Mind the gap

Okay I know you guys gonna think I am a bit of a late adopter.

You web2.0ers may have known Hugh for ages, have your own dedicated GV business card, or even the gaping void widget on your blog. Well, that’s not my case.

I’ve landed on Gaping Voids a few times before but I didn’t really notice until today while I was reading this How To be creative post. This is one of the most inspirational posts (okay it’s a pretty big one) I have ever read.

So if, just like me, you’ve one of the last human beings on this planet ignoring what Gaping Void is and who this Hugh McLeod can be, just do yourself a favor and check it out.

Funnily enough, I just had this conversation at lunch with a colleague who is quite dubious regarding how useful blogs can be. Boy, this is a hell of an example.

You is Creativity

So let’s go back to the creativity topic. There are many brilliant things amongst the 30 orders of this creative Bible. Oh ! by the way : it can also be downloaded there in PDF format.

Hugh has became very famous drawing cartoons at the back of business cards. Some may wonder about the symbolic value of this concept, pop art behind business identification, I will attempt to resist.

Anyway : the end result is that thanks to this concept and his blog (a TOP 10 marketing blog) Hugh has became very successful. This success story feeds this list of dos and donts for wannabe creative profesionnals.

What’s cool is that Hugh always sounds like he doesn’t really care about success. The only thing he cares about is the art, the urge of expressing oneself, of climbing our own inner Everest Mountain.

Work and sovereignty

I won’t go through all of these orders, by I can’t spare you with a couple :

• Worrying about “Commercial vs. Artistic” is a complete waste of time :

But a lot of people like to dwell on it because it keeps them from having to ever journey into unknown territory. It’s safe. It allows you to have strong emotions and opinions without any real risk to yourself. Without you having to do any of the actual hard work involved in the making and selling of something you believe in.

This is so true in my country where artists are some type of Gods while the Market is evil incarnation. I’ve seen so many artists crashing onto that very wall.

• The sovereignty you have over your work

The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will. How your own sovereignty inspires other people to find their own sovereignty, their own sense of freedom and possibility, will change the world far more than the the work’s objective merits ever will.

This is exactly how I felt with 2 of my favorite pop music artists in the 90s : Björk and Katerine (the french singer). I’m not so crazy about them anymore but I remember back then it just felt so liberating to hear their music thinking (“oh no they wont dare, will they ?“) being so exicted that they actually did.

This is a wonderful feeling, only art can provoke.

• Art and fancy tools

There’s no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership. None. Zilch. Nada.(…) A fancy tool just gives the second-rater one more pillar to hide behind.(…) Successful people, artists and non-artists alike, are very good at spotting pillars. They’re very good at doing without them. (…) Good pillar management is one of the most valuable talents you can have on the planet.

• Inner Mount Everest

Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb. You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you don’t make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow-line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness.

Brilliant and so inspirational !