Monday, December 24, 2012

Try Again Later

One of my friends told me that he kept a piece of advice that Elton John once said very close to his heart. If you try to work on something and you can't get it in 15 minutes, then put it away and try again later.

The idea is that we create better work when we have that natural inspiration. It's not that we can't make something good if we struggle through it, but that is a rarity. More often than not, when you force your work, you come up with inferior products.

In reality, we don't always have that luxury. Sometimes we have deadlines and they have to be met. And in all likelihood, if you see some really crappy advertisement or spelling errors in documents, it was likely because some poor sap had a deadline and it was crunch time.

If you have the time for your creative work, then take the time. If you want to make something great, you have to work on it, but not all work is equally useful. Give yourself a shot every day. Give yourself that 15 minutes to try, but if it's just not coming, then accept it and make up the time the next day.

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