21 Archetypes and Personas That Block Your Creativity-Part 2

“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun” ― Pablo Picasso

This is part-2 of the two part series on personas and archetypes that block your creativity.

You can read part-1 here.

The Archetypes and personas so far:

1. The Left Brained Person Archetype

2. The Great Expectations Archetype

3. The Perfect Creative Archetype

4. The Overwhelmed Persona

5. The Uncertain Creative Persona

6. The Overthinker Persona

7. The Self-Doubter Persona

8. The Angry Disgruntled Artist Archetype

9. The Poor Me Victim Creative persona

10. The “Ignorance and Denial is Bliss” Persona

Moving right along!

11. The Amateur Creative Persona

“Every artist was at first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

This creative persona uses up all the energy convincing the person that “I am not ready for this and I never will be.”

You may want to make your creative endeavor and hobby part of your livelihood, but there is something holding you back.

It is the amateur persona whispering into your ears that you are not a professional and you have no business being an expert.

You look at all other experts, influencers and professionals with awe and sometimes with envy.

You do not quite understand why you need to learn some more, know some more and practice some more before you “get ready” while people with less knowledge and experience are declaring their expertise.

The simple answer to that is that they are allowing themselves to be seen in the light of a valued expert and you are stuck in the amateur persona.

I am not saying that you should declare expertise even though you have just begun, but if you have been working a while in your field and still feel incompetent and hesitant to be an expert, then you have other blocks and issues going on.

Action tips to unhook from this archetype:

1. You may know more than you are giving yourself credit for.

2. If you need credentials, go get them. But remember that credentials will not be enough, you will have to believe and feel that you are an expert in your field.

3. Assess what you need for expertise in your field.

You may have already surpassed that or you might have to gain a few skills more.

12. The Collector Archetype

“Never confuse movement with action.” ― Ernest Hemingway

All collection no action is the dominant thread that runs within this archetype.

The collector prizes in collecting information, ideas and creative projects but takes no concrete action on them to completion.

The collector gets very excited in one project and then loses steam after a little while and moves on to another venture while leaving the first one incomplete.

The collector prizes in talking and telling how many experiences they have had but refuse to make a firm commitment to any one of them.

Action tips to unhook from this archetype:

1. Even of it scary, make the commitment to finish and launch one creative project.

2. Allow the project to be scrutinized and criticized but use the launching pad to complete another.

3. The motto: complete it or let it go; Do not let the psychic energy of incompletion to hang over your life like a Damocles sword.

13. The Procrastinator Persona

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone”― Pablo Picasso

The procrastinator says “I will do it sometime in the future.”

Are you continually putting off creative projects for later till you are compelled to do them and then you convince yourself that you are only halfway good in them anyways?

Most of the creative projects in life become a do it later venture and you may have seen or grown up with role models who only took care of things when a crisis was brewing.

Sure, I understand the requirement to do things in the last minute sometimes.

But, if you are having to put everything off for later, you are simply not interested in doing that project, and you are being compelled to do it.

Action tips to unhook from this archetype:

1. Realize that now is better than later.

2. Realize that today is better than tomorrow.

3. Creative procrastination is useful but do not make it habitual.

4. Ask why you are avoiding something? The real reasons…

14. The Emotional Actor Persona

“Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions.”― Elizabeth Gilbert

Emotions are great for the creative process if they allow you to work towards unleashing your creative magic.

Often, high emotions and drama is used to derail the creative process.

We all have seen people in our life who move from one emotional crisis and drama to another.

While they are soothing the fires of one emotional crisis they are having, they are actively brewing up another.

Of course there is nothing wrong with some emotional drama and in fact some of it brings color and variety to life.

But in most people I have seen, emotional dramas work quite the opposite way.

People get entangled in emotional dramas and play their part as actors, while diverting time and energy to the drama.

Time and energy that would be better served creating something meaningful.

Action tips to unhook from this persona:

1. Recognize emotional dramas as they play out in your life.

2. Be very clear of your part in the drama and decide to consciously disentangle your attention from the matter.

3. Choose to come back to it later and return to your creative project. Usually by the time you return back, it is not a big deal anymore.

“The world is full of people who will help you manufacture tornados in order to blow out a match.”― Shaun Hick

15. The Devils Advocate Persona 

The devils advocate persona finds fault and argues a stand against the popular view just because they can and no one else is doing it.

It is a great idea to have dissenting views in the creative process to keep it in perspective and keep it realistic but the dissent needs to be in the right hands.

The devils advocate argues why something will not work or why it is a bad idea.

If argument is done for the sake of making a point and not to enhance the creative process, it is distracting and doubt inducing.

This persona can manifest in others looking at your creative project and when they decide to “fix it” or offer some unsolicited but friendly advise.

Worse, it may manifest in yourself where your mind is actively trying to disprove what you are creating from your gut and your instincts.

It plays the devils advocate and jumps in to show where you are going completely wrong and rationalizes deep set beliefs and blocks even if they do not help the creative process.

The devils advocate does the following:

Creates fictitious issues and crises. 

Argues incessantly and unproductively.

Does not want to see other points of view.

Has a smug and condescending feel to the advise they give.

Action tips to unhook from this archetype:

1. Persistently and gently put the devils advocate in its place.

2. It is just dissenting opinion and should be given the same importance as any other opinion, no more no less.

3. Counter the devils advocate persona with the positive enthusiast persona.

4. The devils advocate role is important but do not get caught up in one negative opinion. Look at everything, positive or negative as chances to improve the creative process.

16. The Excuse maker, Criticizer, Complainer and Negativity Persona

“Don’t complain; just work harder.” ― Randy Pausch

This persona overwhelmingly provides the negative or the critical perspective and makes rational excuses for why life is the way it is for them.

While the devils advocate persona brings others down by their stand and their arguments, the excuser and complainer brings themselves and others down by their excessive negativity and scathing complaints and criticisms.

Psychology shows that negative statements have more stickiness impact on our minds and actions and it may take 5 positive statements to offset 1 negative statement.

“I am my own biggest critic. Before anyone else has criticized me, I have already criticized myself. But for the rest of my life, I am going to be with me and I don’t want to spend my life with someone who is always critical. So I am going to stop being my own critic. It’s high time that I accept all the great things about me.”― C. JoyBell C

When you are in the clutches of this persona, you will resort to making excuses for why something will not work to rationalize your point of view.

Every opportunity to make creative progress is argued away by making elaborate structures of excuses, often bordering on scathing attacks or incessant complaining.

“I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.”― Georgia O’Keeffe

Action tips to unhook from this persona:

1. Take creative action inspite of the excuses and the criticism.

2. Provide yourself the reason and motivation to continue on the creative process by supportive statements and celebrating the small milestones.

3. Tone down the complaints and criticism. If it is constructive, be gentle with it. If it is not, toss it away!

17. The adventurous “do it yourself DIY” persona

“As all entrepreneurs know, you live and die by your ability to prioritize. You must focus on the most important, mission-critical tasks each day and night, and then share, delegate, delay or skip the rest.”- Jessica Jackley

This persona is a go-getter and allows you to do much creative work.

The major drawback with this persona is that this persona operates in isolation and hesitates to delegate any aspect of the creative process to others.

In the clutches of this persona, you find it increasingly difficult to ask for assistance and trust others with work that you think you need to do it by yourself.

No matter who we are, we all need help from others to make it.

When you stop at the end of a movie to see the credits, it dawns on you that how many people are needed to co-operate and bring their strengths and skills together to create a movie from scratch.

Action tips to unhook from this persona:

1. Actively network and connect with others in your field and in other fields.

2. Make it a priority to work together in your success and in the success of others.

3. If you are getting too isolated, reach out to others and involve them in your creative ventures.

18. The Comfort Zone Archetype

The danger of venturing into uncharted waters is not nearly as dangerous as staying on shore, waiting for your boat to come in.”― Charles F. Glassman

This archetype becomes settled in its zone of action and loves to remain and operate from there.

While it is important to develop and implement your strengths, it is also very important to reach out in the creative process.

This archetype become all too familiar with the protocol and becomes comfortable by:

Not mixing and matching to combine something new.

Not learning new things continually.

Not trying enough radically different ideas and processes.

Not feeling excited or scared in the creative process, a measure of stretching beyond what one knows.

Not wanting to fail and be wrong.

“If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.”― John C. Maxwell

Action tips to unhook from this persona:

1. Do a small little creative action that makes you feel excitement and fear at the same time.

2. While strengthening your skills and strengths, reach beyond your ideas and mental comprehension.

3. Do things that you have never attempted before and bring them into your creative process.

4. Go cross-pollinate your work with new disciplines that you have not worked with.

19. The serious adult or parent persona

“Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
”- Oscar Wilde


Similar to transactional analysis states of parent, adult and child, this person is marked with the gravity and seriousness of an adult or the responsibility of the parent.

Gone are the:

Fun times with creativity.

Playing pretend like a child.

Allowing flexibility and the beginners mind in the creative process.

Easily getting your hands dirty with creative prototypes and manipulatives.

Thinking that some ideas or processes are too childish.

The wonder and the sense of curiosity.

Action tips to unhook from this persona:

1. The quick way out of this archetype is to infuse the conscious senses and play aspect of a child into the creative process.

2. Allow spontaneity while working within the confines of a controlled framework.

3. Allow your imagination to run wild and come up with creative ideas and solutions.

4. Mix and match seemingly impossible but highly innovative combinations together.

20. The Overplanner and Preparer persona

“Don’t overanalyze what you see. I have a felling that you’re over-thinking things. Give it some time, and the pieces of this puzzle might come together.”― Jessica Park

This persona plans and prepares and literally chokes out the element of surprise in the creative process.

The planning and preparing is very important to set the stage for the creative process but then you have to allow the moment to lead the way into something novel.

An example would be jazz music.

Jazz would not have its appeal if everything was pre-planned and rehearsed exactly down to the letter t.

Part of Jazz’s appeal is that the musicians respond to each other’s cues while generating new music that creatively fits together.

They are great musicians and practice to get there but once they have a rough script and a plan forward, they allow their instincts and collaboration to improvise and move forward, thus delighting their audiences.

Action tips to unhook from this persona:

1. Plan and prepare but recognize overplanning and over preparing.

2. Have a script but allow the creative freedom to digress and do something spontaneous and out of script.

3. Allow for more creative improvisation

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”― Plutarch

21. The Idealist Archetype

“An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup.”― H.L. Mencken

And finally the idealist demands that everything be done the one ideal way.

This archetype believes in one way and does not allow for much room for different ideas.

You may believe that while painting, certain things need to happen and you many follow your fixed format but often this produces only similar results.

This is the reason why people never explore their creativity.

It is because of the idealist image archetype dictating that a tree should be in the ground and have leaves on it.

After a while, the same thing gets very boring.

They feel ill at ease to conceive any other uses or implementations of the tree concept because it does not fit the common model or the standard format.

This archetype also resists other archetypes and allows or keeps ideas from only one field.

However, some of the best creative work is done by not sticking to the standard format and blending several disciplines together.

For example, BMW decided to make short movies for their cars instead of sticking to their ideal advertisement image.

These ads were a runaway success and a big hit while promoting the message of the cars.

Action tips to unhook from this persona:

1. Try something new in the creative process.

2. Actively bring in elements from different disciplines.

3. Consciously step from one persona to another like the caregiver to the builder or the engineer to the scientist persona.

4. Become comfortable with the idea that there is no one way to do something ideally and creativity is enhanced when novelty and different approaches are engaged.

“As long as your ideas of what’s possible are limited by what’s actual, no other idea has a chance.”― Susan Neiman