Overcoming Creative Blocks
Sweet Bites for August 16, 2024
Hi all,
Welcome to another edition of Sweet Bites, Mind Candy’s bite-sized newsletter with thought-provoking finds to send you into the weekend with.
This week we explored resistance in creative pursuits (links below).
Any of the below bites resonate? Hit the reply button and let me know.
🍰 Mini Bite #1
Overcoming creative blocks
When we are pursuing a creative endeavor, we inevitably hit a wall. Sometimes this is writer’s block, other times we just don’t feel like the work is connecting.
Many times, it is because in the back of our minds we hold onto how others will judge the work, whether it will be successful, or if we’ll look like a fool.
“As an artist, if you like it, that’s all the value,” says the famed music producer Rick Rubin.
We take back control and relinquish the block by readjusting why we’re doing the work to begin with.
📚 This Week’s Monday Meditation
✏️ This Week’s Wednesday Wisdom
📖 Book Recommendation
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Summary from Amazon:
“Since 2002, The War of Art has inspired people around the world to defeat "resistance"; to recognize and knock down dream-blocking barriers and to silence the naysayers within us. Resistance kicks everyone's butt, and the desire to defeat it is equally as universal. The War of Art identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.”
Favorite quotes:
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
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“If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.”
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“Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”
🍰 Mini Bite #2
The myth of writer’s block
Writer’s block comes from perfectionism, thinking it has to be of a certain caliber before it can be written—the idea needs more research, the prose need to be polished in my head, I don’t know the ending.
But according to Seth Godin, one tactic we can all embrace to overcome writer’s block is just getting comfortable writing poorly.
“If you write poorly enough, your brain will give up and sooner or later you will start writing well.”
Best-selling author Ryan Holiday has another piece of advice for overcoming blocks: just keep working at it.
If you keep chipping away, even if it isn’t making sense or connecting, eventually you will come across something, a quote, a story, a spark of inspiration, that jolts you from the malaise and puts you back on track.
You just have to trust the process.
🦉 Wisdom
“Creativity is worthless if it can't be applied. The bottom line for your work has to be: This will make us more money. The lifeblood of any company is sales and cash flow. All great ideas are meaningless in business until someone pays for them.”
Keith Ferrazzi
Source: Never Eat Alone
🍰 Mini Bite #3
Challenge yourself
Ever wonder how the director Christopher Nolan pulls off such interesting stories and set pieces like a rotating corridor in a dream or traveling through space and time?
It’s because he likes to challenge himself, constantly building upon what came before.
“I try to be all about story, and then as I’m writing, create visuals or situations that I don’t know how to do.”
We don’t always have to have a roadmap, sometimes the challenge is setting the target and figuring out how to get there.
That’s the challenge, that’s the fun.
“And I try to take my directors hat off when I’m writing and write that I then come to as a director and I say I have no idea how to do… because that’s when you know you’re challenging yourself and it’s through that challenge you then put together a great team of people and through that challenge you find something you haven’t done before, something that’s fresh and different…”
🛠️ Tactic
Embracing resistance is what gives beauty to everything according to Steven Pressfield. While we want to fight it, we ultimately need it.
Until next time,
D.A. DiGerolamo
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