The most generous thing a creators can do is create more things

Unlike human beings, nature doesn’t hoard. It only shares and circulates.

Nature constantly flowers and releases its fruits in tune with the seasons. There is no culturally imposed sense of lack. Nature remains a stranger to the economics of scarcity. Each ecosystem has its own natural balance that keeps things in abundance.

Now, there will always be periods of less production, followed by times of greater output. But what you don’t see is nature is trees acting all shifty eyed and sharp elbowed, sustaining themselves by keeping their assets locked up.

Dandelions aren’t keeping tabs on all of their seeds to make sure they’re being steered in the right direction. Their gifts are not withheld, they aim for volume. Generously and prolifically scattering their seeds to the wind, dandelions trust that those seeds will exploit whatever opportunities they can find to take root.

Where might you be hoarding your seeds? How are you disbursing your gifts?

Taylor Swift, one of my favorite pop stars, is an exemplar of creative generosity. Her music is the opposite of hoarding. I don’t care how many takedown pieces are written about how emotionally manipulative her songs are. To me, she’s magnificent.

During the coronavirus pandemic, she wrote and recorded multiple albums during quarantine. All were great works of art. She spontaneously released twin blockbusters within the space of five months.

No press releases, no tours, no campaigns, no hoarding.

And sure enough, those releases broke the world record for the shortest gap between two number one albums by a female act. And clearly, she’s on much different financial footing than most of the world, but that doesn’t make her generosity any less inspiring.

It’s funny, every day there’s a press release about how some celebrity or artists is lending a hand by being generous with their proceeds, donating cash to sick fans, making philanthropic donations, and so on.

That’s wonderful, and thank god for those gifts. I hope they continue giving them.

But lest we forget, one of the most generous things a creative person can do is create more things.

Not that a million dollar donation to a struggling nonprofit doesn’t go a long way. But a song is priceless. It pays dividends for life.

The same goes for books, paintings and numerous other forms of art. Anytime the creator decides to tell the world, hey, I just wanted to say that love you and I made this for you, that’s generosity in action. It’s the opposite of hoarding.

Nature has no agenda. It has no desire to succeed. Seasons inevitably fold into the next. Nature builds continually on itself. It’s never in a hurry, it accomplishes everything, and hoards nothing.

Okay, maybe squirrels hoard their nuts in underground caches and stash them away for later consumption. But most squirrels are assholes, so you do the math.

Point being, erring on the side of sharing and circulating can only improve your creative life. Using generosity as the organizing principle of your work is perhaps the most underrated strategy for artistic growth.

I’ve been writing books for twenty years, and the vast majority of them were given away for free, both to strangers and friends alike. Many of my books have been stolen from right under my nose. And several digital versions of my books have been pirated illegally in countries whose names I can’t even pronounce.

Good. Fantastic. This is great news. Please keep taking everything from me.

Because guess what? There’s more where that came from.

I choose to participate in the economics of abundance and scarcity, so there’s always more where that came from.

And the longer I’m around, the better that work is going to be.

If you find yourself hoarding your creative gifts, consider the possibility that your seeds need a gust of wind. Flower and release your fruits in tune with the seasons.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Doesn’t that sound more exciting than keeping all your paintings in your closet?