I strongly believe that you should create more than you consume (I have to create a lot of things to catch up to my consumption). Everyone should be exhausting their mind of ideas and producing artifacts of their coolest thoughts and ideas.
The problem with creativity nowadays is that everyone is optimizing for a KPI. Is this article I’m writing going to get 100k views? Is my painting going go viral on instagram? Is my pottery going to sell at this gallery?
When you optimize creation for a number, you start to run into constraints. It has to fit a certain profile or shape that you expect to get you to your goal, rather than creating it for the sake of creating.
I’ve fallen victim of this plenty of times. There are so many things I never published because I didn’t think it was going to move the needle or reach what I wanted it to reach. And it falls to the same outcome as if I had made it for the joy of creating, except I had way less fun making it.
I have zero expectations for this post, that’s why it’s so easy for me to let the words flow from my magic keyboard onto this substack page.
Creating things with the goal to show it to no one lifts expectations, and allows you to flow more freely. You’ll explore paths that you wouldn’t have before, or experiment with new techniques. Life works in the craziest ways, and sometimes the thing you work hours upon hours to craft may garner no attention. But the thing you made as a fun side project could be well loved.
Everything boils down to some simple philosophies.
We’re all going to die one day, so I don’t care what you think about my work
If I enjoy what I do, I’m going to continue to do it regardless of the outcome.
So just make the thing, build the website, sketch the landscape, write the story, just do it because you love it.