself right now in your process is exactly where you need to be. Trust in taking the next step, and the one after that — and the one after that. Just keep creating, the best is yet to come!”
That’s it for this issue of The Intentional Artist.
As always, if this resonated or was of help, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Artfully yours,
Chris
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Thanks for your informative article, Chris.
First, I'm one of the artists who has tried not to stick to one style (i've changed my painting style three or four times).
Second, my change of styles has actually helped me become more appreciative of my artworks. Beside that, i don't draw based on what my mind says, i draw from my heart (that's why i sometimes get furious when sb views my paintings from their mind's eyes).
Third, i haven't yet found my voice in a specific style, and i call most of my paintings "my experiments", some of which have been successful, and some not.
And finally, up until this year, i didn't have the courage to reveal my "failed experiments" to those who'd seen my paintings (hell, i didn't even consider them my experiments). But now, i'm not afraid to create a painting that doesn't look beautiful, and if sb gives a negative comment about it, i would act indifferently.
So much truth, Chris! Read this a few times hoping it sinks in.