"The Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness" by David Rendall (will open PDF)
In David Rendall’s “Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness,” he examines how instead of working to fix the weaknesses of individuals, it is more beneficial to embrace them, focus on building up existing strengths, and finding ways to embrace your individual differences. He explains how it is simply not worth the effort to focus on improving on weaknesses. When you do this, it takes away from the time that could be used to develop and build strengths, which will be more beneficial in the long run. If you try to do both, it will result in mediocrity on both ends, something that will not make you stand out over others. I feel that this is a very valid statement. Historically, people that are considered to be great in their field, whatever it may be, have dedicated a great number of hours throughout their lifetime developing their skills; often more hours than those around them that they end up surpassing. It makes sense that in general, improving strengths is a better use of time than trying to improve weaknesses. Even so, wouldn’t any individual rather spend time on doing what they do best as opposed something they are not so fond of? However, I disagree with Rendall’s idea that that being well rounded is not necessarily a good thing. I understand that it makes sense to be really good at one thing as opposed to sort of good at many things, but being a well rounded individual will come in handy very often in life. The whole strength and weakness concept, however, reinforces my ideas about myself as a creative person. It reiterates the time that I must put in harnessing my strengths and developing my craft working with music.
Being really good at something is great. However, unless the skill or talent is being used in the right way in the right time and place, it could be considered essentially useless. For example, the best closet musician is not going to make it very far; the same goes for the closet graphic designer or idealistic thinker. This is the constant pain of the talented creative person whose talent is their hobby as they work an unrelated day-to-day job to make ends meet. Until they find the right spot, their hopes and dreams will remain dreams. Once they find their niche, they will unlock the key to success. This will likely involve finding the right team of people to compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses. While one person may be very good at one thing, they are not good at everything. They must find the proper environment and circumstances to allow themselves to succeed. Rendell uses the example of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. At first, Rudolph is made fun of and ostracized from all the other young reindeer because of his abnormally glowing nose. When he found the right situation where he could use his abnormality to benefit the greater good, he received a great deal of praise. Personally, I’m not exactly sure what kind of work I want to be doing after my schooling is complete; I just know that I want it to involve music in some way. As a guitar player and a future recording engineer, I’ll have to find my fit and see where I work the best and spawn the most benefit. Got to find the right fit.
It is good to be a freak. To be different is to stand out, which if used the right way will get you very far in life. Historically, some of our world’s great thinkers and inventors are the ones who dared to do something different. These are the people who in their lifetime suffered great scrutiny from those around them that conformed to their time’s society. Often after the fact, their ideas and inventions caught on and changed the world. Even in a more modern context, if someone is making music or art that looks or sounds like already existing material; the artist is not going to make it very far. It can be very good art, but if it does not fill a niche, it won’t catch on; if it is similar to art of the past, their potential audience will just flock to the already established greats. I really liked Rendell’s example of this concept involving the Tower of Pisa. He discussed how throughout history, there have been a few occasions when diplomatic leaders tried to see for the straightening of the leaning tower. If the tower were straight, what appeal would it have? Sure it’s a nice tower, but if it were not for its faults it would certainly not be a widely recognized icon around the world. This concept is something I have thought about with my music. If I make music that sounds like somebody else’s, any potential audience is going to listen to the artists that I’m mimicking. However, if I gather influence across the board and create a new sound that people haven’t heard before, it will bring more of an appeal to my music.
I like the creative process. From a young age, I feel that I have been practicing creative thinking in drawing, creating characters, stories, music, and more. I suppose now that I think about it, I am able to see some of my strengths and weaknesses in the creative process. When it comes to songwriting, I feel that a strength is coming up with a good foundation for a song, a good base chord progression and melody. However, sometimes I get caught up in the tune and am not able come up with a contrasting B-section for relief. Often I can and it works out great, but sometimes I have trouble completing the overall product beginning to end. With that, however, I feel that I have a good sense of imagining the overall picture or sound and understanding what small details must be added to complete the picture and make the finished product that much better. As far as the creative process, I feel like one of my strengths is having an idea and building upon it with details to bring it to life. Also I feel that I am very good with logistics in planning, coordinating, and executing events. This is one of the things I’ve considered as a career path, but only time will tell. This question is difficult to expand upon, because the “creative process” is a very broad term. I have various strengths and weaknesses in different sects of the creative world, whether its creating characters, stories, shooting films, making music, or whatever the nature may be. Hmm.
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