One long slow evolution until the lights go out

If you have lots of ideas, even a lifetime of feverish creation will not be enough to explore them all.

Consider the aging songwriter.

Not as virile, heartbroken and ambitious as he was in his twenties or thirties. Not interested in placating radio stations and record labels anymore. Probably not marketable to the audiences who buy certain genres of music anymore.

But does that suggest his songs aren’t as valuable as they used to be? If he’s always expanding his range and his expression musically and lyrically, then no. If he’s releasing something new every few years that’s as great or greater than his previous masterpieces, then no.

But if he’s trying recapture his youthful zing and be age appropriate, then it might look like the peak has come and gone.

Simonton, the psychologist who conducted the popular research study on the most prolific ages, says peak creativity comes not with experience, but when individuals complete the secondary step of giving those ideas shape.

He found that getting and developing ideas is not a biological function of age but rather the typical consequence of being faced with a new intellectual environment. An aging society need not be unproductive if people enter new fields after their productivity peaks in a previous field, he says.

Remember, it’s a choice. If you have system for channel life’s changes to keep the work going, then peaking is neither here nor there. You’re only one new intellectual environment away from evolving.

The other important point to consider is, quality is subjective. The artist’s best work is only considered to be their best work because it checks society’s agreed upon boxes like commercial success, cultural relevance, chart position, streaming count, audience popularity and critical acclaim.

But that’s only assuming the artist measures success externally. When in reality, the songwriter could release a new album at the age of forty or fifty that doesn’t check a single one of those boxes, but if that artist believes their new songs are more sophisticated and honest than anything they published in their twenties and thirties, then it absolutely is.

Quality is not up for debate when the locus of success is internal.

My top artists are the ones who doggedly explore the boundaries of their creativity and evolve significantly with each new creation. If they want to produce some experimental concept album and play instruments that I can’t even pronounce, then good for them.

That’s super inspiring to me creatively, even if the music sounds like two cats mating in dumpster.

Are you choosing to peak or evolve? What new intellectual environments have you found recently?

I’m reminded of a recent crowd funding campaign that came across my desk. A talented painter in his sixties got his fine arts grant proposal rejected, so he decided to create ninety paintings in ninety days, just for himself.

The work would take thousands of hours, the successful conclusion of which would put him in a good position to pursue gallery representation, with a fully realized body of mature work.

Michael said that doing so would take more dedication, time, sweat, sacrifice, and above all, material resources than his previous bodies of work have required.

As such, it represented a pivotal point in his life as an artist.

But he wanted to prove to himself and the world that peaking was a choice. The painter was ready to have his most productive period ever.

Sure enough, three months after launching this campaign, his body of work was finally complete. Michael launched an exhibit to commemorate the success of ninety paintings in ninety days, and to thank all the backers who donated to his fund.

Proving to everyone that there’s no such thing as your prime. The notion that there’s an age limit or cutoff regarding creative quality is a lie.

The desire to create work we’re proud of never leaves us.

Sure, we have come expect to come from our work might be tempered by reality, but that doesn’t mean we’ve hit our peak.

As long as we’re gripped by the urgency of our spiritual mission as creators, it’s one long slow evolution until the lights go out.

What’s your system for channeling life’s changes to keep your work going?