Protocols to Access Creative Energy and Process | Rick Rubin

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Creative blocks come from judgment, not a lack of ideas

  About 10% of listener questions were about writer's block. Rubin says to look past 'the block' to its cause, which is almost always self-judgment ('I'm not good enough, I have nothing to say') or fear of outside judgment ('nobody will like it'). The story of being blocked is made up, and you end up living inside it.

• 02

  Treat everything you make as a diary entry

  No one can tell you your diary entry wasn't good enough or wasn't what you experienced. Approached as an honest reflection of who you are at that moment, made to the best of your ability, the work carries no world-changing or sales expectations, and there's nothing to block.

• 03

  Ideas come through you, not from you

  Rubin sees creators as vehicles for an infinite supply of information. If nothing comes at your desk, go for a walk, and something you see will likely spark a seed. He never abandons ideas: they have their own timing, so he keeps several projects going and works on whichever is flowing.

• 04

  Thinking about outcome while making something undermines it

  Asking 'is this worth it?' depends on an outcome you don't control. Rubin calls making the work a devotional practice: make the best thing you can, and any energy spent on how it will be received is wasted while you're making it. Thinking about how to reach people is fine once it's finished.

• 05

  Deadlines help at the end, not the beginning

  Early on Rubin has no idea what a project will be, and time pressure would undermine the freedom it needs. Once 'the code's cracked' and you're refining details, a deadline can help.

• 06

  Start free, then organize

  To the many listeners who equate creativity with chaos, Rubin says the early phase is free, playful improvisation with no expectations, where 'sometimes when it goes somewhere dangerous that's when it gets interesting.' Once something feels new, the process becomes more controlled. He also starts every project with anxiety about whether it will be good, even while accepting uncertainty.

• 07

  Sensitivity is the artist's gift and burden

  Responding to a passage from his book, that many artists overdose numbing the same sensitivity that made them artists, Rubin says he is unusually sensitive himself. He wears red glasses, lives a protected, 'monk-like' life because stimulation interferes with his inner state, and can't be around certain voices. An only child, he spent most of his time alone and credits that with his resistance to peer pressure.

• 08

  Rubin's daily rhythm is built around light

  He wakes slowly, goes into the sun 'as naked as possible', then within about an hour takes a long beach walk or goes to the gym, sometimes stretching first. He avoids work until 11 am or 1 pm and does focused work until about 6. From sunset he wears red glasses in red-only light, avoids stimulating calls, is in bed by about 10 and asleep within 15 minutes.

• 09

  Memory is personal storytelling

  When Henry Rollins publicly told a story about Joe Strummer offering Johnny Cash a song at a gathering Rubin attended, Rubin said he didn't remember it. It might be true or entirely made up; each person's memory reflects what was going on in their own head. Rubin says Johnny Cash mattered for 'the human being underneath', not just his singing or songwriting.