“The person who doesn’t make mistakes is unlikely to make anything.” Paul Arden

Lovely quote, isn’t it? Inspiring. Tweetable. The kind of thing you’d find on a poster in a university corridor or stitched onto a throw pillow in a startup founder’s office.

But let’s be honest – it’s easier said than done. Because while the creative industries love to say they celebrate risk-taking, experimentation, and ‘thinking outside the box’, the reality is that many students don’t even feel free to take the lid off the box, let alone climb out.

At the start of my creative advertising course, I ask students to do something most briefs avoid entirely: look inward. Not for the sake of a client, or a campaign, or a mark scheme – but for themselves. I ask them to identify what’s getting in the way of their creativity. And let me tell you, the list is long.

THE MANY HIDDEN OBSTACLES

Standardised schooling has taught them there’s one right way to do things. They’ve been raised with less room to roam – whether by helicopter parents, snowplough strategies, or well-meaning micromanagers. The result is the same: boundaries shrink, freedom contracts, and the space for risk-taking disappears.

Social media’s dopamine carousel has rewired attention spans and buried real joy under validation-seeking. They’ve grown up seeing polished portfolios and viral overnight successes without ever witnessing the messy, iterative process underneath – which makes their own work feel like failure if it doesn’t arrive fully formed.

Hobbies are now hustles – things that once provided joy, freedom, and relaxation – and are now monetised and made public. Nothing is just for fun anymore. Everything feels like it has to perform, impress, or earn.

They’ve been conditioned to equate productivity with worth. Downtime feels like slacking. Reflection feels like procrastination. Rest? Guilt-inducing. They fear being ‘cringe’ – because boldness today often feels like a risk not just of failure, but of social embarrassment. Irony protects; sincerity exposes.

The industry wants weird, messy, rogue thinkers – but where’s the investment in the grassroots? Creativity requires play. And play requires freedom

Even creative courses aren’t immune. Curriculum criteria and rigid learning outcomes can quietly reinforce a tick-box mindset: stay in line, hit the rubric, don’t deviate too far. The industry itself can send mixed messages. It often claims to crave the bold and the disruptive but struggles to break away from the safe and sterile. For students, this can feel like a trap – being asked to take risks and push boundaries in an environment that rewards caution.

And then there’s the crushing economic uncertainty – rent prices that make home ownership a fantasy, a creative industry that’s undervalued and underfunded, and the nagging suspicion that pursuing your passion might be a luxurious, doomed detour from ‘real life’.

Some of them arrive already exhausted. Not because they’re lazy, but because perfectionism has been their survival strategy for years. And now it’s starting to buckle. Before they even pick up a pencil, they’re already carrying all of this.

They’re not being precious. They’re being practical. Some have never been allowed to fail safely. Others fear they can’t afford to. And yet, the industry keeps asking them to be ‘brave’, ‘bold’, ‘tenacious’. It wants weird, messy, rogue thinkers – but where’s the investment in the grassroots? Creativity requires play. And play requires freedom.

DISCOVER WHAT’S REALLY BLOCKING YOU

I start the year with a brief called DNA. It’s not about advertising at all, it’s about you. You find a personal challenge that’s holding back your creative potential, and you create a solution to overcome it. Fear of failure? Chronic procrastination? A need for approval that derails risk-taking? Whatever it is, we get it out into the open.

Then we start to play with solutions – not just one fix, but a mix of responses. Some are small and practical, others challenge how you think, and a few might push the boundaries entirely. The goal isn’t precision. It’s progress. Not finding the perfect answer, but giving yourself permission to try something different – and see what shifts.

Because once you name what’s holding you back, you can start to move past it. And sometimes, even a small shift is enough to change how you show up creatively.

LET’S STOP TRAINING STUDENTS FOR TRAUMA

I get it – the industry can be brutal. I’ve been there. I’ve had my work torn apart, my confidence shaken, and my ego thoroughly deflated. There have been moments when I’ve felt completely humiliated. That’s sadly part of the job sometimes.

But I’ve also worked alongside people who wear that brutality like a badge of honour. They don’t pull their punches with students because, as they say, “They’ll get worse in industry.” Here’s a radical thought: what if we changed the script?

What if, instead of trying to replicate the trauma, we actually tried to interrupt it? Yes, the creative industries are demanding. But so is life. That doesn’t mean we should treat students like they need to be ‘toughened up’ through relentless critique. Some students need a challenge. Others need encouragement. And most need a bit of both. But if your only tool is criticism, you’re not as sharp as you think you are.

That’s why I try to get to know my students – not just their grades, but their motivations, their triggers, their insecurities, and what actually gets them going when no one’s watching. Because creative resilience isn’t built from being torn down – it’s built from knowing someone’s in your corner while you’re figuring things out.

The talent pipeline is not infinite – and if we don’t value, nurture, and invest in the grassroots, it will dry up. Graduates will go elsewhere – to industries that feel more inclusive

First, we teach students to name their creative constraints – not just time or skill gaps, but the mental and emotional handcuffs they’ve inherited. We remind them that creativity is a practice, not a performance. We model playfulness in our teaching and resist the urge to correct or direct too early.

We praise curiosity over polish. Progress over perfection. Effort over outcome. And yes, we challenge the industry too. Because if agencies and employers want daring, original thinkers, they need to help cultivate them – not just cherry-pick the ones who’ve already managed to survive the system.

We can’t assume there’ll always be a steady drip feed of creative students, primed and polished and ready to slot in. The talent pipeline is not infinite – and if we don’t value, nurture, and invest in the grassroots, it will dry up. Graduates will go elsewhere – to industries that feel more inclusive, more stable, more human. The creative sector may be competitive, but it can’t afford to be complacent.

We love to quote creatives and entrepreneurs who urge us to take risks. But risks require trust. And trust requires safety. If we want students to ‘do one thing every day that scares them’, let’s make sure they also have one person, one class, one brief that makes them feel safe enough to try.

David Thompson is senior lecturer, creative advertising, University of Lincoln; Top image: Shutterstock