In any creative process, you'll likely experience 5 emotional stages. Of these stages, the most torturous stage-- and most essential-- is the Agony.

1. SIT IN THE Throne ofAgony

2. SAY, FOR EXAMPLE, WRITING A BLOG POST or CREATING
AN AD CAMPAIGN or PREPARING A PITCH or LAUNCHING A
NEW PRODUCT or DEVELOPING A LOGO DESIGN or
COOKING A DINNER PARTY
Every creative process
has 5 emotional stages...

3. 2. DOUBT
1. POSSIBILITY
2. DOUBT
3. AGONY
4. EPIPHANY
5. FINESSE
5 EMOTIONAL STAGES OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Here’s how to diagnose which stage you’re in...

4. HAPPINESS
TIME

5. STAGE 1: POSSIBILITY
WHATʼS REALLY GOING ON
You’re coming up with all the easy stuff.
You might have some interesting starter ideas, but
really, you probably have nothing.
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
Fun • Exploration • Free-range thinking
WHAT YOUʼRE SAYING
TO YOURSELF
Here’s a cool idea. Here’s another one.
And another. This is pretty fun, and you
know what, I’m pretty good.
?

6. STAGE 2: DOUBT
WHATʼS REALLY GOING ON
As you begin to look at your ideas more closely, you realize,
um… they’re actually not that great. Doubt begins to set in.
And it’s about to get a whole lot worse. The prospect of
failure sets in.
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
Uncertainty • Feeling lost • Defensiveness • Questioning the
process, the expectations, and even yourself.
WHAT YOUʼRE SAYING
TO YOURSELF
This project is unrealistic. The budget is too
small. It’s my client’s fault / It’s my boss’s
fault / It’s my partner’s fault.
?

7. STAGE 3: AGONY
WHATʼS REALLY GOING ON
The most grueling of all steps in the creative process,
this is a red-blooded struggle. It’s a hard. You feel like a
hack. You want to quit.
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
Torture.
WHAT YOUʼRE SAYING
TO YOURSELF
I’m a hack. I’ve always been a hack and
I’m about to be exposed as the hack I
really am. Every great idea I’ve ever come
up with up to this point was a fluke.
Ughhhhh. This seriously sucks.
?

8. STAGE 4: EPIPHANY
WHATʼS REALLY GOING ON
Breakthrough! You’ve done it! You invented a very big and
very new idea. While you were feeling emotionally
exhausted by the Agony, now instantly you’re elated by
the sweet euphoria of success. This makes it all worth it.
Something resembling a swagger might begin to emerge.
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
A burst of energy • Self-validation • Relief
WHAT YOUʼRE SAYING
TO YOURSELF
This is why I do what I do. Creativity rocks.
?

9. STAGE 5: FINESSE
WHATʼS REALLY GOING ON
As you tweak your initial raw idea, you’re crafting it to be
smarter, more strategic, and more purposeful. You’re crafting
the best possible expression of your idea. Now your skill and
training really begins to shine through, as you hone and refine
your concept into the best possible execution.
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
Focus • Purposeful engagement • Goal-oriented progress
WHAT YOUʼRE SAYING
TO YOURSELF
What’s my next assignment?
?

10. IT MAKES SENSE TO LOATHE THE AGONY, TO WANT TO HURRY
THROUGH IT, AND GET ON TO A MORE COMFORTABLE STAGE.
PART OF THE CREATIVE
PROCESS IS FUN.
PART OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS IS TERRIFYING. AND PAINFUL.
AND ABSURDLY DIFFICULT.
But here’s what I want to propose:
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
FUN
TERRIFYING
PAINFUL
ABSURDLY
DIFFICULT

11. THE AGONY IS WHERE NEW
IDEAS COME FROM.
TheAgony is the most important part of the whole process.
This is the point in the process when you have a massive opportunity to
create something truly new.
AGONY IS:
the best part.
where inspiration lives.
where you can do something breathtaking,
something the world has never seen.
THE ECSTASY.

12. If you want an
epiphany,
you need to sit
your butt in
THE THRONE
OF AGONY.
YOU
ARE
HERE

13. BORING IDEAS ARE
CHEAP. FASCINATING
IDEAS ARE PRECIOUS.
Anyone can come up with a bunch of boring ideas.
That’s easy.
The question is: do you have the tenacity to keep going,
to keep pushing through theAgony?
Fascinating ideas are never easy. They’re not supposed to
be easy. If they were easy, they wouldn’t be so valuable.

14. There’s a reason it’s ca%ed a “breakthrough.”
You have to break through something.

15. ARE YOU SITTING IN THE
THRONE OF AGONY?
CRE•ATE (v). to cause to come into being, as something
unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made
by ordinary processes.
IF YOU CAN EXPECT THAT THERE WILL BE A POINT IN
THE PROCESS WHEN YOU FEEL DISCOURAGED, IF YOU
CAN ANTICIPATE THE STRUGGLE AND STOP RESISTING,
THEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY START TO CREATE.

16. I GO THROUGH THIS VERY SAME
TORTUROUS, MADDENING, GLORIOUS
When I was creating a new speaking video, I went through
a% 5 stages of the creative process:
1. Possibility
2. Doubt
3.Agony
4. Epiphany
5. Finesse
I was tempted to just hurry and finish it when things got
*ustrating. Yet I wanted it to be rea%y great. So I quit
complaining, and embraced the stru+le.
AGONY.

17. CREATIVE
- OR -
COMFORTABLE
Pickone.}{

18. THE NEXT TIME YOU FEEL
YOURSELF STRUGGLING
IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS,
PAUSE FOR A MINUTE.
And stop beating yourself up for feeling insecure,
because the truth is, just about anyone who’s ever
tried to create something big and real and meaningful
has stru+led with the fear inherent in this stage.
Recognize that now, fina%y, you have the potential to start
creating something truly extraordinary.
Now you’ve worked through a% the easy ideas.
Now is the stage when things can start getting rea%y good.

19. JUST BECAUSE ITʼS
HARD DOESNʼT MEAN
ITʼS WRONG.
JUST BECAUSE YOU
FEEL LIKE A HACK
DOESNʼT MEAN YOU
ARE A HACK.
IT MEANS THAT NOW, FINALLY, YOUʼRE READY TO
CREATE SOMETHING TRULY EXTRAORDINARY.

20. THE REALITY IS,
CREATIVITY IS SLOPPY
AND IMPERFECT.
Creativity simply isn’t a rational.
It’s sweaty and red-blooded.
Tempestuous.
It wakes up at 2 am stru+ling whether to tweak a
headline one hundredth of an inch, or start over entirely.
The best results do not follow a rigid or predictable process.

21. THE AGONY IS A VALUABLE, HEALTHY, AND
NECESSARY PART OF CREATING ANYTHING
WORTHWHILE.
AS MUCH AS IT SUCKS, YOU
CANNOT SKIP THE AGONY.
Look, we all need to trim time and costs. No question.That’s a reality.
And on the surface, it might seem like a smart idea to cut out the stage
that feels least productive.
Yet in our quest to gain efficiencies, we’re losing room to fail and explore.
Your results will only succeed to the degree that you’re allowed to fail.

22. Technology keeps
getting faster.
But creativity will
always operate on
its own timeline.
Just because eBooks
make it possible to print
a book in a few minutes
doesn’t mean that the
amount of time required
to actually write a book
— to conceive the idea, to
articulate the argument,
to craft the language—
is any faster.

23. “I realize we have a limited timeline,
and that we need to crack our solution
ASAP. But if we truly want the best
result, we can’t shortcut the process so
drastica%y that we end up presenting
and producing a lame idea.”
YOU MIGHT REMIND THEM THAT LAME IDEAS END UP BEING
FAR MORE EXPENSIVE. THEY COST AS MUCH TO EXECUTE
AS A BRILLIANT IDEA, YET GENERALLY GET PRETTY
MEDIOCRE RESULTS.
BEFORE THE CREATIVE PROCESS BEGINS, HEREʼS WHAT TO
TELL YOUR TEAM (INCLUDING YOUR PARTNERS AND BOSS):
HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF ENOUGH
SPACE TO STRUGGLE IN THE AGONY?

24. “Let’s build in enough space in this
process to stru+le past the quick and
easy ideas, and actua%y bring you
something that wi% be persuasive and
memorable enough to deliver the results
we a% want to achieve on this project.”
BEFORE THE CREATIVE PROCESS BEGINS, HEREʼS WHAT TO
TELL YOUR CLIENTS:
HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF ENOUGH
SPACE TO STRUGGLE IN THE AGONY?
IF YOU CAN ANTICIPATE THAT THE AGONY WILL BE
PART OF THE PROCESS, YOU CAN APPROACH IT
WITH THE PURPOSE AND RESPECT IT DESERVES.

25. FOR ALL ITS MADDENING IMPRECISION,
creativity always triumphs.
INFORMATION COMES AND GOES.
TRANSACTIONS CAN BE OUTSOURCED.
TECHNOLOGY BECOMES OBSOLETE.
OPINIONS CHANGE, AND TASTES CHANGE.
BUT CREATIVITY WILL ALWAYS BE ESSENTIAL.
AND RARE. BECAUSE IT HAS TO COME FROM YOU.

26. YouARE THE ULTIMATE
TECHNOLOGY.
Not Google. NotApple. Not Twitter.

27. • Thereʼs a reason itʼs called a “breakthrough.” You have to BREAK
THROUGH something. RT@sallyhogshead
• Creative or comfortable? Pick one. RT@sallyhogshead
• Boring ideas are cheap. Fascinating ideas are precious. RT@sallyhogshead
• Not Google. Not Apple. Not Twitter. YOU are the ultimate
technology. RT@sallyhogshead
• Creativity will always be essential. And rare. Because it has to come from
YOU. @sallyhogshead
• Technology keeps getting faster. But creativity will always operate on its
own timeline. RT@sallyhogshead
• The reality is: creativity is sloppy, imperfect, and irrational.
RT@sallyhogshead
• If you want an epiphany, you need to sit your butt in the Throne of Agony.
RT@sallyhogshead
Foryou,afeweasytweetablebitstoshare
theseideas:
SHARE
SHARE
SHARE
SHARE
SHARE
SHARE
SHARE
SHARE

28. GETEVENMORE
GOODIESLIKETHIS
WHENYOUSUBSCRIBE:
HOWTOFASCINATE.COM/BLOG