Destroying the Ego to Foster Creativity
I read a book that may have changed my life, but I won’t name the title yet, because I don’t want this to be mistaken for “self-help” despite the book itself being firmly in the self-help category. I’ll mention it at the end for my own clarity.
The format of the book itself is rather complex - it’s a series of interviews with some of the world’s top achievers in their respective fields interspersed with tidbits of advice. There’s movie stars, writers, entrepreneurs, scientists, actors, activists - the list goes on.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was a particular favorite of mine.
One of the author’s interviewees was James Altucher, a successful businessman and author. Altucher has an interesting daily practice of writing down 10 new ideas in his notebook every morning - no filter. That means he does not edit himself and just allows the ideas to flow, to strengthen his “idea muscle.”
Altucher says, “If you can’t generate 10 ideas, generate 20. You are putting too much pressure on yourself. Perfectionism is the ENEMY of the idea muscle. It’s your brain trying to protect you from harm, from coming up with an idea that is embarrassing and stupid and could cause you to suffer pain. The way you shut this off is by forcing the brain to come up with bad ideas.”
This simple quote was the impetus for this very daily blog. Granted, I’ve only written for four days at this point, however I’ve followed through with this practice each of those four days. I stare at the blank, white screen in front of me and think “What the hell do I have to say?”
Rather than giving up, I pull out my notepad and think of 10-20 ideas. Sometimes the ideas truly suck, but sometimes I get something that I quite like, and that’s what I write about.
As a writer, my ideas are my creativity, and my writing is where I express those ideas.
Not everyone may like it, but I don’t write for everyone.
Later in the book, actor and writer Seth Rogen along with fellow writer Evan Goldberg echo Altucher. While in the writer’s room, all their fellow writers throw any and every idea that they have at the script: “You can always de-fuck the script later. The important thing was to brainstorm freely and not self-edit.”
I believe this can be applied to any and every area of life, and nearly every creative field. For writers, this may be the magic golden ticket.
The important takeaway here, for me, is that creativity is destroyed by the insecurities of the ego.
*Ah, and before I forget, the book is Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss.
