12 Notes: On Life and Creativity

One simple act has the power to go a long way, so don’t underestimate the impact that you can have on those you come into contact with.

When we think about creativity, we often become a bit myopic in our approach, thinking that it’s only for ourselves, but it’s so much greater. Creativity allows us to leave parts of our experiences and our heart with those on the receiving end. And whether it’s now, or long after we’ve left this planet, I believe there’s a reason for it all.

in his brilliant book Blink he further asserts that “insight is not a lightbulb that goes off inside our heads. It is a flickering candle that can easily be snuffed out.” It’s the perfect analogy because we so often dismiss our greatest ideas, thinking they’re supposed to make some type of grand entrance when, in reality, they may often just presen

if you miss the mark on your first try, don’t give up. Success is a cumulative process; it’s not a one-time event.

Beyond the basic importance of building relationships, having the ability to establish a strong personal connection allows for a deeper sense of loyalty and camaraderie within your creative collaborations.

culture is anything but irrelevant. You’ve got to know where you came from in order to get where you want to go. Without that foundation, you won’t know who you are, and you sure can’t expect to create truthfully without knowing the truth.

regardless of what you are told or think you should be, never put yourself in a box, listen to your gut instincts and lean into the whispers, always go for the goosebumps, and strip everything down until you know you’ve got a great song or story. In short, move out of your way so that you can make way for what is to come naturally.

My daddy always used to remind me of the phrase “Not one drop of my self-worth depends on your acceptance of me.”

And as he further clarifies in his book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principle of Screenwriting: An image system is a strategy of motifs, a category of imagery embedded in the film that repeats in sight and sound from beginning to end with persistence and great variation, but with equally great subtlety, as a subliminal communicatio