Asking Forgiveness, Seeking Permission
How each approach feeds a different part of your mind, and what that means
Generally, if you wait around for permission to change in your professional career, to start a creative project, or to improve yourself in some way, you’re going to be waiting a long time. It’s better to try to make a change today, as soon as you can — even now, if possible.
The adage, “Ask forgiveness, not permission,” is one extreme version of this, encouraging you to bias towards taking responsibility and risk disappointing someone, in order to seize an opportunity you notice and don’t have time to wait around for. If you’re risk averse, this is best applied towards small changes, nothing you wouldn’t be able to back away from or explain to other people.
Over a year ago, I highlighted a mental model I called the four inner beings of a writer — drawing inspiration from Susan Sontag and professor Betty Flowers, the latter of which I also highlight in my book Creative Doing.
The action driven by chaotic energy, unrestricted by permission, is best left up to the aspect of you that Sontag and Flowers call the moron and the madman respectively — two candid, albeit unflattering, names for the critical role of the playful, curious, inner child in the creative process.
