When I'm creatively stuck, I do this
I’ve been known to get my creative inspiration from all kinds of different places, but maybe the most obscure one comes from the middle of an interview with musician John Mayer.
Watch the video for yourself. But if you can’t, let me describe what happens.
The interviewer asks John to talk about his creative process.
He picks up his guitar and starts strumming, saying, “Well, I don’t always do it because it requires a stupid bravery all the time.”
He begins singing random lyrics as he plays.
“Sunlights beating on the corner of the walls, and I’m a Mr. know-it-all. Heaven calls, get yourself right, get yourself right.”
He stops and says, “If you’re not ouija boarding immediately, you’re wasting time.”
Ouija boarding, the act of simply making something, and continuing on no matter how bad it is—and only later editing it into something good—is the most important creative habit I’ve ever adopted.
I make 5 bad content marketing sketches before one good one
I write a few terrible lines of code before I get a better one
I try 7, 8, or 9 awful blog post titles before better ones emerge
It turns out ouija boarding isn’t just some kind of fake-out mindset trick. There’s real science to it.
Dr. Andrew Huberman explains: The brain circuits that turn on first [when doing creative work] are of the stress system. … The agitation and stress that you feel at the beginning is just a recognized gate. … There is a gate of entry. You have to wade through some sewage before you can swim in clear water. That’s the way I always think about it.”
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to ouija board the rest of my conference talk, where I’ll see many of you next week in person. :)