The best, most frustrating quote about creativity

One of my favorite quotes about creativity also frustrates me to no end, and it’s that very frustration which is causing me to reinvest more time and money into making my podcast, Unthinkable. (You can help support the show and my work by joining my member group for creators or becoming a monthly supporter. Learn more here.)

You might have no idea what Unthinkable even is, or you might have been a binge-happy listener for years now. Either way, know this: It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, and it’s time to do it again, consistently. You can hear a trailer wherein I explain things in more detail, plus listen to two of my favorite episodes -- one featuring Tim Urban of Wait But Why and the other comedian Sarah Cooper, neither of whom knew what they were getting into when they said yes to appearing on the show. Find and follow the show via Apple, Spotify, Overcast, or anywhere you like.

Now about that quote that I find both inspiring and frustrating. It’s from Ira Glass, creator and host of This American Life, and it goes like this (emphasis mine):

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be. It has potential. But your taste -- your taste is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. 

“A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting creative work went through years of this. Our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you’re just getting started or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal, and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline, so that every week, you will finish one project. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap and your work will be as good as your ambitions. It’s gonna take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Oof. Let’s just let sit with these thoughts for a moment.

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Okay, now let’s consider the emphasis I added. 

There’s a gap between our taste and the work we’re able to create. That gap is why your work disappoints you (and it’s why my work disappoints me, too, quite frankly). We can imagine what we want to create, but we’re unable to create what we picture, at least not as closely as we’d like. This is normal to experience, and we all go through it, no matter if we’re just starting our careers, we’re starting a new project, or we’re pursuing a new skill as we evolve.

These ideas and the entirety of the quote inspire me because it reminds me of what creativity actually is. It’s just about putting in the work. Creativity is practice. It’s repetition plus reinvention over time. You do a thing, then you make it better the next time, and you do this over the long arc of time. That’s the truth about creative careers and projects. The job isn’t to “be creative.” The job is to create.

And that’s great news! That means great creative work is within our grasp. It’s not about some mystical Muse or selective gift that only a few possess. I feel so inspired by this truth about creativity. Don’t you?

In 2017, at SXSW, Ira Glass summarized this truth more succinctly than his now-famous quote when he said, “Don’t wait. Just make the thing. Make a version, and then make it better and then make it better.” 

You and I aspire to make what matters. Because we have taste. But our skills can’t match that taste just yet, so there’s a gap. We feel disappointed as a result. That’s normal. The only solution is to do a lot of work. Make the thing, then make it better and then make it better. That’s the only way we can close the gap.

Again, I’m inspired. We have agency in this! 

But.

I’m also frustrated. Because now I can’t stop wondering:

How do we actually close the gap?!

Yes, I understand, we have to do a lot of work, but surely, it’s more nuanced? Surely, there are ways to do this stuff faster, or better, or with greater focus, or when we’re tired, or lost, or stressed, or pressured to change course, or we lack resources, or… ?

It can’t honestly be as simple as making stuff, over and over and over. What about bad habits? What about people who seem to leap across the gap, effortlessly, on their very first tries? From exceptions and outliers to cultural norms and conventions, frameworks and techniques to stories and science -- there must be so much that goes on inside the gap that we can learn about in order to close it. 

Right? 

What the heck actually happens when a successful creator closes that gap?

And how can we do it too?

Given the truth about creativity, summarized by Ira Glass, I believe anyone can make what matters. We are all capable of creating meaningful things. (This is my version of Ratatouille’s “anyone can cook” or Bob Ross’s “anyone can paint.” Anyone can create!) 

To make what matters, we can close the gap between what our taste, our intuition, and our ambitions are urging us to create … and what our skills are capable of producing. The way to close that gap is create a volume of work. Thus, the most important project and indeed the only real project is our body of work.

Make a version. Make it better. Make it better again.

Anyone can do that. Anyone can create their body of work.

But what is a body of work, really? What leads to the volume Ira Glass urges us to create?

Repetition. Reps. Putting in the reps.

The atomic unit of a big, thriving, ever-improving, gap-closing body of work is one single stinkin’ rep. THAT should be our singular focus at all times: getting to the next rep.

IF we want to make what matters, and IF we are disappointed by the gap between what we envision creating and what we can actually create, and IF we embrace that the only way to close the gap is to produce a body of work, THEN the only thing that actually matters at any given time for you and for me is the next rep.

So that’s what I want to explore with you, at least for awhile. There are plenty of stories and too much advice focused on helping people start. Not enough has been explored about how to keep going -- and improve as you go. So each week, in this newsletter, I’ll interrogate some new ideas and questions, sharing anecdotes I’ve found or experienced. This is where I will begin to make sense of new stuff, while my podcast, Unthinkable, is where I’ll bring in new voices as guides and as storytellers.

I want to help people get to the next rep. The BIG gap between our skills and our taste is just made up of tons of TINY gaps -- between this rep and the next rep.

To understand how to reach the next rep consistently, faster, and better, is to understand how to close the gap entirely. THAT is how we can all make what matters.

I have no idea where this journey takes us. I only know that it feels important, and I am burning to answer some questions about it all.

Send me your questions. Send me comments. Send me stories, and insights, and science. I’ll cram that into our shared backpack as we embark on this journey. I see a mountain peak in the distance, and I have no idea how to reach it.

So let’s go.

Here’s to your next rep.

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