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8/8/11

Everything is Connected

It's disheartening when you plateau in your playing skills. Guitar in hand, skillfully dodging doing scales by watching youtube videos of amazing musicians, which only makes it harder to practice.

Once you're stuck, it's hard to see a way to get get unstuck.

But the secret to getting unstuck is reminding yourself the true nature of creativity: Creativity is about mashing up disparate ideas in totally new and strange ways to develop something amazing.

Translation: The best way to get over writer's block is do something totally unrelated to what you're stuck on. The answer will come to you from the unexpected connection your mind makes between disparate activities. Everything is connected.

Need to improve your stage presence? Learn to dance salsa. Dancing is all about body language, confidence and rhythm. These may or may not be relevant skills for a musician.

Need to write more clever lyrics? Take an improv comedy class. Improv comedy is about quick thinking, using tropes effectively, and creating strong emotions within the audience.

Need a new way to improve your playing? Talk to a personal trainer. They deal with motivation, self-improvement, and overcoming plateaus all the time.

Everything is connected. There's a reason geniuses have so many interests. They feed one another.

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