To be truly creative, you have to produce bad work first

Creativity is like a backed-up faucet. You can’t just turn it on and expect something pure to flow out. You’ve got to make a habit of clearing the pipes.

Imagine this: there’s only one long pipe between your creativity and the faucet that controls its output. And that pipeline is clogged with waste. There’s also only one way to fix this: turning the tap on until the water runs clear.

Whatever type of artist you are, you need to get bad ideas out of your system. But instead of feeling discouraged or self-critical when all that sludge comes out, you should welcome it.

It’s only when you’ve got this bad stuff out that you can start to see what makes it bad. Your brain starts to notice a pattern and adjusts accordingly. Now that the sludge has been cleared, a purer flow can begin.

This mental model was popularized by the writer and entrepreneur Julian Shapiro after watching a documentary on the pop star Ed Sheeran. He noticed that his songwriting process was exactly the same as the author Neil Gaiman.

Neil Gaiman and Ed Sheeran are both in the top percentile of what they do, producing hit after hit. It can’t be a coincidence that these two artists treat creativity like a backed-up faucet.

The harsh reality is that most people never clear their wastewater. They turn the faucet on, get disheartened by what comes out, and walk away.

Artists like Neil Gaiman and Ed Sheeran are not godlike geniuses. They just understand how the creative process works. Every time they sit down to work, they run the tap and allow the sludge to clear – without taking it too seriously.

There’s no fear that their creative flow won’t produce the goods. They know it always runs clear eventually. That’s why fighting this process is not only dispiriting but inefficient.

Bottom line: When it’s time to get creative, accept that what comes out is going to be pretty bad at first. Getting it out of your system also helps you identify what makes it not good. Just keep iterating until your weak facsimile becomes a worthy original.