Creation happens in silence

It’s Saturday, and I’m enjoying the last sunlight for the day in my studio. The house is silent now; my family is taking a nap downstairs. And I’m here, writing, in silence.

There’s a thought that kept coming in the last few weeks.

As painful as it is, any creation happens in isolation without any signals or external validation until it’s complete.

Any idea or creative work you can think of happens in silence.

Whatever you’re working on only exists in a vacuum until you publish it. And you might be full of doubts.

Will it work?

Will it be useful for someone?

Will people like it?

Am I crazy for doing this?

I will only know if you’ll like this article once I publish it.

This isolation happens in all fields: movies, music, literature, or product development. But it’s necessary. No one will come and tell you to create something.

While you’re reading this, creative people are working hard now across the world on the next novel, movie, or song you’ll love, and yet, you don’t know anything about it, and they don’t know if you’ll like it either.

And yet, creating is such a big part of our DNA that we don’t care.

Photo by Brad Neathery