#72 Don’t Force the Juice

We’re talking creativity.  When are you the most creative?  Are you creative every hour of every day?  If your work requires being regularly creative, you know that it’s impossible to be “creative” all the time.  Moments and waves of inspiration come and go.  That’s why it’s important to strike when the iron’s hot, and not force the juice when things are cool.

What to Do When You’re Cold

Sometimes you’re just not feeling it.  You’re trying this or that to get any sort of traction, but it’s just not there.  Sure, you can force it to push something out, but the quality will be subpar.

Feeling non-creative?  Ask yourself what you can do right now to make things easier later on.  Do those small, maybe tedious, tasks that will benefit you later on.  Organize or systematize your processes to make yourself more efficient and effective.

When Do Your Best Ideas Come?

You can’t force it.  Think about it, when do your best ideas come?  Almost always out of nowhere.  You’re never like, “Today’s the day I come up with something good.”  It doesn’t work like that 

Think about the random great ideas that come up that fall through the cracks.  A lot of good ideas are lost because people don’t take them seriously.  You just never know when things are going to be hot. 

It’s the exact same scenario for when I produce content.  When I’m creating articles, I might think of 10-15 topics in a row, then I might be dry for the next two weeks.  It’s just how it goes sometimes.

Double Down

Double down on something else.  Do something that’s completely unrelated.  Maybe it’s the stuff you’ve been putting off, or the shit at the bottom of your task list.  Then, when the juices are flowing, write down as much as possible. 

I have so many pictures and notes on my phone that I can turn to for inspiration.  Notes, pictures, links, you name it.  It all helps to give me different perspectives and viewpoints to keep things fresh and exciting.  Writing these things down as they come to you is important.  Don’t wait because you’ll forget.

Pushing Yourself

Expanding and pushing yourself into new areas will make you more creative.  How many times have you heard someone say that they’re aren’t creative, or that they don’t feel creative?  Well, maybe parts of them are creative, but they don’t take them seriously. 

People tell me that I’m creative, but I’m thinking to myself, “Am I really?”  This is just the shit I like to do.  I'm just making things out of it because I believe it's good.  People may say these things because they see that I’m deeply invested with what I’m doing.

So, when the juice isn't there, it feels weird.  It’s why I can never rush the workouts.  Programming and testing must be natural, not forced.  Otherwise, the lack of quality shows.  Everything suffers.  It’s how I’ve been able to produce successful programs for so long.  It’s a part of what I do.

Max Effort

Back in the early days of Max Effort I was researching a bunch of stuff from the 1920’s, 1930’s, and 1940’s for our packaging.  It’s how we settled on burlap for our packaging.  Going down that hole of research was a great experience to see what options were available.  It takes time to do these things, but it’s well worth it.