To Be Thought Foolish and Stupid

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”- That’s the original from Epictetus (55 AD to 135 AD)

Here are some possible updates:

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid by those parts of yourself who are afraid to go against _______________“

“If you want to be creative beyond your day-job, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

“If you want to explore and experiment in your area of creativity using money you should spend on what others think you should, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

“If you want to trust yourself and follow your inner calling, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

“If you want to keep on trying when everyone else knows for sure that all is hopeless, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

“If you want to hold to high standards rather than rush to tried-and-true low standards, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

If you want to engage in creative efforts that are not tied to money or advancement, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

Do you have other suggestions for what Epictetus might observe/declare if he was looking at the life of Creatives today?

Bunches of Reasons Not To Commit to Anything

To pass from casual creative to productive creative, commitment is required. Commitment that sometimes is hard to muster, painful to carry out, and the last thing you can handle at the moment. Commitment to work, to practice, to make your creativity a big part of your life, commitment to springing back after criticisms and hard times. The list of possible uses is long.

So is the list of reasons not to grab a hold of your calling/interests/strengths/offerings and create something. Pick one, pick a bunch.

Reasons, Reasons, Reasons

- Not guaranteed results. I must be guaranteed very good or great results if I am to be expected to throw myself into something.

- I can’t stand “failure” or to be seen as not following through. My self-esteem is on the line.

- I can’t live being so exposed to judgement and criticism – Worried about hurting self esteem

- I have no idea where to start. Without a set road map, forget it. Since I hate disorder, confusion, ambiguity, I don’t even want to start

- My regular life overwhelms so much, why take on something else?

- I’ll get to it sometime later. I’ve got plenty of time and my vision of the future is pretty clear, the future is the best time for this.

- To do my project requires all sorts of training, etc. and I can’t/don’t want to start that.

- In all probability, my work will not be considered “great” by others in my field. If I can’t be seen as great, so forget it.

- My friends/family/peers will make fun of me for working on such a project.

- I’ve “failed” in the past so I will fail in the future.

- I have low frustration tolerance.

- No one around me has done something like this. It has always been someone in the distance (someone on the news; someone in a magazine; someone in the past, etc.). I know they did something I want to do but it all seems so distant, so hazy.

- I couldn’t stand being boxed in by commitment.

- I’m not sure what commitment means in this case but I’m sure it means more pain (discipline, schedules, concentration, etc) than pleasure.

- Truly, I’m happy with just envisioning my project, I don’t want or need to actually do it.

- I have no target project in mind.

- Part of me will demand that my work will be perfect and another part doubts if it ever could be perfect. Too much inner conflict to handle.

- I can’t make up my mind which project I want to do first.

- I don’t want to give up anything I already have and a new project would rock the boat.

- There isn’t enough time in the day. There isn’t enough space in my house. There isn’t enough money in my bank account.

- To be an artist, one must constantly or regularly inspired and I know I can’t be inspired 24/7. I’m just a regular person.

- I find some aspect of my creative field intimidating so I will stay away from the entire field or hold way back.

- I must know every move I will be required to make. I don’t know all the future moves so no use starting.

- Getting through schooling and getting a job is the way to do things. Since I was never shown how to go much beyond that, it would be strange to try to do something in addition to the norm.

- People look pretty happy with the norm (see above) so that is the gold standard. Things are going pretty well so why take on anything else?

- People will dislike me if I stand out (“The tall poppy is the first one cut.”)

- I’m afraid I might start and then find out it wasn’t what I wanted to do so I would have wasted time and money.

- The only benefit for doing something is the end product, the process is not important. While I would love to have the end product, I think the process would stink, not be exciting, be painful, etc. so why even start?

- I know myself, once I start hitting some obstacles I get depressed.

- My gut tells me that this is a big job and one person can’t do it all alone. My head never realizes that I don’t have to do everything myself. Unique partnerships, hiring of help, etc. could make my goal much more reachable. Oh well, never got that figured out. Move on.

- I’ll spend a week on something but there is no way that I will work on a project for 30 days, 90 days, a year, etc.

The Seduction of Scattering

Scattering is wonderful. I have been scattering for the last 40 days or so (evidence: lack of regular posting to this blog). First, I threw myself into an unexpected short-term project. Loved it. Learned a lot, got to present to a brand new type of group. Felt great. Next, some new, great books have been coming out so I have been very happy to: order, break them out of the Amazon box on sight, and slip into my favorite chair and cut loose. Cutting loose is reading a few chapters and then racing to the appendix to see what books the author turned to to get the book done.  Ah, the discovery of a book (or two) I was unaware of so off I go to: order the book(s), breaking them out of the Amazon box (rushed shipping), etc.  Great times, the free reading process continues. Life can’t get any better.

Wait! Life can get better!  I decided that I wanted to get some other projects done and that would make my life better.  The only way I can get those things done is with regular, mainly daily work. One good life got remembered (my pleasurable free reading) and another (my projects) got forgotten and in fact, never got a chance to live. Off my path for 40 days. Not good.

All of this—the short-term project and the free reading—are all related to my target area  and that is where I was seduced. What could be wrong with working and studying in this area?  It’s not like being distracted by something totally unrelated to my field. What’s the big deal? Simple question (and answer) did this activity prevent you from working on your goals? Using another analogy, did eating 2,500 calories of fruit and vegetables keep you from your 1,800 a day calorie target? But fruits and vegetables are good for you, what could possibly be wrong with eating calories in excess of your diet target as long it is food that is good for you?

Handling Scatter Seductions

-Know that “good things” can knock you off your goal path as effectively as “bad things”.

-Build in time for the good things but keep them under control.  If you can’t get to them today, put them on the list to be looked at later. Put the stuff into a stack so you know they are waiting for later.

-Save the good things for quick, simple rewards for hitting regular small targets on your path.

-Book good things blocks that can be entire weekends, a week, a vacation, etc. Know that it is coming and enjoy the anticipation and, for heavens sake, don’t feel guilty when you are finally free to do it!

-Put out a clock if you are going to take a dip into the good stuff between working on your other goals. Decide upon a limit to the dip (i.e 1 hour only) and mind the clock and hold to your self promise.

-Look at your beliefs around: focus, scatter, productivity, goals, pushing yourself for greater skill, excellence, etc.

-Ask yourself frequently: Is this new interest/project/book/etc. really related to my goals?  Do I really have to pick it up now or can it wait?  What are the benefits of waiting on this scattering temptation?

The Forgotten Third “P”, Practice Mastery

Quietly, below the surface, from ancient times to the present there has been a vein of creative energy running through select Creatives. In the East this has manifested in the Living National Treasures of Japan, for instance, or the tea ceremony, or zen archery. In the West, the lore of Edison and Steve Jobs as models of persistence/perfection, the grand masters of painting, fine crafts, high level sports/adventure, and the movie Groundhog Day, are a few examples.

The distinguishing features of this vein is the emphasis on practice, not the other two “P”s, process or product.  Practice is calm, travels at glacial speed, small, and frankly, away from the action. Or so it appears. In fact, deep practice is exciting, rapid, and huge if it is seen from the perspective of the practice master. The master shifts perspective to see and experience the invisible. Practice opens and shows its  secrets.

Staying Longer, Working Harder, Working Smaller – Levels of Mastery Practice

Level 1: Showing Up Practice – We get to our work space and work some.

When we do show up, are we really there when we are there? Are we really paying attention? Really? How much do we put into the session? A quick stab at something, a scribble, a rushed stroke/movement/composition/response? Is this the best we can do?

How long do we stay?  The pen doesn’t pull away from the repetition of hard practice. The brush, the air that carries a singer’s voice, the tool, the stage floor, the playing field, the laptop–they don’t pull away….we do. We can’t stay longer? We can’t stay longer to get to know more about the nuance’s of our craft? Our tools don’t rush for the door.

Level 2: Solid Practice – We get to our work space and work a fairly long period with good attention to what we are doing. But are we going deeper, overtime? Are we making discoveries? Are we really changing or is our work really just repetition of the known.

Level 3: Micro Mastery Practice – Here we break the major components of our craft down into smaller pieces. We in turn break those down into yet smaller pieces. Next, we shrink ourselves to fit into this new world. What would not have been visible to us earlier now looms large and imposing. This is our new home. We travel carefully, again and again in each fragment of our craft. Our shock comes from how much we didn’t see before, how the little reveals how little we really knew.

Level 4: Measured, Micro Mastery Practice – We don’t go to our miniaturized practice world to wander, we are there to work. To work deeper and longer, we need challenges to push our bodies, minds, and spirits. We can pit ourselves against the clock, the counter, or other measures of quality and quantity. These are not senseless challenges but creative ways to burn our skills in by doing things: fast, backwards, slow, upside down, inside out, alone, with a crowd—name the challenge.

Level 5 – Mentored, Measured Micro Mastery Practice – With measured practice we work under the influence of challenge, but have we truly developed the right challenges? It would be so easy to pick areas to practice and practice diligently but these tasks might be areas that don’t really get us where we want/need to go. Perhaps we become darn good at something but we paint ourselves into a corner. What we need is a mentor from our own field to pick what is important for us to practice and to define how we can go about it. Do what. Do when. Do how. Do under challenge. Do the right stuff for the right reasons.

When the Creative is ready, the great product emerges.

Resources:

The Talent Code - lays out the larger why and how of micro, measured micro, and mentored practice – book

The Practicing Mind - jumps into the experience of process over product and conveys a love of practice – book

Mastery – George Leonard – book and summary of book

The Knock-Out Question – Don’t Ask It

Don’t ask this question:  ”But what happens if I _________________ and then it turns out that I don’t have talent?”

Oh this question is a tricky one. It seems so, so innocent. Seems so clear-headed, the right question coming from a very careful thinker.

Hogwash! Bam!

Just because we can ask a question doesn’t guarantee that the question: produces any sort of helpful answers, has the potential to produce any answers, or even has the capacity to stimulate further inquiry. “What happens if I, start writing everyday and I don’t win the Pulitzer Prize in 2026?” Hey, that’s a question. There should be an answer, right?

Huge questions are like a rock in our shoe. Rocks hurt. Questions with no real answers cause pain.  Pain of non-action, of ruminative stress, and the pain of indecision. Instead of sitting in the chair, classroom, conference, cafe, studio, or other work space, working our tails off doing our thing, we focused on that damn pain in our foot.

Huge questions can’t be measured, tested, or grasped by the brain beyond speculating. The speculating mind works differently than the specific, get down to work mind. The speculating mind can speculate on practically anything, including speculating on the speculating mind, speculating.

The Knock-Out Question, “But what happens if I _________________ and then it turns out that I don’t have talent?”, really is a shield for other things going on in the questioner’s head. First, the question begs for a guarantee from the future. As I have said before (link), demanding that the future be anything than what it will be is….is nuts.  The ain’t going to sign any contracts. Don’t look for guarantees.

A second thing in this question is an unconscious vision of future rejection and regret. I can see it so clearly now: there I am, up on a stage for the world to see (a.k.a. on television).  I have given “it” my best shot and then the learned judges speak. Of course, today’s long Rogue’s gallery of screaming TV critics come to mind. There I am, the whole world is watching and the judges rip me apart.  Act 2 (1 hour later): I’m at home, crying into the night: “Oh, how I have wasted my life. Oh, how I was sooooo stupid. I should have devoted my life to science, to curing the world’s diseases. Why was I so deluded in thinking I had “talent”.”  Such melodrama. Such use of negativity-laced imagination. Very crafty of our old companions, fear and regret, taking on this new guise.

If we continue to turn The Knock-Out Question over a bit, listening very, very carefully, we hear not a question but a self-statement: “I will only work if I can be in the spotlight of success. I’m actually that great, you know.” A surprising twist here. It is not an underlying inferiority driving The Knock-Out Question, but a little or a lot of grandiosity. “I’ve got to have big results, or forget it. Who do you think I am?”

To get unstuck, we have to learn to reduce our demands for a guarantee from the future, get control of our negativity-biased imaginations, and reign in our grandiosity. We also need to think smaller, like small actions we can take everyday.

How:

1. Drop huge questions.

2. Whenever you have doubts, concerns, good ideas, bad ideas, etc. take some time to slow down and turn inward. Relax and keep inward. Relax some more. Next, bring up your question, your doubts, and see/feel what’s inside of those questions/statements. Turn the questions/statements over in your mind as you would some sort of special object that has captured your interest. Slowly, you will find more about the questions than you ever suspected was there.  (For additional instructions on how to do this work, see our sister blog, Fireball Imagery).

3. List out all of the good benefits that come with being being on the journey (process versus strictly focused on final product) within your field of creativity (i.e. how you will grow; friends you will make; things you will discover, etc.). Really soak in an understanding of the benefits that will come your way regardless if you crowned “Artist of the Universe 2031″ or not.

4. Take a manageable risks. This blows away much of the excuse not to take action because such a huge loss is waiting. Small, steady risks, small potential downside loss.

5. Give some time to your grandiose side. Enjoy the “big person on campus” feeling. Relish it. When you are done, make a date to be grandiose again.

6. Get humble and do the work you need to do to move your creative life forward.

Go Produce the Biggest Pile of Crap You Can

Seriously. Just as soon as you can, go produce a pile of crap. Give your best shot at: writing the worst page of fiction/non-fiction/poetry in the history of the world. Go hit a canvas with the worst materials, horrible colors, and ugly brush strokes ever cursing the eyes of humanity. Or, if photography is your thing, zero in on the most boring-assed subject, with the most boring-assed composition, with the most ineffective lighting you can find. Paper arts, fiber arts, music….no problem. Go and suck at what you do. Sit, stand, recline and do what you do but it must suck.

Better yet, bring over some of your fellow Creatives. Each Creative is given the freedom and god-given right to produce a pile of crap. Compare. Contrast. Share. Combine. Don’t forget to demonstrate your techniques of how you achieved your piece-de-crap. No Creative is free to leave the gathering until they have pushed themselves to create their worst.

Even better than that, show a non-Creative friend/loved one/work buddy/semi-stranger your newly created garbage art. Be sure to showcase/demonstrate with great flourish so no one will fail to appreciate how awful your project is. Leave no flaw go unnoticed, no project-deprecating observation go unsaid. You must use the highest melodrama, gaudy flourish, and whatever poor, poor acting you can muster.

Hold nothing back. Suck, crap, garbage, horrible, shockingly bad, guaranteed to bore, to be laughed at, or never to be thought about again. Ham-up sucking.

If you hold back or if you don’t do this exercise, you will never know what is on the other side of this experience.

Morning Pages or Morning Focusing Worksheet?

Since the 1990s, Julia Cameron has dominated the bookshelves, bookstores, and church basements with her “The Artist Way” series of writings. At the center of each work is Cameron’s two regular exercises for Creatives—the artist date and morning pages. The artist date is not a date with an artist, though that would be good too, but a weekly visit to a creative place such as a gallery, bookstore, creative group, etc. The morning pages, what we will consider here, are 750 handwritten words Cameron wants a Creative to write each morning to kick off the day.

Cameron points to the power of these three pages as a way to dump out and work out inner issues that we may not be aware of but are influencing our lives. This writing is both catharsis and self-discovery. A similar idea was promoted back in the 1930s by Dorothea Brande in her book, Becoming a Writer. Brande asked writers to sit down each morning and let flow the details that bubbled up from their dreams and between waking and sleeping. Brande said the writer would be surprised at the creative ideas and solutions captured in these free association sessions.

Cameron and Brande, of course, point to valuable advice. We all can benefit from conversing with and being open to the offerings of our unconscious. With that said, the Creative has, I believe a more pressing concern each morning.

Every day, we need to review where we are with our creative work, study, and planning. If we don’t take somewhere between 5 to 15 minutes to gather again, our focus on what we want to do, why we want to do it, and how we are going to do it—we go spinning off course. Once we are off course, the probability increases that we are going to stay off course. Trouble.

We have got to stay focused if there is to be any hope that we are to reach any level of our creative ambitions. A Morning Focusing Worksheet can accomplish this. It starts off with a few notes about our vision for our project, the general plan of how to get there, and a paragraph or two of our values and standards we wish to hold during this process. This section of the worksheet can grow each day as we re-read what we wrote the day before and we throw down a few more thoughts. Over time, this section will develop into a well polished and clear view of our creative life.

Having this emerging view at our fingertips is a great help for what comes next: listing what we need to do the rest of the day. This is not an entire things-to-do list of everything going on in our lives, just our creative tasks. That’s where we will do our best to keep our focus.

How to Do It – Your Morning Focusing Worksheet
I recommend doing this on a computer so you can easily revise the big picture elements and update your daily list. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling, just get down a word or two, or a few sentences. On your first day, spend a few extra minutes writing down your vision: for yourself, your creative life, and the specific project you are working on.

Next, write down what you realistically can get done during the day. Don’t over do it. As you think about what you want to accomplish, hold in mind an image/feeling that represents “getting focused.” This can be something symbolic (i.e. a magnifying glass), a role model (i.e. Sherlock Holmes), or an image of yourself on top of your game. Focus your head, heart, and body as well as your intention to make the day a productive one, a creative one.

That’s it.

The next day, the process starts again. Look at your Morning Focusing Worksheet, take the opportunity to say a bit more about your overall vision and goals or refine what is already down in that section. Then make your short list for the day. Pull your focus together with your focusing image. Next, get out there and have a creative day.

Repeat in 24 hours.

How to Create a Worksheet: Here’s what to include:

-Add a title of your worksheet (“Morning Focusing Worksheet” has a nice ring to it)

-Include a photo/illustration of a powerful image of focusing (i.e. a magnifying glass) – optional step

- List of what you are going to focus on for that day (keep it very short!)

- Make room for a slowly growing description of  your: creative big picture goals; your creative standards; vision for yourself; etc.