5 guidelines for creative freedom

Whatever that means

Apr 22, 2023

Creative freedom? I could Google this, but I don't want to.

Asking a multi-billion dollar corporation about what a "free creative life" is hardly the epitome of freedom.

The "free creative life" has a lot of appeal, but the realities are not so ideal. It's nearly impossible to live a completely free creative life when so much is out of our control: where we're born, what we've done, what we haven't done, what others have done to us or for us.

Complete freedom is a myth, and even if it weren't, I'm not sure we'd want it.

In March, I went on my first cruise. On the boat, you could do whatever you wanted, eat whatever you wanted, drink whatever you wanted, and sleep whenever you wanted, but you couldn't go anywhere. You had to go in a few defined directions, in a space the size of a few football fields, out at "open" sea.

Little actual room for movement, but a free schedule.

Once we hit a port in Mexico, there as the opposite problem. My family and I signed up for an excursion to see Mayan architecture and a beach.

We were now "free" off the boat, going inland, with more than only the ocean.

We took that freedom and shoved it right onto a tour bus, stuck to the guide's schedule, and we didn't get to spend as much time at the beach as we wanted.

More freedom in space, but no freedom with a schedule.

With that big disclaimer out of the way, here are guidelines I’d suggest for achieving some level of creative freedom1:

1. Choose a north star metric. (Focus on one at a time.)

It's almost impossible to ignore metrics altogether, but it's much easier to focus on one.

Pick the number that matters to you.

It could be engagement on Instagram, views on YouTube, getting into prestigious literary magazines (even if they don't pay), money in the bank, or getting into a certain gallery.

It's easier to focus on a number for a season of life (a quarter, 6 months, 3 years), achieve it, and then move on.

There are tradeoffs to each of the numbers. Some will give you money, some will give you prestige, some won't give you anything at all except pride. Set a certain expectation and be pleasantly surprised if you hit extra numbers.

This is the north star metric of thinking.

2. Get feedback on your metric.

Once you've chosen your metric, get feedback on it. If you want to get into a certain gallery, your feedback should only come from people who have shown works there, the agents that you get there, and similar gallery owners.

The general online vox populi won't hold sway over that.

But what if it’s Instagram likes? Then you are more subject to that particular vagary and what’s hot at the moment. Is that frustrating? Change your metric.

3. Do what you want (but only sometimes).

There's danger in only creating what you "want" and what you immediately feel. Assignments have been poisoned by the drudge and sludge of school. Constraints can make you more creative. That's why assignments or writing for hire or creating art for a certain purpose can be an interesting challenge.

I took a poetry class once in college, and the professor made us write into certain forms. He didn’t seem to care for my “free verse” no matter how many books by the Beats I had read, and my musings about how the format that Shakespeare used has just held us back, man.

Once I started on the work, guess what? It made me think differently. And contemplate. And consider. And try to force my brain to do more than it was used to doing.

The constraints made me more creative. Can you work within their bounds and expectations?

Can you work within their bounds and expectations?

4. One for you, one for them.

There's this idea in Hollywood about doing one for them (meaning the studio) and one for you (like a personal project).

This is a better framework than what I first realized. The younger you are, the more frustrated you become about working for anyone. At least most artists or creative types feel that way. This is difficult. But you have to make money or find some way to live. And that living part gets hard, especially when trying to pull of creative work, too.

You still have to maintain energy to do the "for you" part. Some feel like this is a miserable existence; you're never fully doing one thing well.

Going all in on something without any money doesn't seem like freedom either. (It might work! But that doesn’t mean it’s freedom.)

It may not be a direct one-to-one tradeoff, but it’s okay to work part-time or a quarter-time on creative projects. That’s the oxygen to power you through to the stuff you want to do.

5. Passion is overrated. Process is underrated.

Seth Godin's book, "The Practice," offers these gems:

"Only after we trust the process does it become our passion”
Good processes, repeated over time, lead to good outcomes more often than lazy processes do."

It's not about writing every day, but about showing up and committing a portion of time to the work. Some days are easier than others. There’s freedom in the discipline (ironically).

A NOTE ON MONEY & DESIRE

It's undeniable that Steven Spielberg will make more money from one of his flops than the potter at the local farmer's market will make from theirs.

It’s not a stretch to assume that.

Is Spielberg a smarter artist?

Smarter, yes, if you think making money is the measure of smarts.
Smarter, no, if you think anonymity with a quiet life is the measure of smarts.

Is he a better artist?

Impossible to say! It’s like judging apples and avocados: both start with “A” and have seeds and grow, but are radically different.

Another question: Did Spielberg go into the movies because of money or because he loved it and was obviously good at it?

I'll assume that Spielberg loved movies before he loved money. I’m basing this off The Fabelmans (Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film) where he seemed to be doing it because he really enjoyed the possibilities of film.

I see this in my own kids.

They're attracted to certain types of expression, art, and movement without thinking if they can make money from it. That's not their initial impulse, even if in my family or in other families it's quickly shepherded towards something else.

An interest comes before we know how much money is available, yet, we still have to make economic tradeoffs.

If you want to make money from your art, think about an income number that you’re comfortable with (generally). You may surpass it, you may be okay with it for a little while, you may decide to make changes and sacrifices to have a bigger number. Or you may not have to change your art at all. It’s hard to know.

But even if you’re getting into something for the money, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get it. Even though the odds are more favorable for some types of art than others.