A Creative Breakthrough Lies Just Beyond This

Trust the process. Even in the in-between time. Even when you can’t see the finish line.

After the success of their 1997 album, “OK Computer,” British rock band Radiohead faced immense pressure to produce another landmark effort.

Lead singer and songwriter Thom Yorke was burnt out from the intense tour and promotional schedule they had been keeping.

But critics and fans wanted more. More melodic rock. More angsty lyrics. More of the same. They wanted OK Computer, Vol. 2. Imitators of the Radiohead sound were starting to sprout up. Other bands, such as Coldplay, would go on to build huge careers making their own versions of OK Computer, Vol. 2.

But instead of doing the expected, Radiohead released Kid A, a surprising, confusing and divisive album that took the band in a starkly different direction.

Make Sandals (On Mental Resiliency)

“A man wants to walk across the land, but the earth is covered with thorns. He has two options—one is to pave his road, to tame all of nature into compliance. The other is to make sandals.”

—Indian proverb

Josh Waitzkin, the chess prodigy turned world-champion-martial artist, has faced and beaten the world’s best.

And at the highest levels of competition, there are always dirty players. Waitzkin encountered them in his chess career as a fifteen-year-old.

Don't Box-In Your Creative Process

The creative process is anything but obvious—a truth that the outside world can never truly understand. The daily struggle. The adrenaline. The second-guessing. The blood, sweat, and joy.

The myth of the genius artist and the flash of insight is just that, a myth.

It’s only part of the story.

As a creator, you know that the creative process is never just one thing. It’s never just insight, or just hard work. The creative process is made up of intervals, like breathing in and out.

Make Your Work More Remarkable—Two Paths to Remarkability

Indifference.

It’s one of our greatest fears as professional creators. We pour our heart and soul into our work, and gather the courage to share it.

And the response is…silence.

Non-response.

Crickets.

The opposite of indifference is remarkability.

Remarkability is the quality of work that gets people talking. It’s when people feel compelled to share their experience of your work with others.

But how can we make remarkable work? I want to share with you two ways.

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