Coming Alive

Here are some other techniques people use to access and maintain the zone:

• Introducing a long delay between when you do the work and when it is shown to the world. Annie Ernaux writes about this in A Simple Passion, a memoir about how she becomes obsessed in a banal way with a man who is having an affair with her—the thought that others will read th

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As destructive as these patterns are, they are very hard to change. The moment we deny ourselves some gratification, we feel deprived. Part X appeals to our selfishness, telling us we should never have to feel deprived. The only way to fight this is to have an equally selfish reason not to give in to our impulses. In other words, we need to find a

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Real creativity is an inner thing. Once you go past your resistance to creativity, past the natural laziness the mind has—you get settled and ready to create, and it’s amazing how prolific and original you can become. The ego-mind will slow you down; it will make excuses. It will worry about how others might react. Worst of all, it is lazy and diso

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Even if you know what it feels like to be completely open to where your curiosity wants you to go, like Grothendieck, it is a fragile state. It often takes considerable work to keep the creative state from collapsing, especially as your work becomes successful and the social expectations mount. When I listen to interviews with creative people or re

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