Lessons on Creativity with Rick Rubin

I don't look at the outside very much I look Inward and try to focus on what do I feel what am I seeing in the hopes that by sharing what's going on in me it maybe resonates with someone else I can't predict what someone else would like and I don't think anybody can so if I'm true authentically true to myself that's the best chance of someone else liking something people like to be accepted people want to be accepted and I'm suggesting in the book that the the best way to be accepted is to be yourself

it's not it's not to change yourself to what someone else thinks first of all you don't really know what someone else thinks and if you're not genuine to yourself there's there's like nothing nothing is there it's just a projection or a mask it's not true in a sea of information the more yours is is personal the more it's not like hers or his or theirs it's it's yours yeah there are these different points of view around us if we're all thinking the same thing it's boring why would we make anything if everyone thinks the same

thing what makes us interesting are the differences and even even the imperfections the imperfections are what makes us humans what makes us what we are as we get new information we have to evolve how can we how can we live in an old belief if you believe the same thing that you believed 20 years ago about everything I I don't know that you're living you know there's so much middle of the road and it doesn't interest me I want it because it's louder quieter softer harder it's pushing some boundary that's why I take notice it's

not more of the same it's not just another it's the one that makes you like you stop and did I really hear that did I really see that what's going on here you know you see a movie where you have to lean forward and pay attention like what's happening it's not just the audience's hand is being held and walk through a story simply I like the um the complexity and difficulty that forces me as the viewer to participate in what's going on I'm not just being uh carried along you know if I like it that

doesn't mean anything that's what people think it's like just because I like it that doesn't give it any value it's like as an artist if you like it that's all of the value that's the success comes when you say I like this enough for other people to see it not other people like it so it's successful that doesn't mean anything because that's other people liking it is out of your control all that's in your control is making the thing to the best of your ability I talk about it usually the way I talk about it

is greatness and that's the way I thought of it my whole life was my interest is in making something great greatness lasting greatness Timeless and I came to realize recently it's all an offering to God and if you're making an offering to God you're not thinking about oh what's the budget or I hope I hope these this segment of the audience is going to like it we don't we don't think like that it's a higher vibration we're making the best we can make to the best of our ability out of love and devotion that's what

it is and there is no I'm changing it for someone else because it can't be better than this devotional act that we're doing there is no higher no higher form most of the artists I work with don't read any any criticism or review they work good or bad most some some do and I would say the ones who are the strongest in who they are can even read a terrible review and laugh at it and that makes sense because when someone gives you criticism it's telling you as much about who they are as what you've

made it's like we make things and then we make it with one through our filter our perspective and and then you receive it through your filter with your perspective so even if we both like it we probably don't like it the same way for the same reasons we all have our own relationship to it everyone has their own relationship to it so any of these metrics of which is better like the idea of the Oscars or uh the Grammys where we're saying which which album is better than another it doesn't make any sense to me

because it's always apples and oranges the only people who we can honest compete with is ourselves it's like is this the best I can make today have I gone further than I've gone before that's all we can do that's the only competition that makes sense is continuing to evolve and push ourselves artistically and not get complacent especially in success it's easy to get complacent once something works it's like I'll just keep doing more of that it ends up maybe one more time you can get away with it but once three are similar it stops being

interesting it's the obsessive nature of being really into something that um once you start down a a thread you just keep pulling forever if you're interested many of the artists that that that are great at what they do are great at what they do for that very reason they fall in love with this thing and then they just want to know everything they could possibly learn about it um and there are no distractions I'm working on a project now uh a documentary project with Comedians and one of the things that they talk about is their

commitment like when other people are doing things on the weekend going out with their friends they're going to perform every you know every night that they can possibly go out and perform until they can get good at their craft and this could be for a period of you know 10 years of just having bad performances you know having people not like what you do like banging your head against the wall but that obsession with breaking through and when I say breaking through I don't mean breaking through to the audience I mean breaking through with themselves

to where they get past all of the uh blocks and to be free in this moment in a way where they can really Express their views and be heard and people can react uh it's it's it's a fascinating thing well I think in general people don't like to be told what to do so the best way that you can Inspire someone to do something is through the way that you carry yourself and if you if you act in a creative way in the world and you do it to the best of your ability and if

someone else recognizes it it might Inspire them to do the same so I think it's hard to teach someone something that we don't practice we have to practice it maybe your purpose in life isn't related to your job maybe your job is your job and the job is the thing that supports you and then the rest of your waking hours are devoted to your purpose whatever that is if you need to have a job to support yourself that's great that's a noble thing to do and follow your dreams but I'm I'm not saying they're one

thing they don't have to be one thing and don't let following your dreams undermine your ability to support yourself it could do it could actually do the opposite if you decide I want to be a comedian and I'm putting all my eggs in the comedian basket and I'm going to be a comedian the pressure of having to support support yourself will change you as a comedian not for the better you you want the stability of being able to take care of yourself in the world to be free to do whatever your passion is whatever it

is I think think there's a mythology that the people who make things that we love are special people and that we think that they're you know the people on Mount Olympus and there are these magic people who are geniuses and then there's the rest of us and that's not the case it's like we're all just people we're all doing our best we all are good at some things not good at other things we're humans and sometimes we find a way to make something beautiful and and the call came how do you you feel you have

the number one album in the country and I remember saying I've never been more unhappy in my life and uh and I think we mistakenly think some kind of outward success is going to change something in us and it does not it may make life more comfortable but it doesn't change who we are and any uh hole in ourselves that we're hoping to fill does not get filled and if you spend let's say you spend 20 years of your life working towards a goal that's going to solve everything and then you finally achieve what you've

been trying to do for 20 years toiling away I I won't have any fun and because I'm working for 20 years to for this end and then you get that end and nothing changes that's when you get hopeless so it's not uncommon to see very successful artists who are very unhappy in life because they're working towards this the thing that's going to make them feel better and it does not make them feel better I'm sure you've got to meet many very successful business people you billionaire people very few of them are happy very few and

they've reached their they've accomplished their dreams MH and are unhappy because we don't know what we want you know we don't know what's going to make us happy we're trying to fill something that maybe can't be filled through material or uh cultural success public success it's something else it's some internal thing don't do things just because you think you're going to get something for it that's not why we do things do what's interesting to you follow what's interesting don't worry about the outcome yeah we don't know we we can't predict the outcome we can never

predict the outcome follow your own inner guide it directs us it might not make might not make sense to us might not make sense to anyone else certainly won't make sense to anyone else but it might not even make sense to us and that's okay it's fine yeah listen to yourself why is it telling you this there are levels of wisdom that we don't know we don't understand so when you have an intuition to to take the stairs instead of the elevator or I always go home this way but today for some reason I feel

like going this other way yeah or maybe I'm going to cross the street and walk on that side of the street whatever it is whatever little intuitions in your body that come listen to them see what happens be open to there's more going on than we know there's a lot more than our conscious mind can can pick up going on the the wisest thing we can do is know enough to know we don't know yeah if you start from maybe maybe that's true it could work who knows yeah not hold anything so firm as this

is the way it is I know how it is anytime you know how it is your world just got a lot smaller yeah tiny