How Take That Escaped Creative Prison

The new Take That documentary on Netflix was a real creative eye opener. I watched it for nostalgia but instead learned a crazy good life lesson.

This is what happened… The five members of Take That, young, starry eyed and full of energy stepped inside a creative system that ended up breaking each and every one of them.

Their talent was turned into output, their friendship was turned into sensationalism. They competed with one another under the tutelage of toxic management and their song writing, singing and dancing, whilst earning them money, also cost them their happiness.

After they split up and left this poisonous creative system they each turned to pretty extreme self-damaging behaviours. The breaking they underwent by being in the wrong creative life, despite using their talents, was tough.

After some years passed they reformed. They spoke about how they really collaborated this time, how they co-created, made the music they wanted to and reformed their bonds. They were spectacularly successful.

It taught me this: a creative prison can look like a golden ticket - until you realise you’re trapped. Watching their story, I saw what happens when talent is locked in someone else’s structure. But the moment the band built their own creative space, they thrived - and I realised the same about my life.

If I’ve learned one thing in this, my 50th year, it’s that I don’t need to try fitting into other people’s plans for me.

Last year I left my job in a creative studio and totally re-imagined my art and business. My ego wanted to cling to the rewards from the old system, the status, power and credibility, and it panicked when I left. But when I fully stepped into my own creative framework, that noise quieted. I didn’t need to chase those old markers. My creativity became soulful, not just survival in someone else’s world.

Right now I’m working on a national, iconic project, on my own creative terms. And yes I did just read that back to myself to make sure it is true.

So here’s the lesson: The frameworks, relationships, agreements, projects we step into - no matter how creative they seem - might not be right for us. They might, in fact, be a sort of creative prison. If you feel the tension, trash your boundaries or give up your soul’s vision, that’s your signal to GET OUT.

It can feel terrifying, but never forget, on the other side is the most authentic, imaginative work of your life.

See what I did there?

Here are three journal prompts to help free yourself of those restrictive creative systems.

1. Identify one “rule” you’ve internalised about success - where did it come from, and who benefits from you following it?

2. If your ego could speak, what would it beg you not to lose? Now, what might your soul say back?

3. Imagine your creativity is a band. Who’s in charge - ego, fear, imagination, someone else? Who needs to take centre stage for your next song?