Learning

I mentioned earlier that the first thing you learn in law school is that the law is not “black letter” really–that is, it’s a history of interpretations and rulings in specific contexts. The second thing thing you learn is that persistence is a virtue and creativity is rewarded.

That probably sounds odd–who thinks of lawyers as creatives, really– but what they mean is that lawyers have a duty to do everything they can to help their clients and that takes both persistence and creativity. If a client comes to you for help, and you take the case, you have to do your absolute best to help them, and that can be a very difficult and long road at times. The creativity part comes in when your original legal theory doesn’t work–you need to find another way to get to where you need to go. If the first law doesn’t apply, find some old common law that’ll work, for example. 

Photographers, good ones, do the same thing. If a client comes to you for help, you need to do your very best to help them. If something goes wrong, you have to find a way to still get the image(s) promised. Dead strobe? Fix it or find a way around it, for example. 

In the long term, this applies to your careers. You need to get to your professional goal and that takes persistence and, quite often, creative career management. For example, maybe this economic downturn has hit you particularly hard. You still want to be a photographer, but you have no jobs coming in. If you don’t have the savings, you’ll have to find another way to make money–to get you over this financial hump. Get a second job, for example. 

Thinking about alternatives is creative problem solving. You are a creative problem solver. Just because you might not be able to follow your original road map doesn’t mean you can’t get there. Find another way. You can do it.

Me, I’ve got piles of homework to do…no creative way around that, I’m afraid. 😉