To grow yourself, you must know yourself.

One of the best things about being a creative is how multifaceted it is.

We have the freedom to shape-shift and adopt as many personalities as we can. However, that can come with its challenges… 😰

The subjectivity of our industry can make it difficult to define ourselves and what we do sometimes because we can do everythinggg 🪄🪄🪄.

Get into it for ways to narrow down and define your ✨ personal brand ✨.

A lot of us struggle with managing multiple identities, and as we set our objectives for the year it's important to have an understanding of how we want other people to perceive us and controlling the narrative when it comes to our identity 💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿.

1. Identify and Document Your Creative Skill Sets 👩🏿‍🎨👨🏽‍🎨🧑🏾‍🎨

It’s not enough to make a mental note of your skills and accomplishments.

The mind already has so much to do, it could do without the added pressure, no? 🤷🏿‍♀️

Document. Document 🖊 and document some more!

Put them in a state you can look at and assess.

Write them down in your favourite notebook, or type them in your notes app, so you can constantly go back to them and map where you’ve been and where you’re going 🛣.

1. Determine Which Skills Are Dormant & Active 🌋🌋🌋

You might have been really great at sewing in Primary school but if you didn’t keep at it, 10 years down the line you probably shouldn’t include that as a skill any more… 🙊🙊🙊

It's okay not to be everything at once.

Group your capabilities into two groups, and focus on the active ones in a set time frame.

Revisit this list every few months and rearrange where necessary.

This will help you on many levels:

• conversing with other creatives and potential clients on where you can collaborate ✅,
• deciding which skills need to be honed further and which ones you can put aside for now ✅.

1. Decide Which Creative Skills Are Professional Or A Hobby 🤗🤗🤗

You don't always have to monetise all of your creative skills.

Being creative is an extension of yourself, and if you want to keep some of them private 🔐, that's okay.

The process of deciphering what is solely for you and what is for the world is a sentimental process — take your time with this ❤️.

1. Discover Your ‘Why’❓❓❓

Ask yourself the appropriate questions to get to the heart of discovering ✨your truth✨ when it comes to your art.

Be prepared to try and fail, do new things and be uncomfortable.

• What’s at the core of what you do?
• What drives you to do it?

These questions are a great starting point for learning your ‘why’.

Figuring out what your purpose is doesn't always come immediately, and there's no shame in publicly trying to figure that out 📢📢📢.

Just give yourself the space and time to ease into each experiment 🧪.

You will be wonderful (as always ;)) 😊😊😊

1. Ask Other People For Their Opinion 🥸🥸🥸

The way we see ourselves 🪞 may differ from how we are perceived by others — find out what they are.

Don't let other people's opinions overshadow 👤 your desires, but it's still important to be aware of them from those you trust.

They might be able to tell you about a blind spot 👨🏽‍🦯 you missed or tip you off on something that could completely change the game for you.

You have a community and network of support for good reason, don’t be afraid to use them 🥰

1. Have Multiple Versions Of Your Biography 📄📄📄

This cannot be stressed enough, having multiple versions of your biography will help you in so many ways!

It might be that one day you lose ❌ the original, but you have versions leading up to it to rely on.

It may be that details such as the wording changes with each new version and experience is added with each amendment, and so you’re able to trace those improvements.

It will never hurt you to be extra 😉 when it comes to your work.

There’s no such thing as over prepared only more than ready! 🤓🤓🤓

1. Associate Yourself With People Who Align With Your Values 🫱🏾‍🫲🏿🫱🏾‍🫲🏿🫱🏽‍🫲🏿

Associating with those who align with your values will be pivotal in times when inevitably you lose touch with your art 🎨 or come to question it.

The circle you curate will be there to reflect back to you your 📏 📐 fundamentals, the kind of integrity you want your art and personhood to have and the direction 🧭  you’re hoping to go in.

On a day-to-day level, you can learn a lot from the people in your immediate social circles.

These will be the influences that add to the process of refining your art and mastery.

Creating in the twenty-first century, looks a lot different to what it ever did before. Now there is the added pressure of building a personal brand, having a bibliography that reads across all social media platforms and keeping this all up to date constantly 😓😓.

It can be A LOT.

But tryly, it doesn’t have to be as scary as it sounds.

Rely on those around you that have your best interest, carve out a schedule that works for you keeping up with your art and your wellbeing, trust your gut instinct and do things from a place of integrity🥇.

With these tips, our support and your brilliant talent nothing is too much 😏😏😏.

We believe in you wholeheartedly. The rest is up to you! ❤️❤️❤️

For more hard-hitting tips and posts tailored specifically for our creative geniuses be sure to head over to the New Comma page on Instagram @new.comma 🫶🏿🫶🏾🫶🏽

If you’ve come this far but have yet to sign up to New Comma what are you doing?🤯

Get into it and sign up over on the New Comma site to become the latest newcomer at New Comma

(See what we did there!😉😉😉)