Transcription
I spent the last four years studying how hundreds of the most creative people in history created their best art. Painters, poets, musicians, filmmakers, you name it, across every domain, genre, and movement. And here's what I discovered.
The greatest artists do not play by the usual rules that most artists play by. Not even close. In this video, I'm breaking down the six most important lessons in my notes that I learned from them. Lessons that you can steal to completely transform how you create. If you care about your art, your music, and your craft, like really care, what I have to share is something that you need to hear. Let's not waste any time. Let's dive right in.
Okay, so the first lesson is something that resonated with me the most. Most artists are trying to make something that everyone will like. And this seems reasonable, like if more people connect with it, it must be better, right? But the greatest creators I studied didn't go wide. They went deep. They made work for one person or one feeling or one version of themselves that needed the message the most. I used to think that the goal of creativity was to make something universal, something big. But that's actually backwards. Van Gogh didn't paint for the world. He painted for his brother. Maya Angelou was outspoken about how she wrote poetry for the wounded version of herself. This is one of the strangest paradoxes of creating art. The more personal it is, the more universal it feels. If you try to impress everyone, you end up impressing no one. But if you go all in on touching one person deeply, you end up moving thousands. So before you start creating your next song or a painting, define your emotional avatar. Like who is this really for? Is it a younger version of you? Someone in pain, someone falling in love. Then once you have that avatar, create from that lens. Every decision will be easier. Even right now when I create these videos, I don't create them for you. I create them for my wife. And in turn, some of you guys like them.
But here's the thing. Even with a clear audience in mind, the question is, how do you actually find your voice? Well, another lesson I learned from my studies is about that. If you think great artists discover their style, you're wrong. Style isn't found, it's built. It knows it's constructed. It's done intentionally with hundreds of experiments, iterations, and reflections until a pattern emerges. James Baldwin said it best. You don't find your voice, you make it. You decide who you are, then build the muscles to be that. So, I challenge you in 30 days, make 20 paintings or songs or whatever your craft is. Stick to one tool, one theme or any one constraint. The limitations of time and output will actually force your voice to emerge.
And as you start building your voice, there's one thing that matters way more than most creators think. And it's actually in the next lesson. Most of the greatest art of all time had nothing to do with inspiration. It was all about obsession. Forget chasing inspiration. Inspiration is fleeting. On the other hand, obsession is sustainable. It's not a spark. It's more like a fire you tend to. Michelangelo worked on the Sistine Chapel for four years straight. Jiro, the sushi master, made rice for 10 years before he allowed himself to even touch fish. I am obsessed with creativity. I've been enamored by its power since I was a kid. Its ability to calm me down, to clear my mind, to communicate my ideas and and how I feel. I spent the last 10 years spreading art education around the world and every continent except Antarctica. And over the last four years, I read countless research studies on creativity and do deep dives into creative geniuses. After all my life spent passionate about creativity, I just started creating these videos to share my passion with the world. So ask yourself this, what would you keep doing if nobody ever saw it? Think about that because that's a clue as to where your obsession lies. Once you find it, go all in on that.
By the way, if you would like access to all my notes on creativity from the last four years, all my insights, tap the link in the description and tell me where I should send them.
Okay, so the next lesson is one that addresses something that most people let kill their momentum. I know you're going to hate to hear this one. It's perfectionism. Perfection kills more great art than failure ever will. Perfectionism feels like ambition, but it's actually fear in disguise. Every creative genius I studied had a release fast, refined later mentality. Beyoncé made 80 songs for her Lemonade album before narrowing them down to just 12. Picasso made 147,800 works in his life. Stephen King writes 2,000 words every single day. No exceptions. No waiting for inspiration or anything like that. These creators were great because they made a lot. They weren't waiting for perfection. They were producing. And ironically, that's what allowed them to reach perfection more often. In creativity, quantity creates quality. So, you should simply create more. Set some sort of release rhythm. You know, one piece a day or one piece a week. Share it, ship it, regardless of how you feel about it, just let momentum sharpen your craft.
Now, if there's one thing scarier than perfectionism, I'd say it's this next lesson. If you're a creative person, you need to make this mindset shift. This one is big. Most artists think that feedback is for the end of the creative process. The best creative people, on the other hand, don't fear feedback. They build feedback loops early in their creative process, not for validation to feel good or whatever. You know, they do it for growth. In entrepreneurship, they call this the lean startup methodology. It's a cycle where you build, measure the results, and then you learn from them and then you start building again. And the faster you do this process, the more successful the business will become. In art, instead of build, measure, and learn, it looks like create, share, refine. So create something and then early in the process, ask for feedback, then use that feedback to go deeper and be better. Da Vinci shared his sketches. Basquiat showed pieces to random strangers on the street. Kubrick sent film cuts to trusted friends for brutal, honest feedback. That's why you need to build your inner circle. You know, pick three or four people that you trust and show them your work in progress. Send them sketches and rough edits and just ask them, you know, how can I make this better?
All right, so now here's the last lesson, but probably the most important one. Don't make time for creativity. Live inside of it. As in, creativity is a lifestyle, not a weekend project. The creative geniuses that I studied built rituals and routines and systems around their creative passions. They protect their practice. It's not about bursts of inspiration. It's about devotion over duration. How devoted are you to your craft? If your calendar doesn't reflect your craft, your identity never will either. So please, I beg you, creator to creator, start making something. Don't wait to feel ready or perfect or inspired. Just start. Go narrow. Go deep. And build a style from the inside out. Because the world doesn't need more artists playing by the rules. It needs more creators like you who are obsessed enough to write their own.