1.) Tolerate ambiguity.
Quite a lot should be said for tolerating ambiguity. It can be incredibly frustrating to not have a clear path to the end of your project. However, finding your own way through the murk can lead you through a series of much more interesting ideas, and thus, to a much more interesting result. Because there is no clear way to finish a project on some occasions, you just have to try everything you can possibly think of until something sticks. This effort of trial and error may lead you down a path that you never would have taken had you not been able to tolerate the nebulousness of your direction in the first place.
I find this to be incredibly relevant when I’m working with my video production friends to come up with a score to their short films and most recently, their YouTube series. They’ll give me a link to a song that is kind of following the same principles of whatever sort of a piece they want, and then they’ll give me a general length, as well as about two emotions to be conveyed. They then wipe their hands clean of the situation and hope that I come up with something interesting in the next few days. This has lead to some of the most incredibly frustration… I can’t even begin to tell you. Especially when they almost never have the video portion ready, or let me know what’s going on in the scene (in enough detail). However, after much toiling, I always end up with something. Something a lot more than I anticipate initially when I go into these ambiguous projects. It tests my ability and makes me work and find my own direction.
2.) Look for happy accidents
Most of my best/most surprising work happens this way. I’ll be toiling furverously over a project for hours and then I’ll accidentally click the wrong track and modify it, instead of what I went into modify… I hit play, and initially I’ll be like, “Gah! Crap! Did not mean to do that…” But then I give it a second and I take a step back and I’m like, “BY JOVE, THIS IS GLORIOUS
3.) Suspend Logic
As a book nerd, I’ve often heard the phrase, “suspend your disbelief” from my English teachers. Otherwise you’re going to miss out on all of the wonderful parts of a text because you’ll be too caught up focusing on how unrealistic they really are. The same thing can apply to the creative process in general. And, I know as an audio/music production major, this is extremely relevant.
I find that this comes up in a few ways. The first that comes to mind is when I’m working with people who either don’t know a lot about music theory (and therefore don’t have a large musical-vocabulary to describe they things they need to convey) or even just people who prefer to talk about music in this particular way. But, instead of giving me some technical description of the sound they need in a piece, they’ll say… okay I need this guitar part to sound like the aurora borealis. …Now, someone who spends to much time being literal, or unable to suspend logic might say, “HOW IN THE HELL?!” But, if you let go of your rigid understanding of music theory and let yourself feel what’s going on musically in a piece, it might just make sense, and work! You have
The other way that this can come up, is when you’re working in a group and someone suggests something, and you’re like, “No way, brosef. That will never work” and you have to step out of your normal thought processes and try to understand where they are coming from.
Activity:
What can you do this week to suspend practicality, logic and rationality in service to birthing your big idea?
There are several ways to get outside of one’s rational headspace. However, different goals require different methods. For example, if you want a song to sound “beachy” and you can’t figure out how to get the feel you need, take a trip to the beach. It’ll help you realize that it’s not ridiculous to associate sounds or feelings with these beach-like visuals. This can also tie into the importance of immersion that Mitch Ditkoff discusses in his 14 Ways to Get Breaththrough Ideas.
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