Rakowski, K. (2026, July 31). Popular opinions: I asked 28 creatives one question. Now you have no excuse not to create. Popular Opinions. https://substack.com/home/post/p-209244217
sihaam • Web Weaving — “Messy consistency! Push through the ‘bad’ ideas and sloppy presentation, especially if you’re a perfectionist and an overthinker — if you're an over thinker, you need to be an over creator! In my own practice, discipline is a big facet of my strategy: working on something new every day while juggling a full-time job means getting over your embarrassment and just showing up. Messy! Consistency!”
Carmen • Scroll Sick — “To me, creativity is a daily practice. The hardest part is finding the habitual precursors that keep it alive. (Mine comes and goes in seasons, dampened or ignited by a day job, maternity leave, algorithms.) I'm not organized but I'm disciplined: I chip away at my creative practices everyday, in different formats, and tiny efforts add up. I work full time, I have two kids, and creativity has to happen in the margins. If I had to package it up, is to do a little bit everyday, notice what enables the practice and what obstructs it. I knit sweaters, weave rugs, write about weird shit on the internet—and if any of it is good, it’s because I practice every damn day.”
Matilda Lucy • Broken Growth — “This is the advice I feel increasingly in my bones the older I am and the more I create: Nothing good exists without a shitty first draft. Get v1 out of your head and into the world, only then can you begin to iterate and carve your best work.”
Eimear • Brand House — “Go from idea to action, fast — for three reasons: (1) Ideas gathering dust on a to-do list don’t get made — not for lack of time, but because you lose the excitement. Catch an idea while it’s hot! (2) Julia Cameron: ‘All too often it is audacity and not talent that moves an artist to centre stage.’ I’ve thought ‘I could have made that’… but didn’t. That’s the point! (3) Creativity is a muscle — it needs reps. Practicing quickly, consistently, even badly, is what builds the toolkit for great work.
Zoë Yasemin • Art Direction — “Invest most of your creative energy into self-knowledge — your patterns, sensitivities, wounds, what moves you. Read self-help books, go to therapy, write down what makes you sad, happy, furious. Find out what’s inside your heart. Originality doesn’t come from the absence of influence or finding the ‘right’ inspiration — it comes from understanding yourself deeply enough to know why certain ideas speak to you. Inspiration is endless; the real work is asking why something resonates and how it fits your own inner world. That’s where a unique creative voice begins.”
Nikita Walia • thinking out loud — “Originality is usually a byproduct, not a goal — strong work starts by noticing what everyone else has flattened or overlooked: a tension that hasn’t been named, a feeling everyone recognizes but no one’s articulated. I’m bullish on insights in this rapidly AI-ing world. Don't chase originality — chase the observation only you would make. Watch people on the subway, talk to a stranger at the bar, help someone’s grandma at the grocery store. People are more similar than different.”