We’ve all been taught to admire the super producers. The people who can churn out masterworks in literature, visual arts and the sciences are regularly labeled, ‘geniuses’. Too often we forget the words of Thomas Edison “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration”.
Creative Professionals know that the fires of inspiration don’t always burn brightly, sometimes they require ‘fuel’ even if that fuel is amazingly self-destructive.
Pick your poison and there will be one of the Greats to set a not-so-shining example of how it’s done.
Drugs – In the manner of Ayn Rand, Jean Paul Satre, The Beatles
Alcohol – in the manner of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen King, Tennessee Williams
Women – in the manner of John Cheever, Wilt Chamberlain, Jack Nicholson
How Do You Do It?
If you’re a creative professional at least once in your life someone has asked “how do you do it?” What they are really asking is; how can you create anything on demand and under pressure.
I’ve come up with so many B.S. answers to that question that I’ve forgotten most of them. Truth be told much of my on-demand genius
as a full-time speechwriter comes from large doses of caffeine and adrenaline.
The caffeine I get from Starbucks, the adrenaline comes from procrastinating until the last minute to start working. This method has produced some truly awe-inspiring rhetoric. It has also caused some adverse experiences or to be more precise, major screw-ups which are less tolerated the higher I rise in the organization.
The idea of being a drunken, womanizing, successful author does have a certain appeal but until I achieve such a status I’ve decided to adopt a few minimalist habits that should increase my productivity without destroying my creativity.
1. Set the bar for my daily goals very low.
True story. Four years ago I went to work on a Saturday with the full intention of producing a 20 minute speech filled with witticism, quotes, facts and figures. I emerged 25 hours later with an outline of less than 100 words. In my defense, the internet is a distracting place.
The moral here is that the task of writing 20 pages in one session is psychologically daunting. This makes procrastination more likely and productivity less likely. Thirty minutes of writing is a goal that I can easily achieve and also easily exceed. Add that to my daily calendar of completing two phone calls or two administrative files and I end up with three daily tasks.
A to-do list of three significant things is way more likely to get, done than a list of 10.
2. Write for at least 30 minutes every day
Surprise,! As a speechwriter, I do not write everyday. During summer, I may not write anything significant for weeks. Without daily practice the writing muscles atrophy and in short order writing confidence is gone and writer’s block rears its ugly head – which oddly enough, looks exactly like a blank computer screen.
3. Take a daily walk
Escaping from the place where the creative effort occurs tends to tickle my writing muse. As everyone knows creative muses are like Lady Luck, feckless and wanton. However they do like to show up in places where I can’t commit them to paper, mostly in the shower and while driving. A long walk is a nice compromise for us.
This method of fanning the creative flame hurts no one, doesn’t require a 12-step programme afterwards, can’t get me arrested, lifts my mood and has been tried and tested by the great composers,
I like taking walks. I try to do at least a mile a day. While I’m out I get to enjoy the familiar (the route, the buildings and vehicles) and the inspirational (flowers, hummingbirds, women). By moving away from my office and computer screen, I allow the ideas to fight in a Darwinian struggle until something useful emerges and becomes the foremost thought in my mind. By capturing that idea I have new fodder for my writing. I am told that while on these walks, I can be seen talking to myself.
For good reason, if I didn’t talk to myself, how would I know what I’m thinking?
To wrap up
‘Genius’ is more about action than thought. Contrary to what is often told in the media becoming more productive doesn’t require some great app or product. There are minimalist alternatives. Secondly, to paraphrase a great philosopher (Pras of the Fugees) everyone has goals and dreams but the geniuses build habits and routines. Artist or not you can do the same.
Now go and find your inner genius but first leave a comment.
This post was inspired by the book, “Daily Rituals: How Artist Work”. Articles by the same author can be found here.
[…] written about the power of rituals before but here is a refresher course. A ritual is a string of actions/behaviours or near habits […]