Transcription
Through this program, I have enthusiastically encouraged you to be the kind of producer that puts out masterworks consistently in a world with far too much mediocrity and a world in great need of extraordinary beauty. And you have it in you to push magic into the world, and it's only going to be good for the world, and it'll be great for you, and great for your self-esteem, and great for your self-love, and great for your career, and great for your reputation, and great for your income, and great for your family. And that's why I'm really excited to walk you through a very, very powerful mental model that will help you understand how to produce masterworks consistently. And the model is called a masterwork production process. How about we get into it right away?
So, this model is called the masterwork production process. And it starts with the first step, which is incubation. Let me write that down for you so you have visual incubation. Society says if you're not working, you're wasting time. I want to remind you, if you're not working, your next level of creativity is being incubated. Incubated. I think of Haruki Murakami, the great Japanese novelist, who said, "When I'm not writing my novel, I'm creating my next novel." John Lennon said, "Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." I personally believe that once I finish, like, once I finish the Everyday Hero Manifesto, I don't want to start another book. I know some authors, they finish their last page, and the next day they start their next book. I honor them. My process is completely different. When I finish a book, I want to think about new ideas. I want to travel. I want to expose myself to new creativity. I want to have new conversations. I want to eat new food, listen to new music, think new thoughts, feel new feelings. And then my next work will be representative of me at my next level. It will be fresh. It will be innovative. It will be different than what I produced in the past. And I'm not saying that other authors are repeating their winning formula. I'm not saying that. I'm just sharing what works for me. And so, the first part of the masterwork production process is, give your time, self time to travel. And I don't necessarily mean to foreign lands. I mean to travel to experience life, to read new books. Don't rush to start the work if you're not inspired to start the work. Produce something that is pioneering. Produce something that is going to change the field. Produce something that is true to your new voice. Produce something that is really a masterwork. So, incubation is a key point. It's the period and process. It's almost like, please remember, the farmer needs to have a fallow season after planting. So you want to have a season where you're not necessarily writing or creating the work. Your ideas are incubating. Your learning, you're thinking. And that is a key part of starting the masterwork.
Okay, the next stage is preparation. Prep, preparation, preparation. So that's when you start capturing your ideas. You write them down in journals. I have game charts. So I have whiteboards, or often even in hotel rooms, I, you can get these pages that you can stick to the wall, and they can peel them off. I always travel with dry erase markers. So I write on the bathroom mirror. I come up with models and insights and one-liners. I think the room cleaners are horrified until when I leave all the markings and words and diagrams that were on the mirrors and on the windows. I've wiped them all off. And I think, oh, I guess he didn't ruin the room after all. We can, we can have him back. But stage number two of the masterwork production process processes, you're in the preparation mode. You're writing down your ideas. You're assembling. I could call this the assembly stage. Stage number two is capturing the ideas. It's buying the tools or sharpening the tools of your craft before you start the work. And it's just getting ready mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. That could be 16 days in a Tribeca hotel room booked. It could be one year in a foreign country to write the screenplay or to do your startup or whatever your creative project is. And I want to emphasize, you are a creator, no matter what you do. You are creating your magic.
Let's get to step number three, and that is all about realization. That's when you start realization. It's when you start creating the project and making it real. So if you're an author, it's when you start the first sentence. If you are an entrepreneur, it's when you assemble the team, and you come up with a strategy, strategic plan, and you build your supplier base, and you get your funding, and just start it. If, if you are a movement maker, you find the first follower.
So realization. What's step number four? You might be wondering. It's one of my favorite words. It's iteration. Iteration. So this is really about incrementalism. It's about the one percent wins. It's about consistently making it a little bit better, right? Whether it is the business, the screenplay, the poem. Maybe you're a chef, or you're an author. This is where you are constantly improving on a daily basis. It's minimum viable genius. In other words, minimum viable magic. You finish your first draft. And by the way, when I wrote the book, I rushed to beta and then iterated to world class. That's one of my key productive philosophies. I wanted to, I rushed to beta. I wanted to get the first draft done as soon as possible. Psychologically, it was so powerful. Emotionally game-changing. I said, "Oh, the book's done. Now I just have to revise it." Well, it took me 15 months of revision. But you want to rush to beta and then iterate to world class.
So after iteration, we get to optimization. Optimization, optimization. And that is really the finishing touches. It's making sure every word is perfect, metaphorically speaking. It's the details. O.A.D. is my acronym for that: Obsessive Attention to Detail. What makes magic is how you handle the smallest of details. Every little thing. That's when the consumer feels love. If you go to the great, I love great food. I remember going to Eleven Madison in New York, and they just, every little detail was perfect. Even they, they, the orientation of the emblem of the restaurant, even though the diner won't see it, all of the people on the team must have it in a certain orientation because that commitment to meticulousness and excellence sets the stage for the entire experience for all the diners. You look at any great singer, art, um, painter, entrepreneur, movement maker, scientist, they understood the smallest O.A.D., the smallest of attention to getting the little details right is really what created the magic. And this is another gargantuan competitive advantage because most people do not sweat the smallest of details. They just, they're not so invested, so they don't care.
And finally, step number six, regeneration. The key to legendary is longevity. The key to legendary is longevity. You don't want to just do one masterwork. You do want to be a multiple masterwork creator, which means you don't only do one project that stands the test of time. Your next project is even better, and the next project is even more magical, and the next project after that is even more of a masterwork. And you are around for decades. And here's the key, you stay top of your game not for a year, but for a decade. And if you look at musical artists, a lot of them have one album, you don't hear from them again. There are very few artists that are at the top of their game for 30 years. Look at actors, same thing. Look at entrepreneurs, they might have a big success with one company, but often the company flames out after three years. You look at a lot of movement makers, they create a movement, it's interesting for a while, and then people move on. You look at a lot of social platforms, they are the flavor du jour, three months later, you don't even hear from them. So you want to use regeneration, which means you pull back from the noise. You've submitted or you've finished your masterwork. You want to have fun. You want to play. You want to go on vacation, maybe take a one-year sabbatical or a three-month sabbatical. Maybe learn to cook. Maybe learn Russian or or Chinese or Spanish. Do some interesting things that will make you more interesting, so your next masterwork is even more interesting. And those are the six stages of the masterwork production process. I know as you apply them, you will see how valuable this model is and will help you do work that not only dominates your domain but allows you to feel really good about what you're sending out into the world.