570 - The 3 Part Process I Use to Actually Get Creative Stuff Done

So you have tried white-knuckling it, brute forcing it to happen.

You've tried to accomplish things because they're the important things to do and you end up doing nothing.

And the reason is because you, you got that dog in you, right? And when I say that dog in you, I'm talking about the kind of dog that can't just go out and do a stroll and get some steps and go from point A to point B.

It's got to stop at every freaking rock and tree and junction and sniff around and wonder and explore every little freaking tangent when you're just trying to get around the block.

That's the dog that I have in me.

And that's really frustrating until you realize that those aren't distractions to the walk.

Those are the freaking point of the walk.

And the same is true in your creative practice.

And it's a huge relief as a dog owner when you realize like, oh, their whole thing, their whole world is sniffs.

Their whole world is this curiosity.

And that's the point.

And if I let them do their thing, we can get all of what they need in half the time and effort.

And that's great as a dog owner, but it's even bigger as a creative person because when you realize that the tangents and the curiosities and the sniffs are the point of making the work, you will see that it changes everything.

So if you're a dog owner or you're a dog lover, you probably have dogs on your algorithm in the short form video.

And you've probably heard that like the point of a walk for a dog is to sniff.

Like that, that's how they, they...

Like the way that we take in the world is primarily through our eyes, like 90% of our brain is wired, is like involved in seeing because it's so, such a big part of being a human.

For them, it's smelling.

And the thing that they really need for their mental health on a walk is to take it in through smelling.

And once you realize that, you're not dragging them along, you're letting them do that because you realize if we let them do that, we don't have to go miles and miles and miles.

Like they're going to get everything they need by just going a couple blocks.

And the same is true for your nervous system if you're a creative person.

That's the thing, that this switch was so huge for me because when I realized that I was ADHD, one of the big components of that is that you don't have the neurotypical brain that's an importance-based nervous system that says, "I'm going to set my priorities and do my actions based on what's important to me and what's important to others and what's crucial.

That's what's going to get done." And so whether you're ADHD or not, if you're creative, creative stuff doesn't work like that.

And when you're trying to accomplish something creative, I think all of us could take a lesson from how ADHD people need to get stuff done, which is an interest-based nervous system.