Create Something You’ll Never Show Anyone Else

“So making songs now that I know aren’t going to be heard by anybody else, it is an interesting thing. Because I think you have to do that now as an artist. I really do.”

— Donald Glover, Grantland interview

You might feel your work has gotten less creative over the past few months (or years). You might feel discouraged. Perhaps money turned a fun hobby into a chore.

Maybe you’re completely creatively blocked, or haven’t felt inspired in a while. Or maybe you’re just bored.

If any of this happens to you, I want to suggest a simple exercise:

Every week, set aside a few good hours to create something just for yourself.

By good hours, I mean do it first thing if you’re a morning person. If you’re a night owl, do it at night.

For me, the magic moments and connections happen when I’m just writing in a journal (usually by pen), or when I’m reading a book I’d selected out of curiosity.

I realize that this might sound like a waste of time. Why would you want to produce something that no one will use?

Here’s why it’s valuable:

When you’re creating for someone else — a client, a huge group of users, or for critics — your success is determined externally. And as management wiz Peter Drucker says, “Wherever there is success, there has to be failure.”

When you’re creating something just for yourself, you neutralize any possibility of failure.

And what seemed so difficult becomes easy again.

Source: Medium

Author: Herbert Lui

You Can read the full article here.