The Mix Tape, Vol. 69
Welcome to this week’s Mix:
🐭Walt Disney’s three phases of creativity
🎓Gagne’s nine events of instruction
📝Seinfeld’s writing process
The three phases of creativity
Dave Nemetz on the creative phases Walt Disney used to create hit after hit: the dreamer, the realist, and the critic.
The dreamer ideates. In this stage, let your imagination run wild. No idea is too big.
[…]
The realist owns process and execution. This phase involves making plans for implementing your ideas. The analytical and logical brain should take over.
[…]
The critic is unrelenting. Weak or uninspired ideas get exposed. Every flaw in the plan should be highlighted and inspected.
The key question to ask in critic mode is: "why?"
Only the most exceptional ideas should pass through this stage.
Disney’s process allowed for free-flowing idea creation, then took those ideas and sharpened them into lean and impactful projects. No wonder it has stood the test of time.
Gagne’s nine events of instruction
The nine events in Gagne’s Checklist include:
These events are broken out into three phases:
Set the stage. Deliver the content. Assess and reinforce.
Where we learn is changing, but how we learn is not.
Seinfeld’s writing process
Tim Ferriss interviewed Jerry Seinfeld recently on his podcast, and Seinfeld, renowned for having a rigorous writing system, shared a ton of insights about his creative process:
On writing early in his career
my writing sessions used to be very arduous, very painful, like pushing against the wind in soft, muddy ground with a wheelbarrow full of bricks. And I did it. I had to do it because there’s just, as I mentioned in the book, you either learn to do that or you will die in the ecosystem. I learned that really fast and really young, and that saved my life and made my career
On his two phases of writing
So I have two phases. There is the free-play creative phase. Then there is the polish and construction phase of, and I love to spend inordinate really, I mean, it’s not wasteful to me, because that’s just what I like to do, amounts of time refining and perfecting every single word of it until it has this pleasing flow to my ear.
On setting time limits for his writing
It’s like you’re going to hire a trainer to get in shape, and he comes over, and you go, “How long is the session?” And he goes, “It’s open-ended.” Forget it. I’m not doing it. It’s over right there. You’ve got to control what your brain can take. Okay?
On realizing no one is a great writer
learn to accept your mediocrity. No one’s really that great. You know who’s great? The people that just put tremendous amount of hours into it. It’s a game of tonnage.
And a secret to rewarding your brain after writing
Never talk to anyone about what you wrote that day, that day. You have to wait 24 hours to ever say anything to anyone about what you did, because you never want to take away that wonderful, happy feeling that you did that very difficult thing that you tried to do, that you accomplished it, you wrote.
Listen to the entire podcast. Seinfeld is a such a prolific creator at age 66, and he drops so many gems about systematizing life, creativity, and health.
Thank you for reading and sharing.
Please hit reply if you have questions, comments, or open rebuttals. (Or just want to say hi.)
Thanks for sharing the Seinfeld clips. I would not have listened to the episode and missed out.