Hoarders

You’ve got gifts and you ain’t sharing.

Jim Carrey paints.

Like he honest-to-God covers the floors and walls of his studio with paintings, handmade sculptures and tubes of colour.

I did not know this.

I mean it seems unfair, doesn’t it? Rubber faced Jim Carrey who can basically contort his face into a million expressions. Hilarious Jim Carrey who actually did stand up comedy before he even came near film. Talented Jim Carrey who has portrayed deep characters in serious dramas and psychological thrillers.

Same chap amazingly, paints. And you’re sitting there trying to see if you have enough half-skills to make up one talent.

“Is this fair?” I hear you asking yourself. Why does one man get blessed with so much creativity while you have none?

I understand the frustration. There were days I used to ask myself the same question – usually after reading an article of someone else’s spectacular achievements while I battled with mundane real-life problems. But then the answer pretty much walloped me over the head one day and had me asking a different question.

How does one know what one can or can’t do?

It’s a fair question.

Working in a creative agency means everyday you see the impossible get done. Ideas materialise out of thin air. Intricate designs weave out of the vaguest scamps and hummed notes become jingles. I have come to see creativity less as an innate ability and more as a state of mind; something anyone at the right frequency can tap into and exploit. It is in that environment I’ve seen brand managers sketch layouts, art directors create music and copywriters dazzle with design. Sure, there are core competencies, as there should be. But then I realise talent is simply the elephant, seen and described in many different ways.

It is then ironic how many of us only push the limits of our creativity to discover new talents while under pressure; creating magic but then chalking it up to a fluke after we’re done.

That’s why I believe a lot of us are hoarders.

We hoard gifts, abilities, skills. We have the most epic ideas buried and repressed under layers of schooling and fear and shame. It’s part of the reason why there is a noticeable glut of new talent in today’s Nigerian Advertising Agencies…an alarming problem that threatens the long term future of the industry.

Hoarding is also why you see many people dissatisfied with the roles they find themselves in. Few things are as mentally draining as being confined to a role that has long grown rote. But the fear of branching out into discovery overpowers the dread of non-actualisation and so you see people subconsciously choose to wither and die.

What’s the solution to solving such a problem? I honestly have no idea.

Everything seen online is in the saccharine sweet range of ‘believe in yourself’ ‘push through your doubt’ and so on. Personally, I have found that the most multi-talented people just do stuff. You tell them they can’t sing, they honestly do not give a fraggle. They will drop singles because they think it’s hilarious and also, maybe more importantly, because they enjoy it. They will doodle absolute madness on Snapchat for the lulz of it and then have an Art Gallery showing later. I have friends who draw, sing, make their own clothes and write copy. Failure to these people isn’t a damning full-stop. It’s a negotiable semi-colon, a possibility of continuation and improvement.

We all have amazing abilities. It’s ridiculous to think that there’s a select few creative types and then there’s you. We may not all do the same things, but we’re all the same when it comes to doing something great.

So. You know.

Stop hoarding.