Lessons From Picking Up Dog Poop
The snow is melting so I’ve been sent out on a mission like Shackleton to collect the poop that accumulated over numerous months of the dogs doing their thing in the back.
As I filled the small green bags that everyone gets from Amazon with turd after turd, I realized that this is just one big metaphor for the creative process.
I would pick up a small log and think I’m done, only to find another one a few steps away.
Just when you think you’re out of ideas, there’s another one a few thoughts away. You have to keep picking away in the backyard of your mind to find more golden nuggets.
If you write words, music or create art, you have to press yourself to keep generating more concepts so that you have ideas to pick from.
Write those suckers down in a note file on your phone and use voice memos if you have a good idea but are on-the-go and can’t write.
Your ideas are infinite, they just might not all be amazing, million dollar rock star ideas, and that’s fine.
Good stuff will come from playing the numbers game. Take some shots and don’t be afraid of coming up with awful ideas that fail because there has to be a winner in there somewhere.
Just spend more time in the backyard picking away.
How this Newsletter is Made
10 grams of single-origin coffee from Costa Rica gets combined with 5 grams of decaf. 50 grams of water is poured in to wet the grains, and then 200 grams of water is added after that in two stages.
Guitar Practice Update
Last week I said I would play guitar for 20 minutes a day. I was not far off, but it didn’t happen as I know there were some days where it slipped through the cracks. That means there were days when I absolutely could’ve played but didn’t.
Sharing that goal publicly has given me some insight into the strain we put on ourselves to play or exercise for “x minutes a day”. While time at the problem helps you make progress, asking yourself to simply clock in is not enough.
Another way of playing 20 minutes of guitar a day is to create a routine that works for you. Then the goal becomes to simply do the routine.
And honestly, the word routine is not that inspiring either, but another way of putting it is that we’re working through a repertoire or set list of music, and the goal of the session is to serve that repertoire.
We are showing up to water the plants of our art and see how we can grow it into a masterpiece.
If you want to apply this to physical exercise you can think about how your brain, bones and muscles need nourishment through activity, and your fitness session is a way of serving the different parts of yourself that need this love.
Thank you for reading, if you enjoyed this week’s newsletter feel free to share it with a friend.
Off to get bagels!
Elliott