Good habits create good art. The way we do anything is the way we do everything.
Rick Rubin
This year, I am revolutionising my creative life.
Every aspect of my routine is undergoing inspection.
Even approaches which worked for me in the past are being analysed, debunked and questioned.
Why?
Well, for my whole life I have been on the search for my deepest potential.
However, I always felt just outside it.
At the end of one project, you are faced with a brutal question.
Give up or go on.
To go on, you have to find new strength.
You have to find the courage to crack off what is old.
That’s how new inspiration is invited in.
And how, in turn, your spirit is knitted anew by life.
It is early in this process, but I’ve found several areas in my creative approach which are reaping rewards.
Here they are - I hope they are useful for you too!
Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people.
Anne Lamott - Bird By Bird
1/ Separating Tasks Between Different Physical Spaces.
This year is about creativity.
Though “The Isolation Diaries” ended up finding a creative form, it was firstly a spiritual investigation.
These were not “productive” years because “output” was not a priority.
Ageless questions will not be rushed.
My new project, however, is about exchanging in real-time and sharing interactively with my audience.
Instead of thinking about what I can make in four years, I am thinking about what I can make in four days.
However, to up my output as a solo operator, I have to revolutionise my approach.
I need to streamline every aspect of my life and find synergy between music, filming, and editing.
My key breakthrough so far is to create a trilogy of spaces, each with an identifiable task attached.
How am I breaking these up?
Writing: 100% of my writing happens in my local cafe. I block off three times a week, each for two hours. In that time I research, think, read and write. It is non-negotiable and the most important aspect of my creative life (and where I write this newsletter!)
Creating: I have a new office for the first time since the pandemic. I consider it what Joseph Campbell described as a “bliss station”. In it, I am podcasting, making music and filming. No internet, no meetings, no distractions. I want to enter the void. To confront my feelings. To struggle. To find joy. To dare to be bored. To make myself available for those moments when “God walks into the room” (to pinch Bono’s words)
Editing: After editing the documentary for four months, I am deeply resistance to editing. Especially because there is so much ahead! I’m tackling this by making my home office the sole place I edit. It’s really helping to separate the creative and editorial process. Last night, gulp, it was even fun again!
Key Takeaway: If you are struggling with a task or facing resistance, identify a time and place where you only do that task.
Pro Tip: Make that place a weekly routine. When I was struggling to write songs, I would book myself into the rehearsal room once a week. There’s nothing like four windowless walls to make you dig in deep! Obstacles was written in the most boring place in the world!
"All great changes are preceded by chaos." - Deepak Chopra.
2/ Leveraging AI for Productivity (Not Creativity)
What is the one thing you wish you would get done every week but never dam well get to?
For me, it is cutting up my 19 Podcast episodes into short-form content.
For 6 months, it was on my list, and for 6 months, I never got to it.
I tried to outsource it to a freelancer.
It took more time to upload and project manage than it would have taken me to do on my own. And at additional cost!
So I started researching options; surely there’s a different option out there.
I then came across Opus.
Here’s how it works:
Enter the URL of your Podcast from YouTube
It then cuts up the content and subtitles it
You can then adjust the parameters
As a video editor, it is like magic.
Last night, I made 12 short-form bits of content from my podcast “How I Use Deep Work to Get Stuff Made.”
This program will save me weeks of work this year and free me to concentrate on creating new short-form content rather than cutting down my long-form.
Key Takeaway: Take a long form of work you do that you can break up into bite-size content and find a way to distribute it in bite-sized chunks.
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
Chinese Proverb
3/ Lead Magnets
I love my newsletter, and the replies I get to my weekly mail give me so much energy and joy.
As anyone who has a newsletter knows, to grow, it takes work, especially at the start.
I started my Podcast last year because I wanted to start learning more from the business community, as well as other artists and how they position themselves in the marketplace.
One of the things I kept coming across was how they use different “levers” to encourage growth and get eyeballs on their work, products or businesses.
In December, I decided to pull my own lever.
Because I was time-pressured due to the screening of the documentary, I decided to outsource it. So, I commissioned my friend Nathaniel Hall to build it.
A landing page
An offer - for a link to the documentary
An exchange - for an email address
I kept the page live for one week only, making an asset of scarcity.
The result?
150 new subscribers
19 Paid subscribers
That was the best week I’ve ever had, by some way.
Key Takeaway: There is always something new to learn or a new tactic we can employ. When stuck, remember that there is a world of knowledge out there. Learning, experimenting, implementing, and iterating will always lead to new knowledge and new results. Try something new. What have you got to lose?
"The world is a university, and everyone in it is a teacher. Make sure when you wake up in the morning, you go to school." -
T.D. Jakes
4/ Things App
Anyone who knows me knows that I am die-hard about keeping analogue with To-Do lists.
However, over Christmas, my brother recommended “Things,” and it’s hugely helping my workflow.
For me, I am good at working on “macro-projects” (documentaries, albums, newsletters etc)
My weakness is the small stuff.
The app is helping me log the stuff I need to take care of.
And to zap it.
For sure, this is partly a mental shift.
This year, I am squashing the gap between thinking, doing and finishing.
If an app or a hack can help build momentum or break down areas of resistance, I’m all for it.
Key Takeaway: Keep your ears open to what’s helping others. Try it. You might surprise yourself!
To fail is to give up. But you are in the midst of a moving process. Nothing fails then. All goes on. Work is done. If good, you learn from it. If bad, you learn even more. Work done and behind you is a lesson to be studied. There is no failure unless one stops. Not to work is to cease, tighten up, become nervous and therefore destructive of the creative process.
Ray Bradbury - Zen in the Art of Writing
5/ Outsourcing
I’ve always been belligerently against outsourcing.
I wanted to learn my own skills.
And I worried that taking any shortcut would distort the emergence of my own artistic voice.
I don’t regret that decision. More so, I’m glad for it. You have to know your own voice before asking others to help with its delivery.
Now, I am pivoting. It’s early days, but I’m looking to build relationships with an editor for filming and for my podcast.
I’ve started the year already doing far more editing than I want to.
I want my focus this year to be on raw creation.
For instance, editing a Podcast can easily take a day of work. Instead, I want to invest that time in researching, reaching out to guests and learning.
The art is in the creation, and the wood chopping is in the edit.
Key Takeaway: Creative life is a marathon, not a sprint. It is easy to burn out. Is there a part you can automate which will buy you back some valuable time?
"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are."
J.P. Morgan.
6/ Capcut
This year, I’ve challenged myself to make a YouTube video every week.
It’s been a massive learning curve.
Not just to keep up with making a video when I’ve been busy.
But for an unexpected reason:
There is just so much to learn creatively.
Making videos for YouTube is an entirely different beast from my working staples - documentaries, business trailers and music videos.
It’s also making me a better filmmaker.
The program Capcut has been a brilliant discovery - how did I not know about this?
For anyone who wants to
a) generate subtitles quickly
b) make subtitles standout -
This is for you.
It’s easy to learn, fun to use and a brilliant addition for anyone working with YouTube, Instagram or TikTok.
Here’s a little gallery of examples from my video, The Philosophy of Monk Mode
This titling is next level and done by my friend Tiago Pöx, who is editing some of my videos.
"All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know."
Hemingway
7/ One Thing at a Time
Three common things to feel in the modern world are:
overwhelmed
distracted
procrastinating
As someone whose creative life is quite widespread, I find it very easy to feel diluted.
It is the reason why I work so hard on my creative process.
And why this newsletter exists: to share my discoveries.
The reminder I always come back to is simple, though:
Do one thing at a time.
Do it as well as you can.
Don’t move on until it is finished.
It is so easy to feel stuck or that things aren’t moving.
And in these moments, life feels like an extraordinary riddle whose answer must reside only out there, in the deepest cosmos.
And yet:
We can take the first thing on our list.
We can believe that finishing it will move our life forward in some way.
And we can create the space for magic to happen by completing it.
That’s how we send our own message to the cosmos.
Our own affirmation.
Our own vow.
Our own statement.
Have a great weekend, everyone, and see you next week!
Jim
PS For my paid subscribers, here’s the best song I’ve written.
It’s the studio version…and in it is a lifetime…
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