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Laura Hockridge š»
@Laurasenio
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Producer Writer ~Gen X Movie & Music Buff ~Avid Reader ~Oenophile ~ Politico ~Tennis Outlier ~Proud Hoya ~Democratic Optimist ~Don't Stop Believinā
Los Angeles ~ formerly NJ/DC
Joined March 2011
RT @cbouzy: Some of y'all spent months demanding Biden "step aside." Then, some of y'all spent several months making up excuses for why youā¦
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This is so goodā¦
This is one of the greatest displays of the creative process Iāve seen. It perfectly illustrates something many of my favorite artists have described. When you go to the studio, Mayer was asked, what do you do to generate ideas? āWell, I donāt always do it,ā he admitted, ābecause it requires a stupid bravery all the time.ā Mayer strums a couple chords without singing. A nice melody begins to formāāyou can sit here all day [doing this] and go, āOkay, maybe thatās something.āā āBut if you donāt go,ā and then he starts improvising vocals, āSunlights beating on the corner of the walls / and Iām a Mr. know-it-all / heaven calls / get yourself right / get yourself right,ā he stops, raises his finger to his mouth, and explains, āif youāre not ouija boarding immediately, youāre wasting time.ā āYou just stare at the corner of the wall,ā he says, before improvising some more, āStare at the corner of the wall / try to get it going on / but I canāt sometimes / you just keep going 'til you get something / maybe Iām a little bit shy / maybe someday Iāll tell you why.ā He stops singing to say, āyou gotta keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it. It doesnāt matter [what comes out of your mouth]...You gotta get fearless, fearless, fearless, fearlessā¦Itās hard to do.ā Takeaway: When talking about their creative processes, many artists describe something similar to what Mayer refers to as āouija boardingāāspitting out words and phrases, without worrying if theyāre good or even make sense). When asked where his ideas came from, Pablo Picasso said, āAs soon as I start to work, [ideas] well up in my pen. To know what youāre going to draw, you have to begin drawing.ā Joan Didion famously wrote, āI write entirely to find out what Iām thinking.ā And Judd Apatow said that his movie scripts are all a product of the Down-Up theory: āGet the ideas DOWN then fix them UP.ā āGive yourself permission to suck,ā Apatow says. āAnything goes. Just get something down.ā Make it exist, as they say, then make it good. Thereās a neural explanation for this process... I recently shared a clip of Dr. Andrew Huberman explaining what happens in our brain when we sit down to focus. Whether weāre trying to read, write, create a song, or generate ideasāwhen you sit down and try to focus, Huberman explains, āThe brain circuits that turn on first are of the stress system...The agitation and stress that you feel at the beginning of somethingāwhen youāre trying to lean into it and you canāt focus: you feel agitated and your mindās jumping all over the placeāthat is just a gate. You have to pass through that gate to get to the focus component.ā He uses a great analogy: āYou have to wade through some sewage before you can swim in clear water. Thatās the way I always think about it.ā Essentially: you become creative by creating, you get more creative the more you create. At the start of a focused creative session, bad ideas almost always come out first. You just have to wade through the sewage of bad ideas, ājust keep going ātil you get something,ā as Mayer sang, ātil you reach clear water. - - - āYou gotta keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it...You gotta get fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless.ā ā John Mayer Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!
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RT @mkhammer: Kid was out picking up donuts with Dad, shields his sister from shrapnel from a plane crash in the parking lot, ends up in emā¦
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RT @SketchesbyBoze: I miss the days when very rich people used their money to fund libraries, public art and philanthropic endeavors ratherā¦
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