"Most creativity garners zero acclaim or wealth, and that’s the real stuff, bro." <-- THANK YOU FOR ADDRESSING THIS! I'm so tired of the "it's okay to be yourself or experiment as long as you have some traditional success to show for it" attitude out there!
I made myself a pretty screen saver for my computer earlier this year. It had flowers and curly font and it said: "To achieve success, care less." At some point, I took that screen saver down. Perhaps I should resurrect it. 💜
The music was highly experimental. It was an experiment in creativity and pushing boundaries, and the polar reactions of the audience, from stoicism to excitement demonstrates nobody can predict what will come of it. Possibly nothing. Possibly a new digital age in music. Working in the Detroit area, where techno is said to have gained root, I heard a lot of experimental electronic music and musicians in the 1990s and 2000s. I can't imagine if they all said, "Yeah, but will people like it and will it make us money... maybe we should sound more commercial." Unabashed creativity can breed a renaissance.
I really enjoyed Rick Ruben's book, even though there were times that it got so abstract that I couldn't always follow what he meant. I was impressed that after all those years working in the business of music that he was able to hold onto such pure views of creativity. Also, I hate the word "woo." Why can't we come up with something better than that?
I believe what you call "arrogance" and Peterson calls "confidence," Elizabeth Gilbert calls "entitlement." It's interesting that women come up with more offensive sounding words for what basically amounts to, "feeling like you're allowed to do what you want with the resources you have."
Did you feel like Wired to Create helped you live a more creative life or was it just interesting to read?
I think "woo" is a dumb word too, but at least for the moment (and as far as I know), it's the best we can do. In the 70s and 80s it would've been called "new agey" or "hippie" or "nutty as a fruit cake" -- now "unscientific" and "woo" might be the best we can do. But I'm comfortable with bad labels here because I don't want what Rubin's talking about to be labeled and dissected. Let it be free and amorphous and always changing, as un-capture-able as the wind. :)
Confidence might be gendered! What people mean when they say "a confident man" and "a confident woman" might not be the same thing -- and an "arrogant man" conjures something particularly ugly, so I can see why a man might shy from it. Whereas an "arrogant woman," especially today, after decades of feminisms, might even suggest slight admiration? I'm not sure. But in a both-and / non-binary way I still think "confidence" undersells what creative people have to do.
I didn't pick up Wired to Create as self-help, but I didn't pick up Rubin's book for self-help either. I'm just interested in the subject and I read a lot -- I'm also always looking for ideas that I feel will help me and my students in the classroom. My students' experiences with writing are not the same as mine, of course, and so I'm always kind of looking for rosetta stones or ur-texts that help keep us comprehensible to one another -- these books are neither of those things, tho. (The Magic Fish by Le Trung Nguyen would be a great example of a bridging text -- absolutely luscious!!) And then aside from that I'm also looking for other perspectives on what I'm doing... I'm just really curious. I also like to read essays by people I disagree with slowly and carefully and try to picture their point of view... my reading style is non-utilitarian :)
I was asking about Wired to Create because I was wondering if I should read it. I'm always looking for things that would support me creatively. Maybe I'll look into Magic Fish.
I’ve never met anyone who didn’t find that book inspiring! I recommend it to everyone -- it’s beautiful, magical and amazing: you’ll gasp in horror and weep tears of joy! It’s just gorgeous
I ended up reading this, yesterday. I found it relatable because my mom was a Japanese immigrant who didn't speak English that well. Thanks for the recommendation.
This lit me up. And it got me rethinking the semantic potential of the word ‘arrogant’ -- it becomes an essential virtue if the social forces against which it is set are limiting or destructive.
I started Rick’s book, and I loved every page until I stopped picking it back up. A year or two ago, I might have blamed an allergy to woo. Now, though, it ends up feeling like too much of a good thing. Or, actually, as I’m exploring this in realtime, writing out this comment, I realize that it’s because reading it forced me to see how far outside of the good center of your Very Scientific Diagram I’ve been living. And how hard, how very, very hard it is to move back inward.
I'm always glad to light a fire! And I'm grateful to you for asking what's the positive value of being polyfocal. For what it's worth, Wired to Create addresses that particular idea much more directly, with explanations of the "messy mind" hypothesis and how creatives tend to switch back and forth more fluidly between the different "modes" of the mind, how creatives being worse at eliminating "irrelevant" information becomes, in creative spaces, that "irrelevant" information becoming relevant in surprising (creative!) ways, how creativity is sort of mental illness adjacent (they're very careful with their language on this part, but it is), and so on. For you personally I'd recommend reading Wired to Create and then returning to Rubin with that one in already in your pocket? :) Just a suggestion!
You don't know how thankful I am by finding this SO SPECIFIC reading... I'm a 30 year old, non-binary person with ADHD trying to be successful in the music business. What a relief.
And I agree, I need to care less to be successful: I'm too afraid and embarrased, too cringe of my own lyrics before even having them started...
I am going to read this piece again and again and again (thanks to Freddie DB who pointed me here!). The "fuck you" attitude to art IS the thing I am trying to cultivate, thank you so much for articulating it so well Amy.
Thank you for this -- I did a little online searching and there’s a lot out there: would you recommend any particular readings on the subject?
"Most creativity garners zero acclaim or wealth, and that’s the real stuff, bro." <-- THANK YOU FOR ADDRESSING THIS! I'm so tired of the "it's okay to be yourself or experiment as long as you have some traditional success to show for it" attitude out there!
I made myself a pretty screen saver for my computer earlier this year. It had flowers and curly font and it said: "To achieve success, care less." At some point, I took that screen saver down. Perhaps I should resurrect it. 💜
Maybe “success is caring less”? To make it less of a carrot? :)
Yes!
😁
Hi Meg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hiya! 😊
It reminds me of the early inception of techno, and this video of Kraftwerk in 1970:
https://youtu.be/hWUiLJnEYJI?si=I2fCclWEGBLsAiFV
The music was highly experimental. It was an experiment in creativity and pushing boundaries, and the polar reactions of the audience, from stoicism to excitement demonstrates nobody can predict what will come of it. Possibly nothing. Possibly a new digital age in music. Working in the Detroit area, where techno is said to have gained root, I heard a lot of experimental electronic music and musicians in the 1990s and 2000s. I can't imagine if they all said, "Yeah, but will people like it and will it make us money... maybe we should sound more commercial." Unabashed creativity can breed a renaissance.
That video is GOLD just pure beautiful amazing gold. I love how they projected the audience’s reaction to themselves in real time. Freaking amazing!!!
I really enjoyed Rick Ruben's book, even though there were times that it got so abstract that I couldn't always follow what he meant. I was impressed that after all those years working in the business of music that he was able to hold onto such pure views of creativity. Also, I hate the word "woo." Why can't we come up with something better than that?
I believe what you call "arrogance" and Peterson calls "confidence," Elizabeth Gilbert calls "entitlement." It's interesting that women come up with more offensive sounding words for what basically amounts to, "feeling like you're allowed to do what you want with the resources you have."
Did you feel like Wired to Create helped you live a more creative life or was it just interesting to read?
I think "woo" is a dumb word too, but at least for the moment (and as far as I know), it's the best we can do. In the 70s and 80s it would've been called "new agey" or "hippie" or "nutty as a fruit cake" -- now "unscientific" and "woo" might be the best we can do. But I'm comfortable with bad labels here because I don't want what Rubin's talking about to be labeled and dissected. Let it be free and amorphous and always changing, as un-capture-able as the wind. :)
Confidence might be gendered! What people mean when they say "a confident man" and "a confident woman" might not be the same thing -- and an "arrogant man" conjures something particularly ugly, so I can see why a man might shy from it. Whereas an "arrogant woman," especially today, after decades of feminisms, might even suggest slight admiration? I'm not sure. But in a both-and / non-binary way I still think "confidence" undersells what creative people have to do.
I didn't pick up Wired to Create as self-help, but I didn't pick up Rubin's book for self-help either. I'm just interested in the subject and I read a lot -- I'm also always looking for ideas that I feel will help me and my students in the classroom. My students' experiences with writing are not the same as mine, of course, and so I'm always kind of looking for rosetta stones or ur-texts that help keep us comprehensible to one another -- these books are neither of those things, tho. (The Magic Fish by Le Trung Nguyen would be a great example of a bridging text -- absolutely luscious!!) And then aside from that I'm also looking for other perspectives on what I'm doing... I'm just really curious. I also like to read essays by people I disagree with slowly and carefully and try to picture their point of view... my reading style is non-utilitarian :)
I was asking about Wired to Create because I was wondering if I should read it. I'm always looking for things that would support me creatively. Maybe I'll look into Magic Fish.
I’ve never met anyone who didn’t find that book inspiring! I recommend it to everyone -- it’s beautiful, magical and amazing: you’ll gasp in horror and weep tears of joy! It’s just gorgeous
I ended up reading this, yesterday. I found it relatable because my mom was a Japanese immigrant who didn't speak English that well. Thanks for the recommendation.
This lit me up. And it got me rethinking the semantic potential of the word ‘arrogant’ -- it becomes an essential virtue if the social forces against which it is set are limiting or destructive.
I started Rick’s book, and I loved every page until I stopped picking it back up. A year or two ago, I might have blamed an allergy to woo. Now, though, it ends up feeling like too much of a good thing. Or, actually, as I’m exploring this in realtime, writing out this comment, I realize that it’s because reading it forced me to see how far outside of the good center of your Very Scientific Diagram I’ve been living. And how hard, how very, very hard it is to move back inward.
Keep pushing arrogance. I think I need it.
I'm always glad to light a fire! And I'm grateful to you for asking what's the positive value of being polyfocal. For what it's worth, Wired to Create addresses that particular idea much more directly, with explanations of the "messy mind" hypothesis and how creatives tend to switch back and forth more fluidly between the different "modes" of the mind, how creatives being worse at eliminating "irrelevant" information becomes, in creative spaces, that "irrelevant" information becoming relevant in surprising (creative!) ways, how creativity is sort of mental illness adjacent (they're very careful with their language on this part, but it is), and so on. For you personally I'd recommend reading Wired to Create and then returning to Rubin with that one in already in your pocket? :) Just a suggestion!
You don't know how thankful I am by finding this SO SPECIFIC reading... I'm a 30 year old, non-binary person with ADHD trying to be successful in the music business. What a relief.
And I agree, I need to care less to be successful: I'm too afraid and embarrased, too cringe of my own lyrics before even having them started...
Thanks.
I am going to read this piece again and again and again (thanks to Freddie DB who pointed me here!). The "fuck you" attitude to art IS the thing I am trying to cultivate, thank you so much for articulating it so well Amy.