This is one of the greatest displays of the creative process I've seen.
John Mayer perfectly demonstrates something that many of my favorite artists all say:
You become creative by creating.
"You just keep going 'til you get something," Mayer says/sings. "You gotta keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it…it doesn’t matter [what comes out of your mind/mouth].”
Dr. Andrew Huberman talks about how the brain circuits that turn on before those involved in creativity are of the stress system.
I've heard him use 3 analogies to explain this.
1) It’s like you have to wade through sewage before you can swim in clear water.
2) It’s like when you try to lift your max on the bench press—it takes time to work up to that weight.
3) It’s like your best creative work is on the other side of a door at the top of a staircase—it takes time and effort to get up the stairs and through that door.
In other words, Dr. Huberman says, you become more creative the more you create.
Many artists talk similarly about what Mayer refers to in the clip as "ouija boarding" (just sort of spitting out words and sounds).
John Legend says his songs start with what he calls “the mumble track.” “It’s just me humming and mumbling nonsense,” he said.
Judd Apatow says his movie scripts are all a product of the Down-Up theory: “Get the ideas DOWN then fix them UP.” “Give yourself permission to suck," Judd says. "Anything goes. Just get something down.”
Even if it’s nonsense, he says. Keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it.
- - -
Before I started writing online, I told Ryan Holiday I was just waiting to know for certain what I wanted to write about.
“Just start," he said.
"You’re trying to map out the whole 9 innings. Just throw the first pitch…You’re better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the delusion of perfection.”
Rather than being paralyzed by the delusion that creativity comes to you, you're better off "forcing it, forcing it, forcing it," as Mayer said.
"Go get it from the universe."
Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!
War is coming to Europe. The U.S. was sucked into European wars twice in the 20th C. Here’s my read, with @DomCruzBus, on how we mitigate the risks to U.S. national security.
The Day After Russia Attacks | Foreign Affairs https://t.co/pJDiMestDL
Lots of great predictions in this thread, but that ads will become more like movie trailers - sought after and useful- with the help of AI, brings the cookieless future into focus. @scottbelsky @scibids #AI#DigitalMarketing
We will all start to opt-in for ads [read: personalized experiences]. Artificial intelligence will make personalization so damn incredible that opting out will be the equivalent going to a restaurant and getting served a random dish.
5/10
Whoah. A twofer here. Did you know that whales were descended from deer-like land animals? Scientists Discover Fossil Of A Whale With Four Legs
https://t.co/ePjnEVxuXk
"While three-quarters of U.S. advertisers told us in April that they felt prepared to address the end of cookies, only 40% of them had already audited their reliance on third-party data and estimated the business impact of elimination." https://t.co/Kvo0UkKcEk
6 tips for creating content on social media.
1. Write like you are talking to a friend
2. Clarity over everything
3. Stay niche
4. Be consistent
5. Repurpose and remix - you don't always have to create new content
6. Understand the rules of the platform
What would you add?
Coming up today at 5 p.m. ET, @DavidWharton, James Pierce, and Peter Douglas on @joinClubhouse on how to optimize your AWS, Azure and Google Cloud spend - Join us for the "Reducing Cloud Costs at Scale" session. https://t.co/9ReITLG6Cj
@NinaSaporta@Peach26408507@C19VaxxUpdates I also just got in and was using Chrome. Lots of freezing and resets but finally got through all the screens. Keep trying!
For most organisms, decapitation is a harsh conclusion to life. Not for this sea slug. The creature separated its head from its body—and then dragged itself around to feed.
So, uh, how and why? Here are science’s best guesses 1/ https://t.co/UsfhhOQTCm