Oddbean

My tips for creatives: Walk Take long walks, especially before you start creating. Walking will clear your mind and help you detect the signal in your noisy brain. Think, then don't Think about what you're going to create - a song, an article, a book, a movie script. Get a general idea of what you want to do. When you finally get started, keep the idea in the back of your mind, but stop overthinking. Let go, and let the ideas flow through you. Ask yourself what question you want to ask yourself Start with a blank paper and a question you want answered - then answer that question to the best of your ability. Teaching is the best form of learning because it forces you to think in a first principles manner. Explain from the ground up. The question could be, "What kind of song/video/article is this?" Surprise yourself Embrace the thrill of not knowing what your piece is about as you create it. This element of surprise keeps the process fresh and exciting, making it a truly creative endeavor. If you know too much beforehand, fun turns into work, and you'll have an allergic reaction to it. Instead, let the thing reveal itself to you as you go. Know that you won't be interrupted Not only do you need to not get interrupted, you need to know that you're not going to get interrupted. John Cleese's best advice on creativity, in my opinion. I solved the interruption problem by waking up early. 95% perfection Trey Parker's best advice is to aim for 95% perfection. Anything above that is simply not worth the diminishing marginal returns, and it will just cost you time and cause you to lose momentum. The spirit of the piece Ravi Shankar once said, "If you listen to the spirit of the music, it will tell you what notes to play." This quote applies to any creative endeavor, not only music. Try to feel what the thing you're creating wants to be, and be of service to what that is. The fish is beautiful, not the fisherman Take pride in your work, but drop your ego. Never forget that what your creativity is capturing is the important thing, not you, your career, or the compliments you receive for it. Think of the final product as something beautiful you found and caught because it is. Finish right away John Lennon's advice to George Harrison - finish the song right away. In the case of text, finish the chapter/article/scene immediately. You can always come back and change it later, but the "spur of the moment" creative flame happens once. Plow Once you think you're done, plow through the thing at least twice from beginning to end. Belt sand and polish the edges, edit, rephrase. What was once a rough first draft is now in the process of being refined - this is where you turn on your pre-frontal cortex again. Kill your darlings "An engineer is not finished until there's nothing left to add, but until there's nothing left to remove." Cut the fluff. It's the easiest way to improve the quality of the end product. Quality over quantity. Substance over word salad. Carve it out In many ways, creative efforts are like carving a statue out of a stone block. Chopping of big pieces to get a general feel for the thing is easy. Most of the work is in the "attention to detail" phase. Enjoy The most important tip is to make sure you enjoy the process. If it's not enjoyable, you won't do it - so make it enjoyable. Envision the goal. Sit in a comfy chair. Fart. Amuse yourself. Creativity can be the child of boredom, but boredom can also kill the process. And what's the point of anything if you're not enjoying it anyway? Want more tips? Read Bitcoin: The Inverse of Clown World! https://bitcoininfinitystore.com/product/inverse-of-clown-world/ https://www.amazon.com//dp/B0D9RW3SPH/