Have you ever held yourself back from the possibilities of success and creativity because of the dark shadow that fear of failure creates? I know I surely have. Reading the words and stories that Sarah Lewis wrote in The Rise not only makes that large shadow dissolve, but also inspires perseverance towards your own version of success. 

Lewis encapsulates stories of athletes, entrepreneurs, and artists in order to convey the growth of creativity and the impact of failure on overall resilience. There were three specific lessons the author outlined throughout this book that I began to implement into my daily creative routines, allowing my mind to ease the pressure that the desire for success brings. 

1. Near wins are inevitable yet vital to push forward. 

2. Developing “undisturbed development” in order to avoid premature criticism. 

3. Unlocking your inner child often leads to innovation. 

The author demonstrates that there are creatives everywhere you go in all walks of life. Telling stories from such a vast variety of different individuals negates the misconception that you must be born a “creative” to innovate. 

“Near wins” are inevitable yet vital to push forward. 

Lewis outlines the novel’s overall thesis as “the creative process—what drives invention, discovery, and culture—that reminds us of how to nimbly convert so-called failure into an irreplaceable advantage” (Lewis, 2014, p.13). She demonstrates the paradox she developed after watching the women's archery team at Columbia University. This specific example helped me to understand her first of many lessons in the creative process. Analyzing something like archery that often breeds the idea of perfectionism allowed Lewis to convey very well to readers how important errors are in the learning process of hitting a target just the way you should. I really resonated with Lewis’ discussion of re framing the mind to understand scenarios that would be considered failures into “near wins.” Demonstrating the negative effects that a near win can have on the human brain is something Lewis also touches on, the heaviness of what-if thoughts that getting second place causes a lot of doubtful emotions. Yet, Lewis expresses “While the thrust of coming close does not always translate into triumph, it can help us outdo ourselves” (Lewis, 2014, p. 30).  Overall, this first lesson taught me that coming close to a great success can open an ever larger door to something that outshines what we thought we were capable of. Lewis does an excellent job of weaving her own wisdom into stories that back up any paradox she introduces. 

Developing “undisturbed development” in order to avoid premature criticism. 

Lewis outlines the impact that fear of criticism can have on our creative endeavors, rather than believing criticism will help us right away,  it is important to isolate ourselves in an environment where we feel comfortable enough to stretch ourselves further than criticism would allow for. Fear of rejection or judgment is something that resonates with me heavily as well. Lewis expresses “We make discoveries, breakthroughs, and inventions in part because we are free enough to take risks, and fail if necessary. Private spaces are often where we extract the gains from attempts and misses” (Lewis, 2014, p. 49). 

While it is important to create a comfortable environment for creativity without limitation, there are specific needs for criticism in order for our perceptions not to become too distorted. Lewis creates a great demonstration of the negativity that isolation can cause through the artist Jacopo da Pontormo. He was creating a piece for 11 years and died not finishing it, allowing the art to drive himself to insanity. It represents our need to have more human interaction and feedback in the creative process but not enough that it allows fear to slip in and destroy our ideas. 

Unlocking your inner child often leads to innovation. 

Children have very fresh minds often bursting with creativity. Lewis creates a parallel between the idea of  “beginner's mind” and the ability to expand on new and contemporary ideas that exposure to a lot of experience could shut off. Lewis expresses the creative limitations caused by having a lot of knowledge on a subject, that oftentimes the idea of being playful and discovering new levels of creativity seems unrealistic as adults because we are taught to operate opposite of children. Yet, Lewis encapsulates the importance of opening up possibilities as it rejects the numbness and depression that operating too seriously can cause. 

 Lewis explained how children constantly discover and explore new things, experimenting with the natural world and allowing their imaginations to run far and wide. I remember how truly amazing it was to be a child and create so many different ideas and scenarios. This light often dwindles down as you get older because child-like play is considered inappropriate for an adult. Lewis inspires and encourages readers to get back in touch with this ability to be creative and innovative in the way children are and reject the idea that we must be put into a box as adults. 

Overall, this book was a great dive into how specific historical examples can prove different angles to approach creativity successfully. There were many references to different places, people, events that were sometimes slightly hard to follow, yet the examples provided allowed me to truly believe the words and pieces of advice she was giving.. As a creative person and an aspiring entrepreneur that has already experienced a few rounds of failure and some bumps in the road, this book was very inspirational and took a different approach to the idea of just missing the mark. Lewis's perspective on failures was new to me, and the stories she shared about historical figures, athletes, artists, and entrepreneurs added a lot of credibility to her ideas. as I mentioned there were a lot of references and stories that never carried longer than three pages, and yet I feel the entire novel provided a great amount of insight for me.