When more actually is better

I’m generally a quality over quantity person, but there is an exception: if you want to create things that are creative, powerful, and impactful, the best way to get there appears to be by creating more things ... as opposed to focusing on creating only great things, which is a great recipe for creative stagnation, self-criticism, and a loss of confidence.

Sure, it feels safer to keep our ideas locked away in our head where nobody else sees them or can judge them.

The problem is that we're far less capable of exploring them, working with them, and expanding on them when they are just ideas in our head than if we get them out and make them more real. 

Often, the hardest part of creation is giving ourselves permission to create something that, well, sucks. It feels verrrry vulnerable, especially when we get attached to the stories we make up about how it exposes us as the failure that we fear we are.

A better strategy? Remember that everyone creates things that suck. Your favorite band has some songs that nobody likes. Your favorite author has at least one book that they probably shouldn't have published.

Here’s a great place where you can change the game you play from the one society encourages us to play. What if you shifted the focus from ‘create something great’ to ‘make as many things as possible’?

Or, even crazier, what if you shifted it to ‘make something that’s really bad’? 

That might seem ridiculous. And it probably would be if you just played that game. But it's a great game to start with as a 'warm up'.

(By the way, this was the 5th thing I wrote today, and the second version of it.)

Embrace the suck. It's the path to awesome.