Ed and Neil are in the top 0.000001% of their fields. They're among, say, 25 people in the world who repeatedly generate blockbusters.They both share the exact same creative process The creativity faucet.

Ed Sheeran and Neil Gaiman

Visualize your creativity as a backed-up pipe of water. The first mile is packed with wastewater.This wastewater must be emptied before the clear water arrives.Because your pipe has only one faucet, there's no shortcut to achieving clarity other than first emptying the wastewater.

The Creativity Faucet

At the beginning of a writing session, write out every bad idea that unavoidably comes to mind. Instead of being self-critical and resisting them, recognize bad ideas as progress.Once the bad ideas are emptied, strong ideas begin to arrive.

Applying to creativity

Once you've generated enough bad output, your mind reflexively identifies which elements caused the badness. Then it becomes good at avoiding them. You start pattern-matching interesting and novel ideas with greater intuition.Most creators resist their bad ideas and never reach the clear water. If you've opened a blank document, scribbled a few thoughts, then walked away because you weren't struck with gold, then you too never got past it.

Why does this work ?

Mozart had 600 musical compositions and Edison had 1093 patents. Only a few are remembered today, and that's the point.

<h1>Creativity faucet: Being more creative</h1><img src="https://assets.website-files.com/573fda28621475e528e09ea0/601b899f97ea5d86603a8885_untitled-12.svg" alt="" width="693" height="185">One of the most valuable writing skills is the ability to generate novel ideas.Last year, I stumbled into a mental model to achieve this at will. I was watching a documentary on songwriter Ed Sheeran. In it, he described his songwriting process. It struck me as identical to the process that author Neil Gaiman detailed in his Masterclass.Here's the thing.Ed Sheeran and Neil Gaiman are in the top 0.000001% of their fields. They're among, say, 25 people in the world who repeatedly generate blockbusters.If two world-class creators share the exact same creative process, I get curious.I call their approach the Creativity Faucet:Visualize your creativity as a backed-up pipe of water. The first mile is packed with wastewater. This wastewater must be emptied before the clear water arrives. Because your pipe has only one faucet, there's no shortcut to achieving clarity other than first emptying the wastewater.Let's apply this to creativity: At the beginning of a writing session, write out every bad idea that unavoidably comes to mind. Instead of being self-critical and resisting them, recognize bad ideas as progress.Once the bad ideas are emptied, strong ideas begin to arrive. Here's my guess as to why: Once you've generated enough bad output, your mind reflexively identifies which elements caused the badness. Then it becomes good at avoiding them. You start pattern-matching interesting and novel ideas with greater intuition.Most creators resist their bad ideas and never reach the clear water. If you've opened a blank document, scribbled a few thoughts, then walked away because you weren't struck with gold, then you too never got past it.Neil and Ed know they're not superhuman. In every creative session, they simply have the discipline to allot time for emptying the wastewater. They're not worrying whether clear water will arrive. It always does:<UL><LI>Your work starts as a weak imitation.</LI><LI>You identify what makes the imitation weak.</LI><LI>You iterate the imitation until it's original.</LI></UL>Mozart had 600 musical compositions and Edison had 1093 patents. Only a few are remembered today, and that's the point.Addendum:&nbsp;Here's an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbU8MSpqTac" dir="ltr">interview</a> where Ed talks about this mental model. And here's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfHEOL-sDy4" dir="ltr">video</a> of John Mayer showing off the Creativity Faucet in real-time. Finally, <a href="https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1340776579585122304" dir="ltr">here's</a> Neil Gaiman's reaction to this post.<div>If you want my future</div><div>mental model</div><div dir="ltr">&nbsp;content, look inside my <a href="https://www.julian.com/newsletter" dir="ltr">newsletter</a>.</div>—Julian Shapiro

A blog post explains how the greatest minds generate creative ideas. Neil Gaiman and Ed Sheeran share this approach.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

problemsolving

Problem Solving

creativity

Creativity

One of the most valuable writing skills is the ability to generate novel ideas.

Last year, I stumbled into a mental model to achieve this at will.

I was watching a documentary on songwriter Ed Sheeran. In it, he described his songwriting process. It struck me as identical to the process that author Neil Gaiman detailed in his Masterclass.

Ed Sheeran and Neil Gaiman are in the top 0.000001% of their fields. They're among, say, 25 people in the world who repeatedly generate blockbusters.

If two world-class creators share the exact same creative process, I get curious.

I call their approach the Creativity Faucet:

Visualize your creativity as a backed-up pipe of water. The first mile is packed with wastewater. This wastewater must be emptied before the clear water arrives.

Because your pipe has only one faucet, there's no shortcut to achieving clarity other than first emptying the wastewater.

Let's apply this to creativity: At the beginning of a writing session, write out every bad idea that unavoidably comes to mind. Instead of being self-critical and resisting them, recognize bad ideas as progress.

Once the bad ideas are emptied, strong ideas begin to arrive.

Here's my guess as to why: Once you've generated enough bad output, your mind reflexively identifies which elements caused the badness. Then it becomes good at avoiding them. You start pattern-matching interesting and novel ideas with greater intuition.

Most creators resist their bad ideas and never reach the clear water. If you've opened a blank document, scribbled a few thoughts, then walked away because you weren't struck with gold, then you too never got past it.

Neil and Ed know they're not superhuman. In every creative session, they simply have the discipline to allot time for emptying the wastewater.

They're not worrying whether clear water will arrive. It always does:

<ul><li>Your work starts as a weak imitation. </li><li>You identify what makes the imitation weak. </li><li>You iterate the imitation until it's original. </li> </ul>

Mozart had 600 musical compositions and Edison had 1093 patents. Only a few are remembered today, and that's the point.

Addendum: Here's an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbU8MSpqTac">interview </a>where Ed talks about this mental model. And here's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfHEOL-sDy4">video </a>of John Mayer showing off the Creativity Faucet in real-time. Finally, <a href="https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1340776579585122304">here's </a>Neil Gaiman's reaction to this post.

How to be more creative

Ed Sheeran and Neil Gaiman

The Creativity Faucet

Applying to creativity

Why does this work ?

JULIAN SHAPIRO

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