TRAINING IN THE ALCHEMY OF FEAR

When building your creation rituals, limit your bursts to no more than forty-five to ninety minutes, at least in the beginning.

Genius always starts with a question, not an answer. Eliminate the question and you eliminate the possibility of genius.

WHY UNCERTAINTY MATTERS

Refinement, Expansion, and Production (REP)

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Judgment is often experienced as pain, but it’s really just feedback data. All that angst surrounding it is just emotional sludge, the by-product of tactless delivery or the creator’s own hang-ups. Creators need data. They need judgment, feedback, and criticism. Without them, there’s no way to know whether what you’re creating is working or not.

THE JUDGMENT AND UNCERTAINTY DEATH SPIRAL

that insight needs to be refined, expanded, and produced (REP)—and, often, radically altered. That’s where the REP phase of creation comes in.