Why Letting Go Creates Value

I photographed a bamboo grove in Arashiyama outside of Kyoto, Japan, that taught me something about strength I hadn’t expected. Watching those towering stalks sway in the wind, never breaking, always responding, I realized I was witnessing a masterclass in creative adaptability. The tallest bamboo wasn’t rigid. It was rooted.

The more we can quickly change and not get attached to one way of doing something, the more valuable we become, not just in business but also in how we create, how we see, and how we navigate an increasingly fluid world.

What if adaptability isn’t just a skill but actual currency? In creative work, the ability to pivot without losing your center has become one of the most valuable assets you can develop.

In a world obsessed with consistency, the real power lies in being rooted enough to bend.

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How Creative Adaptability Functions Like Currency

Bamboo can grow over three feet in a single day. It bends nearly horizontally in typhoon winds without snapping. The secret isn’t in its flexibility alone. It’s in its root system, which can extend as deep as the plant grows tall.

Creative adaptability works the same way. The deeper you’re rooted in who you are and what you’re creating, the more freely you can move between methods, tools, and approaches. (Download True North Blueprint to help)

Your center isn’t something that gets lost through change. It’s what enables true creative adaptability in the first place. When you know your vision, switching from one camera to another isn’t starting over. It’s choosing the right instrument for what wants to emerge.

However, this requires a fundamental shift in how we think about consistency. Most creatives have been taught that success means finding your method and sticking to it. But what if that’s exactly backward?

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Why Creative Adaptability Gets Blocked

I’ve watched photographers become so attached to natural light that they’ll turn down incredible opportunities rather than learn studio lighting. Writers who refuse to explore new software (and revenue streams, no less!) because they’ve convinced themselves their creativity lives in the way they are most familiar with. Entrepreneurs who cling to outdated systems because changing feels like admitting they were wrong or requires some great effort, despite the time they will save in the long term by doing so.

This is not about loyalty to craft. It’s about confusion between tools and identity.

The real shadow side of creative work isn’t too much adaptability. Instead, it’s getting so attached to one method that you mistake it for your essence. You put on blinders, thinking your way is the way, making habits so rigid they become creative blockages.

Recently, I discovered a new editing approach through a workshop I did with Leica in Paris. My first instinct was to dismiss it. After all, I already had a workflow that produced beautiful results. But then I caught myself. Was I protecting my creative process, or was I just being too lazy to understand color science more deeply?

Within days, I was experimenting with this new technique and quickly discovering an aesthetic that felt more “me” and one that could create a signature look I could sustain.

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The Neuroscience Behind Creative Adaptability

Our brains resist change by design. The neural pathways we use most frequently become highways. Efficient, automatic, comfortable. This serves us beautifully when we’re building genuine expertise. It becomes limiting when we confuse familiarity with mastery.

Neuroscientist Dr. Rick Hanson explains that our brains have a negativity bias. We’re wired to notice threats and stick with what feels safe. ¹ In creative work, this translates to clinging to familiar tools and methods, even when they’re no longer serving our vision.

However, research in neuroplasticity shows the brain remains remarkably adaptable throughout our lives. But only when we consciously engage with novelty. The photographer who experiments with different focal lengths isn’t just expanding their technical skills. They’re literally rewiring their visual perception.

Creative adaptability isn’t about abandoning what works. Rather, it’s about remaining curious about what else might work. It’s the difference between being skilled and being alive.

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Building Creative Adaptability Without Losing Your Center

There’s a crucial difference between having no center and being so grounded you can move freely. Bamboo doesn’t question its nature when the wind shifts. It responds from its essence.

A master craftsperson doesn’t get precious about using only one type of wood or one particular joining technique. They read what the project needs and respond accordingly. Why? Because they’re rooted in their understanding of craft itself, not married to any single expression of it.

Moreover, the creative who can pivot without ego attachment, who can read the situation and shift approaches seamlessly, builds wealth in ways that don’t show up on balance sheets. This wealth manifests in opportunities, relationships, and breakthrough work.

Three ways to stay rooted while adapting

• Know your non-negotiables
• Reframe change as refinement
• Practice tool fluency, not attachment

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How Creative Adaptability Shows Up in Real Work

Watch how seasoned photographers work on location. They don’t arrive with a rigid shot list and force the environment to comply. Instead, they show up prepared and then let the light, the mood, and the unexpected moments guide their choices.

They’re rooted in their aesthetic vision but fluid in their methods. This is creative adaptability in action.

The same principle applies to creative entrepreneurship. The most resilient creative businesses aren’t built on rigid five-year plans. They’re built on clear values and adaptive strategies. They know what they stand for and why they exist. Consequently, pivoting feels like refinement rather than failure.

In my own work, I’ve learned to hold creative direction firmly while remaining unattached to specific execution. I explore new software, apps, and tools, and consistently value rebuilding my structures.

The vision remains consistent. The approach adapts.

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Developing Your Creative Adaptability Practice

Creative adaptability isn’t about being scattered or uncommitted. It’s about being so rooted in your creative identity that you can experiment fearlessly. This currency builds over time through deliberate practice.

Start with your core foundation. What are the non-negotiables of your creative work? Your aesthetic values, your mission, your way of seeing? These become your root system. Everything else becomes negotiable.

Next, cultivate a beginner’s mind regularly. Even within your expertise, find ways to approach familiar challenges differently. Take the long way home. Use the unfamiliar lens. Write in a different location. Shoot at noon instead of golden hour and see what shifts.

Furthermore, practice reframing disruption as an opportunity. When you encounter new methods or tech, resist the urge to dismiss them immediately. Ask, “How might this amplify my signal?” Because you are always broadcasting. Open yourself up to the possibility that you might be faster, stronger, or more resonant by adapting to something new. Learn more about tuning your frequency in my article here.

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The True Value of Creative Adaptability

Creative adaptability compounds differently than traditional assets. While money or property might depreciate or require maintenance, adaptability strengthens through use. Each time we practice releasing attachment to “how things should be” and embrace “what could be,” we build adaptive muscle.

In an era where creative tools evolve rapidly and opportunities emerge unpredictably, the ability to adapt while remaining centered becomes tradeable capital and part of your market value. That earns trust, repeat work, referrals—actual currency.

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Closing Reflections

Creative adaptability isn’t about chasing trends or abandoning your essence. It’s about becoming so clear on your vision that you can meet change without losing yourself. In this way, your flexibility becomes strength. Your responsiveness becomes strategy. And your ability to stay rooted while adapting becomes the currency that carries your work forward, again and again.

If this resonates, I invite you to reflect: Where in your creative process are you holding too tightly? And where might more movement make space for something new? How might you lean into trust, curiosity, and growth?

→ Want more like this? Sign up for The Frame, my newsletter on perception, presence, and the creative process, or explore other entries in The Art of Seeing.

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Citations

1. Hanson, Rick. “Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom.” New Harbinger Publications, 2009. ↩︎