By Steven Kowalski, Ph.D.
Author, Creative Together: Sparking Innovation in the New World of Work
President and Founder, Creative LicenseTM Consulting Services
Chapter six of Adventure One in Creative Together: Sparking Innovation in the New World of Work explores five core “tests” that show up on any creative quest as you venture into the unknown. These include: 1) the Blank Canvas; 2) Mistakes and Failure; 3) Time and Timing; 4) Obstacles; and 5) the Swamp.
This article dives deeper into the fifth test: the Swamp—and in particular, the kinds of experiences that can trigger an “inner Swamp.” That’s where—in your thoughts, feelings, and awareness—it seems like you’re stuck in dense fog, mud, and quicksand. The villains of fear and self-judgment abound (often mixed with guilt, shame, and self-doubt). It’s hard to move forward. Your thinking can be murky, and without clear signposts it’s hard to find a way out.
Inner Swamps are a formidable challenge on any creative quest. But they don’t happen in isolation—they arise in response to outer conditions. All kinds of hurdles, roadblocks, constraints, and challenges may test us out in the world, especially as we work to invent, disrupt, and change the status quo. And when multiple tests pile up in life and work, they often trigger an Inner Swamp. Four types of challenges are most common:
When you push forward across the threshold of what is known, you will run into the limits of existing knowledge, technologies, or of accepted norms. What you are working on will fail—over and over—as you try to find answers and solutions that don’t yet exist. The most famous of these examples may be Thomas Edison and his team’s attempts to find the right filament for the light bulb. This Swamp of iteration, failure, persistence—and more iteration and failure—has been repeated through the ages as countless teams have faced the unknown. Think of scientists working to discover new medicines, engineers developing smart building technologies, or climate activists seeking solutions to change behaviors on a global scale. In fact, anyone pushing the boundaries of existing knowledge—in smaller and bigger ways—will enter the Swamp.
You may be in it right now with something you’re working on. Bumping (or crashing) into the very real boundaries and limits of what exists and what is known will test your resolve, your energy, and your creativity. And it will likely eventually trigger an inner Swamp of self-doubt, frustration, despair, and thoughts of giving up.
Some Swamps appear as you realize that despite your best efforts and the devoted application of your creativity to a cause you care about deeply, not much seems to have changed. This can bring deep sadness, grief and despair. There can also be urgency, defeat, moments of hopefulness, and painful lessons of acceptance. I witnessed this recently when I attended a conference on the topic of “conscious capitalism.” This was a passionate and devoted group of people with a shared purpose to help bring more self-awareness, heart, and sustainable practices into the business world and into the practice of leadership.
For these folks, this was their “life’s Work” (with a capital W). Some had been at it for decades. At the conference, people reflected that some of the very same challenges they are facing today are ones they faced thirty, forty, and even fifty years ago. “Back then”—and over the course of decades of attention, effort and devotion—these deeply committed people thought they were on the cusp of social breakthroughs. “We thought it was maybe three or four years away,” one lamented. “I mistook certain events as signals that change was just around the corner,” another person mused. And another wept as she expressed grief, “I just want to be used for good. I’ve got all this wisdom from years of doing this work—and I can’t seem to find places where I can make a difference.”
This Swamp is connected to the test of Time and Timing that we explored chapter five. When the time is right, doors open. When it’s not yet time, despite all your best efforts, incremental progress may be all that’s possible. This Swamp is about navigating the pace and process of change; the turns in the tide that seem to work against your purpose, the sudden advances that bring hope and inspiration, and the realization that so many levers are beyond your control.
Every day, I’m witnessing deeply committed people struggling in this Swamp as they work to combat climate change, the epidemic of homelessness, and the challenges in our society around mental health and gun violence (to name just a few). The slow march of social change—and the complexity of the challenges associated with making progress will test your perseverance, your tenacity, and your optimism. It’s about finding joy in whatever progress is possible in the face of big dreams and urgent imperatives.
Still other Swamps might arise from the hurdles and challenges you are facing in your personal life—outside of the contexts of your work. These are Swamps in their own right and should not be discounted just because they are not directly connected to your work. Like many of my colleagues and the clients I’ve met over the years, there are children to raise, spouses and partners to commune with, parents who may need your support and assistance, doctors’ appointments to schedule, and hobbies you want to pursue. There are unexpected twists and turns that require your attention and care. Some are more trivial like a sick child who needs daycare, a leak that causes damage to your home, or finding your car battery is dead when you’re running late. Others are life changing, like a terrifying medical diagnosis, the decision to divorce, the birth of a child with a disability, or the loss of a loved one. Living in our modern world requires that you meet these challenges and find ways to bring your creativity and SuperPowers to these kinds of tests.
You may be wading through any number of these Swamps right now; divorce, illness, aging parents, moving your household, a child being bullied at school or on social media, financial troubles, the pit of loneliness and depression, recovering from a natural disaster, or simply trying to keep it all together under the weight of increasing obligation and what I call the “maintenance of life.”
Other Swamps impinge on us personally, even though they may be more remote, or existential. Every day, we are challenged by disturbing turmoil and unrest in the world as we hear about the actions of people, industries, and governments that threaten the very fabric of what we believe is good and right in the world. And there are bigger threats, like pandemics, political unrest, racial injustice, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and the ultimate threat of climate change, which may seem overwhelming. It’s tempting to think of these Swamps as separate from the ones you slog through as you create inside the system. They are not separate. You are a whole person, and you can’t separate the Swamps in one part of your life from ones that are happening in other arenas.
When you impinge on the system with your creativity, you will be asking people to change. All kinds of Swamps arise as people within any given system seek to protect the status quo, control outcomes, and demand compliance. That’s because people who live in the system depend on it, knowingly and unknowingly perpetuate it, and in some cases even “manage” the system. Whether you are bringing forward simple improvements, broader adaptations, new inventions, or significant disruptions, your efforts will give rise to a necessity for change. Sometimes that will mean changes in processes, behaviors, and structures, and sometimes your efforts will require deeper changes in mindset and cultural norms and practices. Take a look at chapter six of Adventure Two in Creating Together for an in-depth look at some of the most common Swamps that come from co-creating inside companies, organizations, and social systems.
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Regardless of which outer conditions trigger inner Swamps, the most powerful work comes from learning how to cross them—and using the experience to deepen your practice of self-awareness, conscious choice, and service to others. Navigating through, time after time, will reinforce your faith that you will find your way through the next one that shows up. Maybe you can change your outer circumstances—or maybe you can’t. But you can always take creative accountability for your inner experience.
Ask Yourself:
If you could fast forward into your future and share a bit of wisdom—something you’d like yourself to remember when inner Swamps arise—what message would you send to help you cross through?
© 2021 Steven Kowalski for Creative License Consulting™. All rights reserved.
