I saw Jonathan Mann perform last night at betalevel here in LA. He was talking about a project he’s embarked on wherein he writes, records, and posts online a new song every single day. He’d been doing it since January one and hasn’t missed a day yet. In the speaking part of his presentation he talked about his philosophy regarding this. His approach reminded me a lot of the Cult of Done as well as something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently in regards to my own projects and approach to them.
For the longest time when I’d start something I generally had one two things driving me, either I thought it would be cool to do and no one had told me I couldn’t do it, or someone had told me I couldn’t do it and I was hell bent on proving them wrong. I was more concerned with doing something than with what I was doing. The result of that was that I think I ended up doing some cool things from time to time, things I’m proud of at least. There were of course things that didn’t turn out so well but honestly I don’t remember most of them at this point. At some point in that process I started focusing on those cool things I was proud of and grew embarrassed of the ones that weren’t. I thought it would be better to produce less in hopes of only doing those cool things and just skipping the not so cool ones. Turns out it doesn’t work that way and you don’t get to make that choice. If you decide to only do super bad ass things the list of things you do will be very short, where as if you do a bunch of things all the time, there is a higher chance of more and more of them being bad ass.
Jonathan addressed that issue in his talk with something he calls the 70-20-10 rule that I thought was awesome and something we should all keep in mind.
I think that slide speaks for itself, but the point is you have to get comfortable with the fact that when creating things most are going to be just ok, some are going to suck, and from time to time they will be awesome. It’s being ok with the first 90% that makes the elusive 10% possible.
For me, when I look back, I never really gave a shit about other people saying I couldn’t do something or that something I did wasn’t good. I can pretty much come up with justification why anyone elses opinion doesn’t matter. It’s my own opinion I’m not so good at ignoring. I’ve definitely been my hardest critic, even if only because I’m the only critic I ever listen to. Which is exactly the problem. Once I started listening to the critical thoughts I was having I convinced myself that I couldn’t do things that previously I would have been able to do without question. If I thought the result wouldn’t be as good as what I wanted I’d often end up with no result at all. Which really, I think is worse. Jonathan’s next slide really hit home:
Those are exactly the things I know I need to overcome. For example how many times have I written here that I’m going write about something on a specific schedule only to not pull it off as planned. That’s because all of those things filled my head. I’ve felt the posts wouldn’t be good enough, and that I could do a better job later, and that I just didn’t have the time right now, and that I just wasn’t inspired, and maybe things would be better after this nap. I talked myself out of doing things I’d already said I wanted to do. I thought too much about it. I used to put that off to writers block but it’s not just in writing. If you had any idea of the projects I’ve started or wanted to start and stopped for no reason other than my own overthinking you’d be sick. Or you’d laugh at me, and you’d have every right to. And I’d thank you for doing it and reminding me what a dumb ass I was being.
We are the only ones who can stop ourselves from pulling things off. I don’t know about you, but that’s something I need to remind myself of more often.
fucking awesome article.
man, thats so true. i find that you’ve creative processes are more “work” than most people like to think.
I’m in that category of trying to prove I can do what some said it couldn’t be done. Feeling a bit down, thinking of just backing away…. and here’s the 70-20-10 rule. Thanks. I’m back on track!!!!
This one of your 10%.
Correction: This IS one of your 10%. Apparently the first draft of my comment was one of my 70%.
Sometimes I wish I had a Burgess Meredith (Rocky Meredith, not Penguin Meredith) muse coach that kicked me in the ass periodically. Then I realize that I am an adult and should be able to kick myself in the ass; tools like this article and Jonathan’s advice are really helpful and remind me to do that. Thanks!
Totally awesome.
I’m going to put you in the people who have awesome things to say category of my brain.
I applaud you.
I appreciate your writing this very much. I found your article accidentally, just minutes after writing about the very same thing in my Morning Pages. I don’t know if you’ve heard about this “Morning Pages” phenomenon, but you basically wake up and you write whatever is in your head. Three pages of unsophisticated blather. It’s meant to do wonders for your creativity, namely because you are not meant to criticise your work. In fact, you’re not even meant to read over it at all. You’re just meant to do it every morning and eventually, you’ll feel better about yourself and your creative output.
I, too, procrastinate constantly. For instance, I want to make a podcast for my blog. It will be #13 in the series. I am worried it will not be perfect. I am worried that people will criticise my song choices or the way that I talk. Consequently, I make excuses all the time not to do it. Exactly the same excuses you mentioned in your post. But it still weighs on my mind, it’s like a heinous tumour that I trying to ignore. Once I stop writing here, I will make an attempt to record it. I will try, I will try.
I think if you can somehow create a compulsive duty to practice, you will feel better. You need to form a dependency on it somehow, as in, you need to do it to exist, to feel normal. We must come to accept that it’s not necessarily about perfection, it’s about development. If we don’t do it, we won’t get better! It reminds me of how I used to feel when I did live radio. I loved it so much that if I went for a few days without it, I had withdrawals. It had become a necessity for me and I think you need to make your writing a necessity for you.
Best wishes xx
Thank you for posting this. I’m currently trying to start my first craft business and find myself doing exactly this! Reading this article couldn’t have come at a better time in my life…thanx again!
Thanks for posting this. I’m right there with you. Inspiring me now to get going on the things that I’ve been meaning to do…
This is a great article and I’m glad I’ve come across it (thanks to Gala Darling for posting the link). This past Wednesday I got laid off from work. Long story short, instead of freaking out and trying to find another job in retail, I’m going to focus on my photography and video editing and see where it goes. I can’t take this time to just sit around and talk myself out of trying new things. I just have to do it. You’re exactly right. It could be great and talking myself out of it is just hurting myself in the end. I’m gonna save this article and refer back to it when I’m feeling like wimping out of a project.
I’m bad about trying to do too many things at once and then freaking out and talking myself out of them. I’ve definitely got a perfectionist streak in me, so I want to be able to do it brilliantly or not do it at all sometimes. I’m trying to get better at just working up the courage to take a stab at things though, no matter if I’m good or bad. Maybe I’ll start off terrible and end up brilliant?
This is fantastic.