Early Stage Creativity

If you've ever tried to do something creative for the first time, picture this.

You're at your table, or in front of your screen, or hit record on the mic, and you try your best. You feel yourself struggling because this is your first time doing this but you still do it because you're excited about doing this thing you've developed a great love for. You're finally done with your first time. You just created something. And it sucks.

Well, not fun anymore? Maybe even better.

Creative things inspire you, make you want to sit on the desk, and share it with the world. But the thing about creative endeavours is that you almost always suck at them when starting out.

If you love art and want to pick it up, you're gonna suck at it. It applies to writing, podcasting, playing the guitar, and practising Jiu Jitsu. Nothing is easy and you don't love what you create on day one. There's a gap. A gap between what you love to consume and what you're currently capable of creating. You just can't do it the way you've seen it done by people you follow. Even if I gave you all the state-of-the-art equipment, the gap will still exist.

And you're on the wrong side of this gap right now. Stuck. Wondering why it doesn't work the way it works for your idols. Welcome to Early Stage Creativity. It sucks but if this helps, your idols were once stuck here too.

And that is why creativity is hard. You have to suck before you create something you're proud of.

The initial few attempts might as well not exist at all. It's so bad, what's the point? Maybe you're not cut out for this. Maybe you just love to witness great art and are not born to make it yourself. Maybe. Or maybe not.

Maybe you're just learning. Just the way you learnt how to hold a spoon or brush your teeth or shift gears in your car. But why was learning those rudimentary tasks easy and this so hard? Well, because this is not something rudimentary. It’s something out of the ordinary. Far far away from rudimentary. What also makes it hard is that you’ve already seen greatness and want to replicate it on day 1.

That's the hard thing about hard things. The person who inspires you has put in 10,000 hours while you're in your 5th. Time has no substitute and that's the truth. But who likes the truth, the possibility of just not being cut out for the job sounds much more comforting. But is comfort the thing you seek? Why pick up the pen anyway then? Why not just press play and only consume? Why create?

Because creating feeds your soul. Not the spiritual type? Well, creating gives you a dopamine rush, fills you up with serotonin and gives you a feeling of being alive. But what about comfort? Well, that's cheap dopamine and only lasts for a very short time. But we are hardcore dopamine addicts and we've been in this survival game for long enough to differentiate high-quality, long-lasting dopamine from cheap, short-term one.

That is why we create. And that is why we share. Creating is bringing something to life. Something that did not exist before. Yes, there were blogs written on that topic before, but none of those was written by you. That string of words you chose for it? No one came up with it before you came along. That painting you made, that shoe you customised, that dish you made. You're the first one to do it. At least in the universe we observe and know about. It might seem trivial to you but it's powerful. Is comfort better than that? No chance. Is it easier? Yes, but who wants easy?

So back to learning. Yes, the idea of creativity is great and no one has made this mess that I've just made ever before. I love Joe Rogan's podcast but when I do it, it sounds like something I would never listen to. I hate it, why would others care?

That's a good question. But here's a better one. Why do you care about what others care about?

Creative endeavours are a long, selfless, singular journey towards perfection. What is perfection? A mirage of a lake in the middle of a hot desert. It doesn't exist and nobody can reach it but it does make you take one step forward. It gives you hope and keeps you alive.

So we don't care about what others think. Fuck other people. Then why should I create? We've covered this - it's because you love to do it. But I want to create something I enjoy consuming myself. Well, that's the lake and you see it now. You're just very far away and the only way to get closer is to take a step forward.

Early Stage Creativity is the cause of many broken dreams. It sucks to suck at something. It sucks, even more, to suck at something you've fallen in love with. But what sucks the most is accepting defeat and packing it in.

Imperfection is not ideal, but it is better than nothing. And on the bright side, you get better every day and Early Stage Creativity quickly becomes mastery for those who show up every day.

Did your idols like what they created on day one? Most likely no. Why did they not just quit? They're great dopamine addicts who know the good stuff from the bad. Quitting and comfort hurt them more than watching or reading or listening to what they created. They showed up on day 2, day 10 and day 100 and day 10,000.

And I'm sure they quit sometimes. A lot of times. But so what? You can always try again. Creativity is permissionless. And you have complete agency over your creativity. So try again. And again. And again. Nobody cares except you and that's what matters most.

So yes, what you just made absolutely sucks and it's terrible. But it's better than what you did yesterday. And that's something. And you will be better tomorrow. And that’s everything.

Aim up and you've defeated your lazy self. Do it 100 more times and you might just start liking what you come up with. It's the classic "do now, enjoy later" subscription pack. Buy one today and give the world something that never existed before. Create. Enjoy.

This post is inspired by a video called THE GAP by Ira Glass created by Daniel Sax. If you liked this post, do subscribe here and on my Wordcel blog. Also, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter at @paarugsethi if you’d like to have a chat or follow my content there.