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Life-changing advice from Neil Gaiman on how to lift pressure from creative work

How to get shit done for talented but procrastinating creators

By Kajosway and The Natural OverflowPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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Life-changing advice from Neil Gaiman on how to lift pressure from creative work
Photo by Minh Pham on Unsplash

Let's start from the end:

1) numero uno: place yourself in your work/creative space, in front of your easel/computer/desk;

2) numero dos: give yourself permission to do any one of two things: to either do your thing (write, paint, sculpt, bench press, cook, whatever is the central point of your activity) or to do no thing at all.

Here's a short clip from Tim Ferris' podcast where Neil talks about it.

"You can sit here and write or you can sit here and do nothing, but you can't sit here and do anything else. -Neil Gaiman"

It is one of my favorite quotes/rules for productivity applied to creativity and since I heard it, it is changing my life.

We are done here, you can stop reading if you want.

But if you need more, if you want to hear me repeat this in ten different ways and explore why it works, in order to make sense of it and allow it to sink deeper into your skull, read on.

So basically, I like this advice a lot because of two main reasons:

  • -it is bafflingly straightforwardly uncomplicated yet powerfully and simply true
  • -because it takes away the pressure from having to reach an outcome every time and all at once, which is well daunting.

Your job becomes simple. Not to actually do the job, but to put yourself in the space where 'getting the job done' can easily happen, and then to keep yourself there for a set period of time, day after day. That's it. (Remember Bruce Lee's first rule: simplicity)

Once you're in the space, inspiration has the chance to happen, sheer boredom can force you to actually attempt to do some work even if you are not in the mood, or you feel uninspired.

You put yourself in a situation where doing what you want/have to do becomes easier than not doing it.

Also, trying something out, anything, at some point becomes more interesting than staring at the wall with your arms crossed or looking out of the window and whistling your favorite tunes to the rhythm of the sparrows chirping in your neighbor's garden.

By Magnet.me on Unsplash

You don't do your art because you are inspired, you get inspired because you do the art. That's another way to put it.

Steven Pressfield talks about this kind of concept in his book 'The War of Art', but that is for another article, and I really REALLY like the simplicity of Gaiman's quote. It speaks to me very effectively.

In other words, you make it very easy for yourself: your job is to set the stage and step on it, without pressuring yourself to actually do the show.

But once you're on that stage...stuff is likely to happen. And you make it happen one easy step at a time.

It's like in your life, if you are always busy doing this and doing that you have no space to make time for surprises, for adventures, for meeting new people, discovering new favorites, or simply spending quality time with your friends and family.

Imagine inspiration is your friends and family, make space for it.

By KAL VISUALS on Unsplash

The reason it often works is basically because of functionality. Once you are there, if you don't release the creative tension by distracting yourself with entertainment, your brain connects your presence in the place of work and creation with the actions and mindset related to that context of work and creation.

Basically, it feels the vacuum of being there and not being engaged in any activity or entertainment and fills said vacuum with what makes sense to do contextually. The same way your mouth starts watering as soon as someone mentions dinner when you are hungry.

By Bermix Studio on Unsplash

You are in front of the computer screen with a text editor open and a blank page in front of you and you are not reading a book, watching a movie, washing dishes, eating another bowl of granola, but just sitting there in a vacuum. Great! Half the battle is won.

Your brain after a while goes "ok, we are stuck, I am tired of counting the leaves on the tree outside the window, shall we keep doing nothing or shall we create something beautiful? But what? An adventure in the mountains? Who's gonna be the hero? What's he or she going to face? Is it going to be day or night? What is the meaning of life? Uh let's just start typing random words and see where it goes". Questions will arise and ideas with them.

So just stay in the space, stay in the office, stay in the shop, stay in the studio, practically or metaphorically, for a set time, every day, like a pro, and trust that ideas will arise, at some point in between you rolling your thumbs, staring out of the window and falling asleep on the keyboard, eventually your brain will come to the rescue, the muse will kiss you on the forehead and you will start doing something.

As you are there...you can do anything, as long as it is nothing, basically no other thing that is more entertaining and that takes you into another avenue. If you stay there, your creativity will probably take over at some point in a way or another, it just needs space and time.

Scott Adams and James Clear have said and written stuff about habit creating that is along those lines and I would advise anyone to look them up. Go and google 'Systems vs Goals' and you'll see some awesome advice.

By Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Now let us repeat Neil's rule one last time: he can sit there and write or he can sit there and do nothing, but he can't do anything else, so if he chooses to do nothing, that is ok, but at least he is there, and that is sending a message to the brain.

Because he is there doing nothing else, there is a space that can be penetrated by inspiration, a vacuum created by the fact that he has to simply stay there, which after a while, will start sucking ideas in for the writing (and if you are a painter, for the painting and so on...).

I heard Dan Brown, the writer, say something like "nature abhors (or adores) a vacuum, so if you just sit there and do nothing, or go for a walk in the park, you'll create a void that your mind will try to fill with all sorts of thoughts and ideas that will become the primary source for your work".

By RetroSupply on Unsplash

To sum it up,

-put yourself in the space and stay in the space.

-As you stay in the space you can do your thing or you can do nothing.

-Lower the expectations bar, make it bearable, make it achievable.

-If you do your thing, awesome, you win, if you do nothing but stay in the space, you still did your job so you still win.

-Give it time and vacuum and the brain will do the magic. You will start to work/create out of sheer boredom and resignation (lol)

Parting thought:

you are basically positioning your creative self outside in the creative rain of ideas with a bucket in your hands and a whole creative plumbing system ready to make use of them.

Kajo

self help
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About the Creator

Kajosway and The Natural Overflow

I am an actor, artist, poet, story enthusiast, musician, mover, meditator, philosopher and student/lover of women and life.

A haircutter by trade. Into personal development. Strong proponent of the "whole foods plant based" lifestyle. FTW

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