Stop relying on entropy to determine when you create. "I'll do the thing when I like. When I have inspiration".
A professional artist schedules inspiration, Whim is for amateurs.
I only write when I get inspiration. But inspiration comes every morning by 4 AM.
Here're 5 steps to control inspiration:
1. Set a schedule: Planning your day gives you a clear reason to get up—no ambiguity, only action. When you don’t plan, you start relying on the randomness of your mood—entropy—to push you into action
2. Use progress bars: Most people wait for the dopamine from outcomes. But because it is such a long and agonizing wait, many people give up before then.
Ask anyone who has the outcome: the dopamine fades so fast. They have to look for something else and repeat the same cycle.
Calculate how much input you need to hit the goal.
E.g: 50 screens for User Interface design. 100,000 words for the book.
Then break it down into small daily tasks and measure progress. 700 words per day. 1 page design per day, etc.
This way, you'll maximize dopamine production from inputs. You'll get more done and enjoy it more when you stack that progress meter every day. Rather than waiting for some illusion.
3. Become an idea sponge: Always stack ideas as frequent as possible. So that when you've sat down to create your art, you have a stack to create from by expanding them.
You'll also see your snippets connecting with each other. The best rapper in the world (Eminem) has stacks of random bars written which he can pull up some useful things from. And he's not the only one.
Writers also stash various concepts, thoughts, etc for later. Other forms of artists do the same. I'm using some snippets from my stack right now.
The shower isn't magical. You get good ideas there because it happens to be a place where you're not bombarding your mind. Schedule some boredom in your day.
Go on a walk or whatever, give your mind space. Many missing pieces you're looking for are already in your brain. All you need is the boredom to connect them.
By running computations of pre-existing knowledge in your brain. New knowledge and ideas will form without consuming any new information.
4. Adjust your environment: "You can take a horse to the river but you can't make it drink." ~ Popular quote.
Wrong, Starve it, heat it up, feed it salt and sore it's knees. It'll drink water. Your environment can either hydrate your creativity or drain it. Make adjustments that create thirst for your craft.
Your environment affects how much deprivation you have. Which is the source of motivation. I can make everyone in a room go naked by cranking the temperature to 200°. Use this to your advantage.
What changes can you make to your surroundings that foster positive building habits? I can't tell you this one cause I don't live at your backyard. Observe your environment and be creative.
5. Toggle pleasure/pain:
Discipline happens when you feel the pain of not achieving your goals. More than the pleasure you get from distractions.
Increase the pain by converting some of the pleasure into pain. and vice versa where necessary.
E.g. More pleasure - Reward yourself with a treat after you achieved the next milestone. For example, your SaaS (Software as a service) project — or after you’ve shipped 500 words for the day.
E.g. More pain - If you don’t wake up within 1 minute of your alarm going off, you owe a friend $20.
E.g. More pain - Set up an embarrassing auto-tweet if you skip your creative session.
Associating the quick dopamine with the things you hate also converts. Pick your poison.
The important thing is to maintain that conversion. To ensure the pain doesn't reverse back into pleasure. You will maintain it by reminding yourself.
Write down your reasons, revisit them every time you need to.
You only stop when your reasons to stop have outweighed your reasons to continue. You need more reminders than you need knowledge.
Bonus. Stick with it:
The importance of consistency is to be trustworthy and to move faster. The more you do the thing, the more people believe you will continue.
When you're not consistent, you're controlled by entropy. and you're creating more entropy. It takes you 2 weeks to write because you haven’t built the habit. The more you write, the faster you get.
Same with every other form of art. The more entropy in a system, the harder it is to create order.
Like a room that doesn't get cleaned up for a day or a month or a year. You can see the increasing difficulty in cleaning up the room.
You achieve speed by getting into the flow state. by using the power of synergy.
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Happy Weekend.
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