Isaac Asimov on Creativity
How do people get new ideas?
This is a question many of us wonder, even as creatives. We don't always understand how we come up with new ideas. But in a world increasingly powered by AI, copy/paste creativity, reboots, and remakes, new ideas (originality) will make your work stand out from the sea of sameness.
So, how do we get new ideas?
Tom Cruise on Creativity
There's a riddle in the middle of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. It says:
What is always coming but never arrives?
Procrastination and its cousin, hesitation, are some of Resistance's greatest weapons. Anything we put off doing now is even less likely to get done tomorrow. Procrastination is pretty obvious: it's the putting off of doing what we know we need to do. Hesitation is related, but slightly different.
The Myth of One-size-fits-all Creativity
It's an ecstatic experience when inspiration strikes like lightning and an idea is borne from above on a bolt of electricity. But it isn't an easily controlled, repeatable event.
So your job is to do the work.
Sit your butt in the seat and face the blank page.
Start digging.
Move some dirt around.
See what happens.
If inspiration strikes, wonderful.
If not, put in the work anyway.
Navigating Burnout
The pressure to create—to maintain an online presence—is immense. Post, comment, like, feed the algorithm or risk falling into the abyss of obscurity. But that pressure is stressful, especially if you're an introvert like me. Sure, being active online doesn't require as much energy as mingling with acquaintances and strangers in person, but it's still draining.
Take the First Step
Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.
Your willpower is the outside force.
All you need is one single, defiant act in the face of Resistance.
And once you're in motion, it's much easier to keep going.
Starting can be the hardest part.
Reinvention or ADD?
Creativity is a journey.
Maybe it's a straight path for some of you. You have a great talent, a passion and drive for it, and it is your singular focus. You go from point A to point B. A simple journey.
For others, maybe you're like me, and you've been all over the place, dabbling in different creative fields. You go from point A to point B to point E, back to point D, jump to point M, and who knows where else.
I say, keep dabbling. Get your hands dirty. Try something new. Push yourself to learn, to grow.
Make the journey interesting.
The world is not in your books and maps. It's out there.
Are you creatively stuck?
It might have nothing to do with what you're doing creatively and more to do with your physical environment.
Maybe you need to... “hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves,”
You Need a Sam Gamgee
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a creative, Resistance will still fight you. I’ve been creating since I could hold a crayon or a pencil. I have 35-year-old notebooks filled with artwork and short stories. But I still face Resistance on a daily—if not hourly—basis.
There is no defeating it once and for all. It’s a fight you will wage over and over and over again. Consider it part of the creative process.
Judge me by how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are
Whoever said there's no such thing as a bad idea was dead wrong.
Some ideas are terrible.
If you really think about it, the life of a successful creative, in its simplest form, is the courage to get through enough bad ideas that you get to the good ones. And you work towards the occasional great idea.
Don’t Break the Chain
Maybe you've heard the story about the time Brad Isaac asked Jerry Seinfeld how to be a better comedian.
Seinfeld's answer was simple: “The way to be a better comic is to create better jokes. The way to create better jokes is to write every day.”
When Seinfeld was a young comedian, he committed to writing one joke a day. Not an entire routine or even a whole monologue. Just one funny line.
Dreaming of the Crash
If you only look within your own niche for ideas and inspiration, you’re building shallow sand castles without ever digging deep enough to find the treasure buried a few more inches below the surface.
Freedom in Structure
I'm a big believer in structure and rules.
That might sound antithetical to the life of a creative. Shouldn't we demand freedom and spontaneity? Who can predict the precise moment the muses will smile upon us, open the floodgates of creativity and allow them to wash over us? (If you believe in muses, that is).
The Creative Act of Building in Public
Building something in public can be scary. If you fail, you fail in front of everyone who's watching. It's safer to create in your basement. Or your work shed. A closet maybe. Or best of all, a remote cabin in the woods.
But in many ways it's also riskier to work in secret.
AI as a Creative Tool
I would argue that AI is not a replacement for creative skill. It's merely a tool creatives and artists have at their disposal to enhance or speed up the creative process.