Double Down On 11, The Letdown, And It Always Works Out

Incredibly, the film Swingers came out 29 years ago. If you haven't seen the movie, it revolves around a group of guys in their 20s trying to make it as actors in Los Angeles.  Most of the movie is a commentary of how men and women interacted with each other back when people used to talk to each other in person.  Hard to believe, I know.

I was a 1L in law school in 1996 at GW Law School in Washington, DC, for the release.  I was something of an anomaly there given that I attended the University of Arizona for undergrad.  Most of my law school peers went to better schools and predominantly came from the east coast.

Being from a "party" school gave me an undeserved halo effect as someone who knew their way around a bar.  Couple this with my normal outgoing personality and I was able to appear moderately capable chatting up the ladies compared to everyone else. If you know anything about lawyers, however, this wasn’t hard to do.

The social scene in our nation's capital wasn't on the same level as Los Angeles but it was still fun.  

(I know this because I ended up living in Los Angeles 5 years later.)

My image was a façade, however.  I was never really the party guy.  I just liked experiencing things.  The main character in Swingers treated nights like a hunt, while I looked at things more like an adventure.  Because of this, I would end up in all manner of weird places because I was always willing to say:

"Alright, let's see where this goes."

I didn't have a predetermined measure of success when I went out.  To be fair, I drank a lot of gin fizzes which made me more apt to follow the white rabbit when it appeared.  I don't drink anymore but I still have that hankering to explore the unknown when it presents itself.

It's one of the reasons I like writing.  You never know what you are going to end up with.  It's true for the actual things you are putting together on paper for your clients, but it is also true for unforeseen opportunities that arise from the business itself. 

All sorts of non-writing opportunities flitter about me as a result of my interactions with my clients.  I also learn about new opportunities because I write about them.  Just like when you go out on the town, you never know what your writing will bring.  The key is to not always stay in “chase” mode.

This is true for your “big idea” but it is also true for the tactics and strategies you deploy when you have committed to something as well.

The Letdown - AKA The Valleys Of Creation

I am convinced that being a creative person just means that dopamine hits you harder than a normal person. Because of this, your brain wires itself to be completing novel tasks at every moment to get its dopamine reward.  It is also the reason why so many creative people immolate themselves with drugs and alcohol. 

Do I have scientific proof for this?  No.  Do I think it's true?  Maybe. (Probably not.) Do I think it accurately describes the plight of the creative person?  Yes. 

This means that once you experience a big creative "high" you get an equal or worse low.  Why is this important?  Because although going from zero to one is a big deal, it is only step A and the money is at Z.  Most creative people fail because they are unable to go back to the feeling of an idea once it has been created.

To make matters worse,  creative people routinely get caught in the idea that "If I build it, they will come."  The problem with this is that the logical corollary is if they don't come, I've built the wrong thing.  Since creative people love ideas, they go back to the drawing board only to go through the exact same process again.  Stuck in the "zero to one loop."  They either go to a new big idea, or they switch to a different tactic or strategy for their current idea.

The problem, you see, is reality itself.  The first go at things almost never works!  Oh sure, there are stories out there of unicorn businesses that succeeded right out of the gate.  (I currently ghostwrite for one so it does happen.)  However, this won’t be true for you.  People win the lottery you know but I am confident in saying that you won't.  Don’t be discouraged by this reality.  

Remember, there is always a letdown with anything creative.  It is part of the process.  The way to react to this reality is to continue the process, not pick a new process and experience the same thing on repeat.

I SEE PEOPLE DO THIS ALL THE TIME.  Don't let that be you.  

If you are truly committed to your idea then you must be willing to give it enough time to breathe.  With enough reps the truth will be revealed, one way or another.  Does this mean every idea will work?  No.  But no idea will ever work if you refuse to endure the early valleys of creation.  If you know it’s coming, that valley is much easier to march through.

I encourage creative types to build a writing as a service business to fund self-producing their creative projects. This way, there is zero financial pressure on you when you are in the inevitable creative valley.

When money is not the primary concern for a project, you will be surprised how long you can chip away at it and then voila! you start getting paid. Everyone thinks you are some kind of genius but you know that the key was staying power and sticking with your big idea.

You Must Keep Going (Even When It Doesn’t Make Sense)

Regular people have no problem doing the "Next Thing", even if it is boring.  The entire 9 to 5 ecosystem is built on this fact.  Creative people, on the other hand, hate boring but boring is a requirement for success.  You have to commit to an idea the whole way for it to work.  This means that you choose carefully but once you pick something, keep going, even if it doesn't make any sense at times.

The good news is that what you think is boring, is in fact one of the most exciting things out there.  You see, there are always collateral and unseen benefits to doing anything.  This is the payment for ideas that don't work and the gravy on the ones that do.  This powerful concept allows you to grind away on your idea when you are in the valley of creation.

The other important thing to realize is that the process of taking action, getting feedback, and course correcting makes you stronger.  This strength will be needed when your idea goes to the next level to handle your new set of problems.  No matter how successful you get, problems never go away.  They are just traded for new, bigger ones.

Knowledge of the path is the price of achieving your goals.  Like the Matrix, you can't just tell someone how to get somewhere.  They have to experience it with all of their mistakes and wrong turns.  Process thinking allows you to endure this.  Win/loss thinking threatens to torpedo your journey because you equate the pain of losing as a value judgement on the whole thing.

When you figure this out, everything becomes easier.

Pick your big idea and then commit to seeing it through even when it doesn’t make sense.  Just like in Swingers, you always double down on 11 and you always keep working on what you believe in. No matter what, other benefits will come your way and you will become stronger.

Once you decide, stop worrying about it and get going.

Irregular Means Irregular

If you haven’t noticed, this newsletter comes out inconsistently.  This is by design.  I get to it when I get to it.  If you want to hear from me on these topics on a much more regular basis (daily-ish), you can follow me on X/Twitter here: @understorybard

More in a bit . . . Wade, The Understory Bard

P.S. - Enjoyed this newsletter? Spread the word. Please forward it to someone who would enjoy and benefit from it.

P.P.S. - If this was forwarded to you, subscribe here: subscribe here.