Big Idea Daily | The Creative Act
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A Way of Beingby Rick Rubin |
“Attuned by attuned choice, your entire life is a form of self-expression. You exist as a creative being in a creative universe. A singular work of art.”RICK RUBIN |
BIG IDEA
The Creative Puzzles of Life
FROM THE BOOK“When you’re on a roll in the Craft phase, work toward a full first draft.
Maintain the momentum. If you reach a section of the work that gives you trouble, instead of letting this blockage stop you, work around it. Although your instinct may be to create sequentially, bypass the section where you’re stuck, complete the other parts, then come back to it.
Sometimes solutions to these difficult pieces will reveal themselves once the overall context has emerged. A bridge is easier to build when it’s clear what’s on either side of it.
Another benefit is that if you are stuck at a section in the middle, it may feel overwhelming to know you’re only halfway through the work. If you finish the rest of the draft and return to the portion you skipped, it feels more easily achievable when there’s only 5 or 10 percent of the project left to complete. With the end in sight, it’s easier to feel motivated to finish.
If you’re holding a center puzzle piece in your hand and staring at an empty tabletop, it’s difficult to determine where to place it. If all of the puzzle is complete except for that one piece, then you know exactly where it goes. The same is generally true of art. The more of the work you can see, the easier it becomes to gracefully place the final details clearly where they belong.”
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Brian's Notes
I read this book while crafting my own book.
To say that it was EXTREMELY helpful would be an understatement. I found inspiration in everything from Rubin’s cover design style (minimalist aesthetic, hardcover book with no dust jacket, printed straight on the cover, etc.) to the pithy micro-chapters. I even modeled our table of contents after his. And, of course, the CONTENT of the book was even more impactful.
I just love the image of building a bridge and building a puzzle. Imagine sitting there with a center puzzle piece staring at a blank table top wondering where the piece goes. Then imagine starting with the obvious edge pieces and working your way through the easier parts until you arrive at that tricky center piece and know exactly where it goes.
This is why we use the metaphor of the puzzle throughout our work together. (See +1s on The Puzzle of Life, #1 Tip for Life Puzzles, How to Make Easy Hard, and Just Get Started! for more.)
I followed the wisdom from the passage above as I crafted Areté. The hardest part of the book was actually the introduction/early chapters. I mean... How do you explain what Areté is to someone who has NEVER heard of the word?
Hmmmm... I wasn’t sure. So... I hammered curating/organizating/polishing all 451 of the micro-chapter ideas. Then, one morning, when the book was basically DONE except for the introduction, I had the experience with Emerson that led to the PERFECT set of stories to introduce the concept of Areté while introducing the reader to my family in the process.
It clicked. Boom. DONE.
Big Ideas
01: THE ULTIMATE ART
02: HABITS
03: IMPERFECTLY IMPERFECT
04: CREATIVE PUZZLES
05: YOU, THE HERO
“No matter what tools you use to create, the instrument is you. And through you, the universe that surrounds us all comes into focus.”RICK RUBIN |
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