Gapingvoid on ‘How To Be Creative’

This is just brilliant, or at the very least very amusing. Check out his full blog post here, and read on for my highlights.

You are responsible for your own experience.
Nobody can tell you if what you’re doing is good, meaningful or worthwhile. The more compelling the path, the more lonely it is.

All you get is this rather kvetchy voice inside you that seems to say, “This is totally stupid.This is utterly moronic. This is a complete waste of time. I’m going to do it anyway.”

And you go do it anyway.

Keep your day job. I’m not just saying that for the usual reason i.e. because I think your idea will fail. I’m saying it because to suddenly quit one’s job in a big ol’ creative drama-queen moment is always, always, always in direct conflict with what I call “The Sex & Cash Theory”.

THE SEX & CASH THEORY: “The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended.”

The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.
Art suffers the moment other people start paying for it. The more you need the money, the more people will tell you what to do. The less control you will have. The more bullshit you will have to swallow. The less joy it will bring. Know this and plan accordingly.

Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
Nor can you bully a subordinate into becoming a genius.Since the modern, scientifically-conceived corporation was invented in the early half of the Twentieth Century, creativity has been sacrificed in favor of forwarding the interests of the “Team Player”.

Fair enough. There was more money in doing it that way; that’s why they did it.

There’s only one problem. Team Players are not very good at creating value on their own. They are not autonomous; they need a team in order to exist.

So now corporations are awash with non-autonomous thinkers.

“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”

And so on.

The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece on the back of a deli menu would not surprise me. Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece with a silver Cartier fountain pen on an antique writing table in an airy SoHo loft would SERIOUSLY surprise me.

The world is changing.
Some people are hip to it, others are not. If you want to be able to afford groceries in 5 years, I’d recommend listening closely to the former and avoiding the latter. Just my two cents.

Sing in your own voice.
Piccasso was a terrible colorist. Turner couldn’t paint human beings worth a damn. Saul Steinberg’s formal drafting skills were appalling. TS Eliot had a full-time day job. Henry Miller was a wildly uneven writer. Bob Dylan can’t sing or play guitar.

Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.

Being Poor Sucks. I’ve often been asked by young people, which do I think is a better career choice: “Creativity” or “Money”? I say both are the wrong answer. The best thing to be in this world is an effective human being. Sometimes that requires money, sometimes it doesn’t. Be ready for both when it happens.

Hmm….where did I go wrong? According to Gapingvoid the biggest mistakes I made was to quite my day job and turn my hobby into a business, which did result in experiencing how much being poor really does suck. Economy-shmuckonomy.

That said, sometimes it does take hitting rock bottom to realize a few things (and I wouldn’t have hit bottom had I not done that). Here are a few of my recent epiphanies:

1. I’m not scared of money, I realize now just how much I NEED to make to be available and present day-in and day-out. To that end I will play the game – with enthusiasm!

2. My brain is hard-wired to multi-task. I dance on the line between left brain and right brain and find both sides equally delightful.

3. Being the ‘artist’ renegade is not glamorous, it is, in fact, just a title – an one that is pathetically overused IMO. No, wait. Not just overused but self-perpetuating and dishonest.

4. Not that I didn’t know before, but in the past 2 years I’ve really nailed down the kind of company that I’d like to work for – chalk it up to observations of a changing world and how spoiled I’ve become working for myself. At least now I have the confidence to be an active participant in the creation of my own future.

4. I’m plumb full of shitty ideas and bad plans. Now, for funding…

5. For whatever it’s worth, I’m proud to have taken the plunge from my 9-5, and even more proud to realize that I may not be there yet. I understand, entirely, that I DO create my own experience. That’s one tip Gapingvoid didn’t need to tell me.

And Finally, to harp on the cliché: life IS short, so my motto; don’t sit around waiting for the perfect job to come along. In my experience, it won’t. Just start doing…the bullshit will eventually melt away, you can tuck that experience in your back pocket for later.

In the thick of it – in the steaming pile of your confusion, you will see exactly what you need to do. Why? Because you were desperate enough to ask yourself the question: What the hell am I doing?

Thanks Gapingvoid!

~ by shaktisunfire on December 30, 2008.