Review

I’ve lost many hours watching Rick Rubin interview artists on the Broken Record podcast. He seems to be able to listen more deeply that the rest of us. He’s the perfect person to write about the illusive science of creativity. The observations in this book are timeless, and although they are about music in the studio, many of the lessons can be applied to product development in the office.

Key Takeaways

The 20% that gave me 80% of the value.

• To create is to bring something into existence that wasn’t there before.
• Look for what you notice, that nobody else sees.
• Living life as an artist is a practice. It’s like being a monk. You’re either living life as a monk or you’re not. The real work of an artist is a way of being in the world.
• Immerse yourself in the great works. The cannon is changing over time. Don’t mimic greatness, but calibrate your meter to it greatness.
• The sensitivity that allows people to make art, often means they’re vulnerable to being judged. Artists sometimes look to numb the sensitivity with drugs and alcohol.
• One of the best strategies to overcome self doubt and become unstuck is to lower the stakes.
• Complete this project so you can move onto the next.
• Treat work as an experiment, we’ll learn something which can inform the next thing.
• Don’t play to win, play to play.
• Your desire to create, must be greater than your fear of creating.
• Doubt the work not yourself. It’s OK to question if the work is the best it can be. Refrain from saying you’re not capable of creating great work.
• There’s a great power in not knowing. Remove beliefs, conventions limit what is possible.
• Experience can make innovation harder to access. Try to experience everything as if it’s for the first time.
• Inspiration is energizing, but it’s not to be relied on. Inspiration is outside of our control, its hard to find, we can only extend an invitation. Showing up on a regular basis is the main requirement.
• If you’re lucky enough to be struck by inspiration. Ride the wave as long as you can. Remain in the energy as long as you can, stay with it. Stay with it until it runs it course. Set aside your schedule. Inspiration comes first. you come next, the audience comes last. If possible, ride the inspiration to a finished first draft.
• The only person you’re competing against is yourself.
• Discipline and freedom aren’t opposites. They are partners. Discipline of managing your schedule and daily habits well creates space and creative energy.
  • Think about creativity supporting habits.
  • Find sustainable rituals that support your work. Create an easily achievable habit to begin with, you’re welcome to extend any session you start.
• Put the decision making into the work, not when you’re going to work.

• Collect many seeds and see which ones resonate. Accumulate many weeks and months of ideas to draw from.
• Don’t dismiss an idea just because it doesn’t work in your head. If you’re looking for the best idea, test everything. Ask what if questions… What if I made all the loud parts quiet.
  • It’s hard to know what somebody else is thinking, sometimes its just easier to try it.
  • Test them all – don’t just talk about them. Persuasion leads to mediocrity. Descriptions don’t do ideas justice. To be evaluated ideas needs to be seen, heard, tasted or touched.
• Step away and come back with fresh eyes. Moving between multiple projects can be helpful.
• If you get stuck on a section, work around it. A bridge is easier to build, when it’s what clear what’s on either side of it. It’ll feel more achievable once you’ve done 80% of the work.
• Culture informs who you are, and what you introduce informs culture.
• If you hit the wall, break the sameness.
  • Start by writing just a small amount each day.
  • Change your environment.
  • Change the stakes (up or down).
  • Invite an audience (it can change how you act).
  • Change the context.
  • Alter the perspective.
  • Add imagery. Create a scene, and then create your thing to fit the scene.
• The work is for you. The work is done when you feel it is done.
• Finishing your work is a good habit.
• A mindset of abundance. A river of ideas flow through us, if we create and share them they are replenished. Better ideas are always coming.
  • Don’t live in scarcity, your river will slow. Make the thing and let it go.
• Constraints and limitations are opportunities.
• Limiting your work to the familiar is a disservice to you and your audience.
• Make the best thing you can make. Have the objective of doing great work.
• Success happens in the moment before releasing the work. Success has nothing to do with variables outside yourself, outside of your control. Most variables are outside of your control, so just do your best work and share it.
• Practice detachment. Consider detaching from the story of your life. Experience events as if you’re observing a movie. There’s always a next scene. Zoom out and observe, don’t Zoom in and obsess.
• Competition in art is absurd. BUT the energy of rising to meet, is different. This isn’t competition it is collaboration. An upward spiral toward magnificence.
  • Self competition is a quest of evolution. Growth over superiority.
• Distilling the work to the essence can be informative. Try finding the simplest most elegant way of expressing your idea.
• Outside forces can undermine focus. Learn to tune out outside forces.
• When the weight of expectation grows heavy, trust in the process. At least you’re getting closer to mastering your craft
• Sometimes ideas come from inspiration. Sometimes they come through experimentation, effort and craft. Without diligence, inspiration is useless.
• Stay in it, 24/7. Creativity is something you are, not something you do.
• Placing two options side by side, and it becomes clear which way to take the work
• Do what works for you. There is no right time, right strategy, or right equipment. Your path is unique. Discover what works for you.There’s no wrong way to make art.
• Complete a project so you can start the next one. Complete this project for the next one. Out of this process becomes regeneration.
• Work together with a goal of surpassing the current iteration. Choose the best idea, it doesn’t matter who’s idea it was.
• Offer up your best ideas in the spirit of cooperation. Don’t let your ego perceive assistance as interference.
• An editor needs cold detachment. Editing is about reduction without losing the essence. It is not easy to leave work behind you’ve put effort into.
• Why make art? Most who choose the artists path don’t have a choice. The reason we’re alive is to express ourselves in the world.
• What we tell ourselves doesn’t matter. All that matters is the work.