On Sharing Creative Process
I was so heartened — and thankful — about your kind reaction to my first iphone video.
Weirdly, it became one of my best performing posts — and taught me a few things about sharing creative process.
The first was it cued me to make another one. One of the benefits of sharing things outside our comfort zone is that we get feedback. When it's positive, why not lean in a little? It gave me the courage to share in a new way. So here we go!
Ditching Strategy For A Feeling
Spring arrived, and after digging into the piano all winter, I finally felt the call of my guitar again. Super rusty, but so lovely to pick it up without any pressure. I started strumming and a little melody came out. I never share stuff this fresh, but I’m in a mood to do something different.
It makes zero sense with an album coming out to share new material — but when was art ever meant to make sense!? Sometimes it feels good to ditch strategy, let the self-judgement go, and just share a feeling.
A little idea popped out. No words yet, just a feeling. With all this mania to optimise everything, this compulsion to run stuff through AI, we forget that everything starts right here — with a feeling. Good or bad doesn’t matter. Evoking something does.
As I get older I feel the call to share loosely.
3 Invitations
Share something loosely. Can you grab the feeling, right as it awakes? Share it — as a joyful scrap. Maybe it’ll nudge a block you feel, or the pressure that comes from being haunted by a “one day” perfectionism.
Your life is already speaking to you. The pain points, the breakthroughs, the tiny moments of insight — if we really notice what we’re going through, they don’t just lead us, but give us our “content” as a byproduct.
Get back to the joy source. Sometimes we just try too damn hard. Throw out the grinding, give yourself an hour to just have some fun with it. Let it out!
The Little Lesson
I’m always thinking about the tension between “making content” and the time it takes to make “art.” Today reminded me that if we observe and record our process — without it getting in the way — they can complement each other.
Right now I have no time for video. It felt freeing to just get the phone out and say — one take, no edits, let’s go!
There is something you convey beyond messaging when you dare to expose your process. I feel there is nothing more powerful than finding what’s in your heart and sharing it.
The less perfected it is, the more people discover who you are. Maybe, just maybe — someone out there needs exactly what you have to say.
In the comments, let me know — what’s your joy source at the moment? Drop in your latest work or Substack, I’d love to see what you’re up to.
Love Jim
P.S. I made a free tool called the 1-Hour Notes System — a simple daily framework for finding your creative community on Substack. Already subscribed? Drop “System” in the comments and I’ll DM it to you.
