Getting Prolific, Day 37: Using Creations to Connect

How might painting yourself into a social corner compel you to do work that you’re proud of?

Creation is the ultimate conduit to connection.

It is the joy of making things which earns us the opportunity to reach out and touch others. It’s the selfishness with which we create that affords us the generosity with which we can share those creations.

The hard part is getting into the habit of envisioning the connection before we start. One question that’s helpful for me to ask is:

What new creation would give me the perfect excuse to reach out to every single person in my life?

It’s actually one hell of a motivator. Because if I know that finishing my new project will become license to personally connect with dozens or hundreds or even thousands of people I care about, then there’s no doubt the work will get done.

Painting myself into that social corner will compel me to do work that I’m proud of.

Tweedy waxes eloquent about this process in his book on songwriting. Wilco’s frontman explains:

One song is all it takes to make a connection. The core of any creative act is an impulse to make manifest our powerful desire to connect with others, with ourselves, with the sacred, with god. We all want to feel less alone, and a song being sung is one of the clearest views we ever have to witness how humans reach out for warmth with our art.

The beauty of his philosophy is, it applies to all creative acts, not just musical ones. It’s proof that what we make matters less than why we make it. All it takes is one whatever to become the conduit to connection.

Over the years, I have launched hundreds of projects, like books, films, music, software, games and so on. But not all of them are heavily promoted. Often times a new project of mine will just appear out of the blue, and simply start existing in the world.

And that’s enough. That’s all the work needs.

Sometimes, however, there will be a project I’ve worked so incredibly hard on, that I’m so goddamn proud of, that I’m so convinced is going to change the world, that I can’t help but shout it from the rooftops.

That’s where creation becomes the conduit to connection. For example, the beta launch of my software product included me personally emailing every single person I knew.

It took hours and hours, every day, for weeks. The campaign, if you can even call it that, began with my family, close friends and colleagues. Then it moved out in concentric circles to include old clients, acquaintances, readers who sent me hate mail and other connections from all of my personal and professional networks.

And what surprised me most about my campaign was, inasmuch as it was a marketing tactic, it was also profoundly intimate. Because each letter gave me a chance to tell someone in my life:

Hey, just wanted to say that I miss you, I love you, and I made this for you. Thanks for supporting me over the years. Wouldn’t be here without you.

Do you know how good it feels to write something like a hundred times a day? What new creation would give you the perfect excuse to email every single person in your life?

This is why humans make things. It has to be. Creation is the conduit to connection.

Whatever interaction our work enables us to make, with self, with other, and with spirit, it’s all worth it.

How might painting yourself into a social corner compel you to do work that you’re proud of?

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