still running school code in your creator brain?
...these 7 invisible lessons still shape your work and it's time to break them.
What good is creative rebellion without a proper root-cause analysis anyway?
You know, so you don't turn out a rebel without a cause.
If it's not your first rodeo in my corner of the internet.
Then you know how giddy I get about the corporate carnival.
Wondering why most of us fall in line for corporate numb-scullery at scale?
So it only makes sense to ask:
How did I get here?
No one:
Me: puts on mad scientist hat
(and white lab coat to boot)
Compulsory School OS uninstalling...%
You and I weren’t trained to think.
We were trained to comply.
(unless you were lucky, tutored by Socrates himself)
Maybe that's why creating feels harder than it should?
Maybe that's why choosing your path feels riskier than it logically is?
Maybe that's why you’re great at execution but struggle with direction?
(or maybe the other way around, starving artist much?)
Maybe.
Maybe it's:
- NOT a character flaw
- NOT your mindset
- Conditioning
Going down the education system rabbit hole…
I came across John Taylor Gatto.
His work stood out like a sore thumb and put into words how I felt about schooling for ages. That's when it clicked for me and inspired this synthesis.
The man was named NYC Teacher of the Year in 1989.
(It's always an inside job, innit?)
Let's just call him the Edward Snowden of Education.
Blowing the lid off the hidden history of American education.
(relevant worldwide)
The tune he whistled to?
“The Hidden Curriculum.”
It's not what schools claim to teach.
But what they actually train.
Each invisible lesson is designed to shape compliant worker bees.
Not self-directed creators.
Ummm, ok.
That's not good, right?
Nah, it's great...
for too-big-to-fail-business.
Much less competition.
Much more extraction.
But as a CREATOR...
That's a too-big-to-fail-to-address-hair-on-fire-problem
Nuff' with the suspense
Let's get to it, shan't we...
Alas, the 7 (hidden) mental programs.
And how to delete them once and for all.
1. Confusion
What school taught you:
Knowledge is random.
Subjects are disconnected.
Memorize, regurgitate, and move on.
There's no big-picture thinking.
No meaning, no synthesis.
Just trivia in silos.
How it kills creativity:
You hoard tactics.
You binge on courses.
You never commit to a single idea long enough to build anything.
I've struggled with this big time.
Collecting courses and screen-shotting how-tos like a stamp collector with OCD.
Heck, I find myself still fighting the impulses.
2. Class obedience
What school taught you:
There’s a "right" way. Stay in your lane.
Sit when and where you're told.
Earn your way up. Quietly.
Ask permission.
How it kills creativity:
You don’t claim authority.
You compare instead of create.
You wait for “credentials” before sharing what you know.
3. Indifference
What school taught you:
When the bell rings, you're done, even if the work isn’t.
Urgency is artificial.
Depth is optional.
How it kills creativity:
You lose steam mid-project.
You jump ship when it gets messy.
You never finish the thing you actually care about.
4. Emotional dependency
What school taught you:
You’re doing great, if the teacher says so.
Hungry for gold stars.
Shame-sensitive.
Praise-trained.
How it kills creativity:
You optimize for applause instead of resonance.
You look to authority for praise or punishment.
You panic when nobody likes/comments.
As an emapth, this one nearly killed me.
Always begging for validation or permission.
(Not to mention toilet breaks)
5. Intellectual dependency
What school taught you:
Independent thought was punished.
Conformity was rewarded.
Wait to be told what to think.
The expert knows best.
How it kills creativity:
You copy instead of question.
You freeze without a framework.
You don’t trust your weirdest ideas.
6. Conditional self-worth
What school taught you:
Measure your value externally.
You are your GPA.
Your test score.
Your rank.
How it kills creativity:
You don’t share unless it’s perfect.
You're only as good as your last launch.
You can’t separate rejection from identity.
7. Constant surveillance
What school taught you:
You’re always being watched, so don’t mess up.
Expression = exposure.
Mistakes = shame.
Privacy = risk.
How it kills creativity:
You censor your ideas.
Fear of judgment keeps you small.
You polish the life out of your work.
You stay safe instead of saying something true.
Holy sh*t, that was a lot!
Are you OK?
Chances are, you already knew this deep in your bones.
A hard pill to swallow, nonetheless.
Maybe you've got Alarm bells going off right about now.
But, what about Mr. Keating, you might object.
You may have had one brilliant school teacher in your life.
If you were lucky.
To sum it all up...
With your ABCs and algebra.
You were also schooled to fear mistakes
To distrust your intuition and direction.
To wait for someone to say:
“You’re ready.”
So what if you don't wait for another certification?
For another round of plant medicine retreats.
Or another masterclass.
...to tell you you're ready?
What if you go permission-less?
(albeit on a mission)
Enter, the antidote:
Purpose-led creative projects
(AKA: the exact opposite)
Cuz entrepreneurship demands the reverse Uno card:
Pattern breaking
Self-direction
Originality
Risk
Unlearning the hidden curriculum.
Undoing the damage doesn’t take years.
It takes awareness, ownership, and aligned action.
That’s where creative freedom begins.
Cuz creative rebels don't rebel against school (or the 9-5).
They reclaim their gut instincts
Create things they care about
(like no one's grading them)And trust their weird ideas
That's a lot to take in.
If you need guidance in undoing the hidden school curriculum.
I'm putting the finishing touches on the Permissionless Creator guide.
A simple tool to help you deprogram this operating system at a deeper level.
Get early access to the Permissionless Creator guide.
️
Feeling social? (s)talk on LinkedIn.
-- Your School Anti-Headmaster
Aleksander Brankov
