Inspiration vs Procrastination
How important is inspiration to creativity? I mean, it’s everything, right? But does that mean you have to sit around and wait for inspiration to hit you before you create something? Sure, if your plan is to put off whatever it is you want to create. (Confession: I first planned to write this blog post five days ago and put it off until just now.) I’ve been reading Jeff Tweedy’s most recent book “How To Write One Song” and he makes the perfectly valid point that we all get to choose what we do at any given moment of the day. If you want to create, then you create. If you want to watch TV, then you watch TV. But, if you want to create but instead turn on the TV then you are procrastinating. But that’s okay because procrastination is a choice too.
In my podcast, The Creationists, I asked Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy where he finds inspiration for his songs. Jim admitted to me that the inspiration isn’t always there so he has to work towards inspiration. Jim talks about coming into the studio on a regular schedule to get to work writing songs. According to his book, Tweedy does the same. Working at songwriting or any other creative outlet should be enjoyable but if you want to be good at it, you need to keep at it regularly. The more you write, the more you paint, the more you practise whatever it is that you love to do, the better you’ll be and the closer you’ll come to achieving your goals.
Of course, you can always be inspired while doing anything other being creative. The trick is to keep your antenna up and be ready to recognize when the electric shock of inspiration strikes. And it’s best to acknowledge that strike as soon as it happens. How many times have you said to yourself, ‘Oh, that’s a good one, I’ll have to remember that for later,’ and it never comes back? Or how about this old favourite, ‘If it’s really that good, it will come back to me.’? How about not dismissing any ideas good or bad? How about making note of them all? I love to share this conversation I had several years ago with Tom Petty. I’m a huge fan and I said to Tom, “It’s amazing to me that you’ve released all of these great albums and there isn’t one shitty song on any of them.” He kind of looked at me sideways with a smirk and said “We just don’t let anyone hear the shitty ones.” You see, no one needs to know that you had a bad idea.
Don’t put it off any longer! Get to work!
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.” - Francis Bacon
*This post was inspired by Jeff Tweedy