How do you feel about everything?

You don’t need talent, you need perspective.

A creator’s number one currency in this world is their point of view.

Skills, abilities and talents are helpful for execution, but the one thing that will propel your story forward is the way you think about and look at the world. That’s what audiences buy, whether they realize it or not.

If your work isn’t grounded in your unique perspective, then it’s just another throwaway piece of art added to the slagheap of bullshit that makes little impact on your success.

Thinking back to the most disappointing projects in my own career, the commonality of all those failures was they came from a place of scarce perspective. Doesn’t mean the work was garbage, doesn’t mean there wasn’t pride in the output, and doesn’t mean there wasn’t fulfillment along the way.

But the products would have done so much more for me if their philosophical spine was in alignment.

Carlin once said the most important question for a creator to ask themselves is, how do you feel about everything?

That’s how you figure out what your point of view is. And then your material is everywhere.

Naturally, putting a stake in the ground and owning your point of view brings a psychologically and potentially a financial risk. Making what you feel is missing in the world isn’t for the faint of heart.

But then again, why else are we here? What other reason do we have to create anything than to show people how we see life?

Prolific was launched for this very reason. Because my point of view has always been that personal expression is a bedrock human need. And that bettering our relationship to creativity is a moral imperative of our species.

But what bothers me is that most people stand in an unfortunate relationship to their own creativity. They have few ways of quantifying or speaking sensibly about it.

Hence, the launch of my personal creativity management system. It’s just my life philosophy in ones and zeros. The software is my way of telling the world, hey, here’s my perspective.

Since the product embraces a new and different way of approaching the creative process, I wrote a manifesto to summarize and simplify my point of view. Enjoy:

1. Creativity is systematic, not sporadic.

2. You are never starting from scratch.

3. Volume and speed trump accuracy and quality.

4. Mindset matters more than environment.

5. Giving yourself permission is half of the work.

6. If you don’t write it down, it never happened.

7. All forms of emotional tension are usable.

8. Whatever is unsexy gives you leverage.

9. You have plenty of time to do everything you want to do.

10. If fulfillment isn’t the answer, then rephrase the question.

11. Energy is the organizing principle that gives you the greatest momentum.

12. Nobody is paying attention anyway, so you may as well enjoy the process.

These statements represent what I believe are the most important principles about personal creativity management.

How do you feel about everything? What is the perspective you are fighting for and taking a stand on?

Remember, it’s not your talent, but your point of view that influences your behavior.

Create from there and you’ll give yourself the greatest chance of fulfillment, regardless of the result.

Are you creating anything that shows people how you see life?