The Creative Genius of Rick Rubin

The first thing I would show players at our initial day of training was how to take a little extra time putting on their shoes and socks properly. The most

important part of your equipment is your shoes and socks. You play on a hard floor. So, you must have shoes that fit

floor. So, you must have shoes that fit right and you must not permit your socks to have wrinkles around the little toe where you generally get blisters or around the heels. I showed my players

how I wanted them to do it. Hold up the sock. Work it around the little toe area

sock. Work it around the little toe area and the heel area so that there are no wrinkles. Smooth it out good. Then hold

wrinkles. Smooth it out good. Then hold

up the sock while you put the shoe on.

And the shoe must be spread apart, not just pulled on the top laces. You

tighten it up snugly by each eyelet.

Then you tie it. Then you double tie it so it won't come undone. Because I don't want shoes coming untied during practice or during the game. I don't want that to

happen. That's just a little detail that

happen. That's just a little detail that coaches must take advantage of because it's the little details that make the big things come about. Now, Rick Rubin

comments on this passage. The sentiments

above are John Woodens, the most successful coach in the history of college basketball. His teams won more

college basketball. His teams won more consecutive games and championships than any others in history. It must have been frustrating for these elite athletes who wanted to get on the court and show what

they could do to arrive at practice for the first time with this legendary coach only to hear him say, "Today we will learn how to tie our shoes." The point

Wooden was making was that creating effective habits down to the smallest detail is what makes the difference between winning and losing games. Each

habit might seem small, but added together, they have an exponential effect on performance. Just one habit at the top of any field can be enough to

give an edge over the competition. I'm

going to interrupt Rick Rubin for a second and quote Napoleon because when Rick Rubin just said this sentence, one of my favorite sentences of this entire section, just one habit at the top of any field can be enough to give an edge over the competition. This is what

Napoleon said. It's very similar.

Napoleon said. It's very similar.

Napoleon said, "All great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity. The less clever man by

opportunity. The less clever man by neglecting one thing sometimes misses everything." Back to Rick Rubin, just

everything." Back to Rick Rubin, just one habit at the top of any field can be enough to give an edge over the competition. Wooden considered every

competition. Wooden considered every aspect of the game where an issue might arise and trained his players for each one repeatedly until they became habits.

The goal was immaculate performance.

Wooden often said, "The only person you're ever competing against is yourself. The rest is out of your

yourself. The rest is out of your control." This way of thinking applies

control." This way of thinking applies to the creative life just as well. For

both the artist and the athlete, the details matter. Whether the players

details matter. Whether the players recognize their importance or not, good habits create good art. The way we do anything is the way we do everything.

Treat each choice you make, each action you take, each word you speak with skillful care. The goal is to live your

skillful care. The goal is to live your life in the service of art. That was an excerpt from the book I'm going to talk about today, which is the creative act, a way of being, and it was written by

Rick Rubin. I want to read to you what

Rick Rubin. I want to read to you what Rick Rubin said about the creation of this book. He says, "I set out to write

this book. He says, "I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be." So, a few things to know before we jump into the

book. This is a very unusual book. I've

book. This is a very unusual book. I've

read over 400 books to make this podcast so far. I can't think of a single other

so far. I can't think of a single other book that I've read for the podcast that's like this. It is almost like a stream of Rick Rubin's thoughts and ideas on creativity separated into what

he calls 78 areas of thought. And these

78 chapters are very brief and to the point. So this book, even though it's,

point. So this book, even though it's, you know, over 400 pages, it's very easy to read. So what I'm going to do is I'm

to read. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to move through the book in chronological order and share some of the highlights. I probably made 100

the highlights. I probably made 100 highlights while reading this book. The

last thing to know before I jump into the book is I'm an unadashed Rick Rubin fan. I've been watching his interviews,

fan. I've been watching his interviews, listening to his podcast, reading books about him. I've been making podcasts

about him. I've been making podcasts about him. In fact, I did an episode

about him. In fact, I did an episode four years ago. It's episode 245 of Founders on Rick Rubin's biography, which I just relistened to twice. I am

very interested in people with singular careers, people that are hard to categorize and people for which there are no substitutes and Rick Rubin is definitely one of those people. So, I

want to jump right into the book. He

starts by telling us a very useful preface or guide for reading the book.

Nothing in this book is known to be true. It is a reflection of what I've

true. It is a reflection of what I've noticed, not facts so much as thoughts.

Some ideas may resonate, others may not.

A few may awaken an inner knowing you forgot you had. Use what's helpful. Let

go of the rest. Each of these moments is an invitation to further inquiry.

Looking deeper, zooming out or zooming in, opening possibilities for a new way of being. And so one of the reoccurring

of being. And so one of the reoccurring themes and something he repeats throughout the book is the importance of paying attention of developing a practice of paying attention. Not only

paying attention to what's around you, but what's going on inside of you, the thoughts that you have. He has a very interesting idea that I've seen pop up over and over again in the history of entrepreneurship. It's in this section

entrepreneurship. It's in this section called tuning in. He says, "If you have an idea you're excited about and you don't bring it to life, it is not uncommon for the idea to find its voice

through another maker." This isn't because the other artists stole your idea, but because that idea's time has come. I just released a new episode of

come. I just released a new episode of my new show where I had a conversation, a multi-hour conversation with John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods. If

you haven't listened to it, make sure you search whatever podcast app you're listening to this on, just search my name, David Senra, and you'll see my other podcast feed where I'm having these long form conversations with the living entrepreneurs now, not just

setting the dead entrepreneurs, which I normally do. But in that conversation,

normally do. But in that conversation, he literally said the exact same thing.

He said at the very early days of Whole Foods, this was not his idea. It was an idea that whose time had come that you needed a healthier alternative to all the processed food people were eating and you should have a grocery store

dedicated to natural foods. He just

happened to be there at the very birth of the natural foods industry. But he

said there was all these other people all across the country that had the exact same idea. And so one thing that Rick Rubin will repeat throughout the book which really speaks to me and again another thing that just reappears over and over again in these biographies that

you and I talk about every week together is giving yourself space and time away from work to actually get all the ideas from your subconscious mind. And so

David Ogre would talk about this over and over again. He was a workaholic. So

is Rick Rubin. And yet he would need to take time away. He said he would go for long walks, go for a bike ride, go for a swim, sit in his garden and read fiction. And all of the sudden, these

fiction. And all of the sudden, these ideas that he couldn't tap in during his workday because he wasn't giving his mind rest would start flooding in. And

so Rick is going to talk about this as picking up on a signal. How do we pick up on a signal? The answer is to not look for it. We need to create an open

space that allows it, a space so free of the normal overpacked condition of our minds that it functions as a vacuum drawing down the ideas that the universe

is making available. There's two people that you and I have spoke about in the past that I think have found unique ways to do this. Jim Simons, the founder of Renaissance Technologies, and Elon Musk.

And both of them, what they would do is when they needed time to think, they would find a quiet place, usually in the dark, and they would lay on their back flat. They can't see anything. They

flat. They can't see anything. They

couldn't hear anything. And they would usually stay there for sometimes an hour or more. And because there's visual

or more. And because there's visual input or no audio input, you're just hearing your mind. The very first time I heard about that, I read it in this book called A Man Who Solved the Market, which was a biography of Jim Simons. I

use this idea all the time. It's amazing

how it can help you solve problems that you couldn't solve during your workday or really just the way you feel after this. You feel energized. You feel

this. You feel energized. You feel

refreshed. So, I like that idea. A space

so free of the normal overpack condition of our minds that it functions as a vacuum drawing down ideas that the universe is making available. And I

think Rick gives a great summary of why this is so important. The ability to look deeply is the root of creativity.

to see past the ordinary and mundane and get to what might otherwise be invisible. And so if you go back to Rick

invisible. And so if you go back to Rick Rubin's description of his own book where he says, "I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be." So much of

this book and the reason I started from the chapter called habits is about developing good habits and developing your mind in a way that helps you make and create great work. Another main

theme of the book is not overanalyzing.

It's not overthinking. It's just

starting. Action produces information as you work. The work itself will reveal

you work. The work itself will reveal what you need to do next. So he says, "Faith allows you to trust the direction without needing to understand it." He

has great advice for figuring out what to work on. Look for what you notice, but no one else sees. Now, it's highly likely when he wrote that line, he wasn't going to think that somebody else is going to read it and think about

vacuum cleaners. But when I read it, I

vacuum cleaners. But when I read it, I thought about James Dyson. And he has built this phenomenal empire, one of the most valuable privately held businesses in the world from that simple sentence.

He looked at a vacuum cleaner, something people used forever, millions of people for decades, and could not understand why people put up with immediate loss of suction, and said, "This is stupid. I

could do it a better way." Then because he got right to work and the work will reveal what you need to do next. Action

produces information led him to invent the world's very first cyclonic vacuum cleaner. Look what you notice but no one

cleaner. Look what you notice but no one else sees. One sentence, 10 words, but

else sees. One sentence, 10 words, but if you actually sit there and think about it and then actually apply it, it's unbelievably powerful. Now this

next part is excellent. He says,

"Semerge yourself in the great works."

This book is trying to be a useful tool on how to make something great. That is

all that Rick Rubin cares about. And so

he says, "Consider submerging yourself in the cannon of great works. Read the

finest literature. Watch the

masterpieces of cinema. Get up close to the most influential paintings. Visit

architectural landmarks. Exposure to

great art provides an invitation. It

draws us forward and opens doors of possibility. If you make the choice of

possibility. If you make the choice of reading classic literature every day for a year rather than reading the news, by the end of that time period, you'll have a more honed sensitivity for recognizing greatness from the books than from the

media. This applies to every choice we

media. This applies to every choice we make, not just with art, but with the friends we choose, the conversations we have, even the thoughts we reflect on.

All of these aspects affect our ability to distinguish good from very good, very good from great. They help us determine what's worthy of our time and attention.

This line is so great because there's an endless amount of data available to us and we have a limited bandwidth to conserve. We might consider carefully

conserve. We might consider carefully curating the quality of what we allow in. The objective is not to learn to

in. The objective is not to learn to mimic greatness, but to calibrate our internal meter for greatness so we can better make the thousands of choices

that might ultimately lead to our own great work.

Submerging yourself in the great works is exactly what you and I are doing every week together. That is the perfect leadin to tell you about the presenting sponsor of this podcast, RAMP. I spent a lot of time with the founders of RAMP. I

observe how they build their business.

And I think there's a lesson in the way that they're building their business that is applicable to anyone who is trying to make something great in the world. And that's exactly what the way I

world. And that's exactly what the way I would think about Rick Rubin and this book. He wants to help other people make

book. He wants to help other people make great things and then give those great things to the world. And one of the ways that the founders of RAMP make great work is they take an idea from Steve

Jobs. You always bet on talent. To Steve

Jobs. You always bet on talent. To Steve

Jobs, this was mandatory. Steve said you must find the extraordinary people. A

small team of A players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.

And so you must build a team that pursues the A players. And that is exactly what RAMP did. There is a reason RAMP is the presenting sponsor of this podcast. They are chasing excellence.

podcast. They are chasing excellence.

Just like Rick Rubin, they are only interested in making great work. And to

do so, RAMP has assembled the most talented technical team in their industry. Becoming an engineer at RAMP

industry. Becoming an engineer at RAMP is nearly impossible. In the last year, RAMP hired only 23% of the people that applied. This means when you're using

applied. This means when you're using RAMP, you now have top tier technical talent and some of the best AI engineers working on your behalf 24/7 to automate and improve all of your business's

financial operations. And they do this

financial operations. And they do this on a single platform. RAMP gives your business fully programmable corporate credit cards for your entire team, automated expense reporting, bill payments, accounting, and more, all in

one place. This means the longer you use

one place. This means the longer you use ramp, the more efficient your company becomes. This is important because as

becomes. This is important because as Sam Walton said in his autobiography, you can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation, or you can be brilliant and still go out of business

if you're too inefficient. Ramp helps

you run an efficient organization. I run

my business on RAMP and so do most of the other top founders and CEOs I know.

Make sure you go to ramp.com to learn how they can help your business save time and money. That is ramp.com.

Now, one of the ideas that Rick Rubin repeats that resonates deeply with me is investing a lot of patience and time into the work, sitting with it longer, taking a break, revisiting that same

work. One area of thought or chapter

work. One area of thought or chapter that he has is nothing is static.

There's a few sentences in here that I want to share with you. One of them is really important because I do this over and over again. He says, "Reread the same book over and over and you'll likely find new themes, undercurrents,

details, and connections." I do this for podcasts, too. It's amazing how many

podcasts, too. It's amazing how many times I'll listen to the same episode of a podcast. And there's an idea that I

a podcast. And there's an idea that I just missed the first two or three times. Same thing with the book. And the

times. Same thing with the book. And the

reason that reading a book is so important, I guess it applies to the podcast, too, because it's not changing.

The words on the page are the words in the episode. They don't change, but over

the episode. They don't change, but over time you do. And so Rick Rubin talks about this. He says, "The person who

about this. He says, "The person who makes something today isn't the same person who returns to the work tomorrow." And then he goes back to this

tomorrow." And then he goes back to this idea of making sure you create an environment, creating these habits where you can tap into the wisdom of your subconscious. there's an abundant

subconscious. there's an abundant reservoir of high-quality information in our subconscious and finding ways to access it can spark new material to draw from. And so one way you do this is by

from. And so one way you do this is by affecting the setting in which you work.

He says we're affected by our surroundings and finding the best environment to create a clear channel is personal and to be tested. And so one of the benefits of reading this book is Rick has this historical database in his

head of all these great artists and creators and architects and musicians and writers and he's constantly referencing them. And so he talks about,

referencing them. And so he talks about, you know, here's some other ideas of other people trying to figure out the best environment and for that is necessary to create their best work. And

so he says Andy Warhol was said to create with a television, radio, and record player all on simultaneously. For

Eminem, the noise of a single TV set is his preferred backdrop for writing.

Marcel Prrowse lined his walls with soundabsorbing cork, closed the drapes, and wore earplugs.

Kfka too took his need for silence to an extreme. Not like a hermit, he once

extreme. Not like a hermit, he once said, but like a dead man. There is no wrong way. There's only your way. And

wrong way. There's only your way. And

the very next paragraph is so good. It's

not always easy to follow the subtle energetic information the universe broadcasts. Especially when your

broadcasts. Especially when your friends, family, co-workers, or those with a business interest in your creativity are offering seemingly rational advice that challenges your

intuitive knowing. To the best of my

intuitive knowing. To the best of my ability, I've followed my intuition to make career turns and been recommended against doing so every time. It helps to

realize that it's better to follow the universe than those around you. That

part is so important and so hard to actually apply. My all-time favorite

actually apply. My all-time favorite quote about the power of intuition actually comes from Steve Jobs. This is

what he said. Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect in my opinion. That's had a big impact on my work. And I think now

having read this book and read reread my highlights, I don't know, five, six, seven times before I sat down to talk to you about it, the way I would characterize Rick Rubin's view of the

world is that it is magic and that we make up stories that greatly exaggerate how much of the world we actually understand. This is going to sound

understand. This is going to sound really weird, but I think Rick Rubin would agree with Thomas Edison's famous quote where he says, "We don't know 1

1,000th% of anything." And so, if you think about

of anything." And so, if you think about what's happening in that paragraph, he's like, you know, your friends are giving you advice, your family, your co-workers. A lot of these people

co-workers. A lot of these people probably care about you. Then there's

other people that just have a business interest in your creativity that want you to do what's best for them and not best for you. It's like, how do you parse all this incomplete information?

And what's very clear is he thinks that intuition is a higher form of knowledge or wisdom than even the rational or storytelling part of your mind. And keep

in mind again, one of the reasons I admire him so much because, you know, I have this obsession with people that do things for a long period of time. He

started working in the music industry when he was 18. He's in his 60s now, still doing it. And listen to what he said about that. To the best of my ability, I followed my intuition to make

career turns and have been recommended against doing so every time.

It helps to realize that it's better to follow the universe or follow in my case I would change that sentence follow your intuition than those around you. This is

a very unique book. I really do hope you buy it because again you don't even have to you want to know how I started reading it. There's a smoothie place

reading it. There's a smoothie place that I like going to and they take usually a really long time to make them and they have like a bookshelf. So, of

course, me being the giant nerd that I am, I go over to the bookshelf and Rick Rubin's book was on that bookshelf. And

so, I'd go to the smoothie place all the time and I'm reading chunks of this book in like the five or 10 minutes I'm waiting for the smoothie. I think that's actually a great way to read the book.

Each chapter you could probably read in a minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, but if you just sit with the actual ideas, it's very, very powerful. So, let's go to this chapter on self-doubt. There are

singers considered among the best in the world who can't bring themselves to listen to their own voice. And these are not rare exceptions. If a creator is so afraid of judgment that they're unable

to move forward, it might be that the desire to share the work isn't as strong as the desire to protect themselves.

Perhaps art isn't their role. Their

temperament might serve a different pursuit. This path is not for everyone.

pursuit. This path is not for everyone.

Adversity is part of the process. I read

that. I think of what Jeff Bezos said.

If you absolutely, this is a great quote from Jeff Bezos. If you absolutely can't tolerate critics, then don't do anything new or interesting. Some successful

artists are deeply insecure.

Self-sabotaging, struggling with addiction, or facing other obstacles to making and sharing their work. An unhealthy self-image or a

their work. An unhealthy self-image or a hardship in life can fuel great art, creating a deep well of insight and emotion for an artist to draw from. They

can also get in the way of the artist being able to make things over a long period of time. Again, go back to what he said. This book is it is a book on

he said. This book is it is a book on how to be how to be how to develop the great habits, how to build the best environment for you to do the best work.

Why? Because that's the only way you're going to be able to do great things over a long period of time, which is the goal. So, he says people who are

goal. So, he says people who are particularly challenged in this sense generally can't produce creative work over and over again. This isn't because they're not artistically capable, but because they were only able to break

through their own issues one or two times and share great work. They'd never

figured out how to be. And in many case, they sabotaged themselves. So, I

actually got to go to uh I'm a huge fan of Jimmy I made an episode of Founders on him, which I'm really, really proud of. After that episode came out, I was

of. After that episode came out, I was actually invited to go to his house and I spent several hours with him. And

Jimmy's been in the music industry for 50 years. If you don't know who Jimmy

50 years. If you don't know who Jimmy is, listen to the episode I made on him, but also watch this documentary called The Defiant Ones, which is one of my favorite documentaries of all time. And

Jimmy's got this like hardearned practical wisdom that only comes from, you know, succeeding for half a century.

And one of the things we talked about was how many people cannot handle success. And in the music industry,

success. And in the music industry, because let me just finish this. I guess

Rick Rubin's about to say, one of the reasons so many great artists die of overdoses is because they're using drugs to numb a very painful existence. And so

Jimmy has all this wisdom and I was trying to tap into it through in our conversation and he was saying there's like four primary ways he saw talented really smart but not really wise I would

I would I would add people sabotage themselves and number one was alcohol number two was pills number three was

women and number four was megalomania they go on stage there's 50,000 people screaming their name and they start to believe they're not even human anymore.

somewhere. They're like this god-like creature. This section to me, what

creature. This section to me, what Jimmy's advice to me and then this section where where where Rick Rubin's telling you and I right now, this is terrifying to me. The idea that you can be good at something, but you can only

do it once or twice for a very short period of time. I think there's a lot of wisdom in what Charlie Mer has said where it's like, you know, you can just get a huge advantage. You don't have to be brilliant. You just have to be

be brilliant. You just have to be consistently not stupid over a long period of time. and just being consistently not stupid and don't

sabotage yourself over decades put you ahead of probably 99% of the people on the planet. And so in the next chapter

the planet. And so in the next chapter called make it up. I think Rick Rubin has some really great advice on again going we're trying to do things for really high level at a really high level for a really long time. I think Rick Rubin himself is an perfect example of

that. So he says we're not playing to

that. So he says we're not playing to win. We're playing to play and

win. We're playing to play and ultimately playing is fun. Perfectionism

gets in the way of fun. A more skillful goal might be to find comfort in the process, to make and put out successive works with ease. One approach to overcoming insecurities is to label

them. I was working with an artist who

them. I was working with an artist who was frozen by doubts and unable to move forward. I asked if he was familiar with

forward. I asked if he was familiar with the Buddhist concept of pompancha, which translates as preponderance of thoughts.

This speaks to the mind's tendency to respond to our experiences with an avalanche of mental chatter. He

responded,"I know exactly what that is.

That is me." Now that he had a name for what was holding him back, he was able to normalize his doubts and not take them so seriously. When they came up, we'd call them pampha, notice them, and

then we would move forward. I was in a meeting with another artist who had just released a very successful album, but felt afraid to do more work and listed different reasons why she didn't want to

make music anymore. There are always good reasons not to continue. And so

this is what Rick Rubin said to the artist. It's fine. You don't have to

artist. It's fine. You don't have to make music ever again. There's nothing

wrong with that. Just stop if it's not making you happy. It's your choice. As

soon as I said this, her expression changed and she realized she would be happier creating than not creating.

Gratitude can also help. Realizing you

are fortunate to be in a position that allows you to create and in some cases get paid to do what you love might tip the balance in favor of the work.

Ultimately, your desire to create must be greater than your fear of it. Even

for some of the greatest artists, that fear never goes away. One legendary

singer, despite performing for over five decades, was never able to eliminate his stage fright. Despite a terror so strong

stage fright. Despite a terror so strong it made him sick to his stomach, he still stepped into the spotlight each night and performed a spell-binding

show. By accepting self-doubt rather

show. By accepting self-doubt rather than trying to eliminate or repress it, we lessen its energy and interference.

It is worth noting the distinction between doubting the work and doubting yourself. An example of doubting the

yourself. An example of doubting the work would be, "I don't know if my song is as good as it can be." Doubting

yourself might sound like I can't write a good song. These statements are worlds apart, both in accuracy and in impact on your nervous system. Doubting yourself

can lead to a sense of hopelessness of not being inherently fit to take on the task at hand. However, doubting the quality of your work might at times help

to improve it. You can doubt your way to excellence. And then he goes back to

excellence. And then he goes back to this idea about how valuable temporary distraction can be when we reach an impass at any point in the creative process. It can be helpful to step away

process. It can be helpful to step away from the project to create space and allow a solution to appear. Distraction

is not procrastination.

Procrastination consistently undermines our ability to make things. Distraction

is a strategy in service of the work.

So, I want to go back into Rick Rubin's idea about submerging yourself into the great works. Really, it reminds me of

great works. Really, it reminds me of Charlie Mer's idea that learning from history is a form of leverage. But

before I do that, I want to tell you about two tools that you should be using for your business. The very first tool is Vanta. Vanta helps your company prove

is Vanta. Vanta helps your company prove you're secure so more customers will use your product or service. Customer trust

can make or break your business, and the more your business grows, the more complex your security and compliance tools get. This can turn into chaos and

tools get. This can turn into chaos and Vanta helps you tame that chaos. You can

think of Vanta as your always on AI powered security expert who scales with you. Vanta automates compliance,

you. Vanta automates compliance, continuously monitors your controls and gives you a single source of truth for compliance and risk. So whether you're a fast growing startup like Curser or an

enterprise company like Snowflake, Vanta fits easily into your existing workflows so you can keep growing a company that your customers can trust. This is super important because most companies won't

sign contracts unless you're certified and this is causing you to lose out on sales. That is why the average Vanta

sales. That is why the average Vanta customer reports a 526% return on investment after becoming a Vanta customer. Take the time today to

customer. Take the time today to automate compliance, security, and trust with Vanta. Vanta will help you win

with Vanta. Vanta will help you win trust, close deals, and stay secure faster and with less effort. Go to

vanta.com/founders

and you'll get $1,000 off. That is

vanta.com/founders.

Another valuable service I want to tell you about is collateral. Most companies

have a hard time telling their own story. There is a great quote from Don

story. There is a great quote from Don Valentine. He says, "The art of

Valentine. He says, "The art of storytelling is critically important.

Most of the entrepreneurs who come talk to us cannot tell a story. Learning to

tell a story is incredibly important because that's how the money works. The

money flows as a function of the stories." And that is exactly what

stories." And that is exactly what collateral does. Collateral transforms

collateral does. Collateral transforms your complex ideas into compelling narratives. I have friends that have

narratives. I have friends that have used collateral for their marketing collateral and have raised billions of dollars of capital and have made hundreds of millions of dollars. I will

leave a link down below, but make sure you go to collateral.com and improve the way your company tells its own story.

So, in the section on collaboration, Rick Rubin makes a great point that everything we're doing today is a act of collaboration with the the things that came before us. He says nothing begins with us. The more we pay attention, the

with us. The more we pay attention, the more we begin to realize that all the work we ever do is a collaboration. It

is a collaboration with the art that has come before you and the art that will come after you. There's a great story in his biography that is a demonstration of this collaboration, a demonstration that

he is constantly submerging himself into great works. He had tapes full of hits

great works. He had tapes full of hits that used to be played on the radio in the 1960s and he was using those songs and those tapes in the creation of work

that he was doing 40 years after their initial release. And so then he has a

initial release. And so then he has a section all about rules. knowing the

rules and then breaking the rules. But

really, when I'm reading through this, I really think the advice he's giving is the importance of making sure that what you're creating is differentiated.

You're not on this planet to be average, to be mediocre. And he says, "Rules direct us to average behaviors. If we're

aiming to create works that are exceptional, most rules don't apply.

Average is nothing to aspire to. The

goal is not to fit in. If anything, it's to amplify your differences. Instead of

sounding like others, value your own voice, develop it, and then cherish it.

As soon as a convention is established, the most interesting work would likely be the one that doesn't follow it.

Communicate your singular perspective.

That sounds a lot like James Dyson's mantra of difference for the sake of it.

The artists who define each generation are generally the ones who live outside of these boundaries. It is a healthy practice to approach our work with as few accepted rules, starting points, and

limitations as possible. often the

standards in our own chosen medium are so ubiquitous that we take them for granted. They are invisible and

granted. They are invisible and unquestioned. And he states why doing so

unquestioned. And he states why doing so is such a big problem. The world isn't waiting for more of the same. Often the

most innovative ideas come from those who master the rules to such a degree that they can see past them are from those who never learn them at all.

Holding every rule as breakable is a healthy way to live as an artist. It

loosens constraints that promote a predictable sameness in our working methods. Beware of the assumption that

methods. Beware of the assumption that the way you work is the best way simply because it's the way you've done it before. Another idea that reoccurs

before. Another idea that reoccurs throughout this book and is also present in his biography as well is the importance of listening and not assuming you know what the outcome is going to be. I'm a huge fan of podcasts.

be. I'm a huge fan of podcasts.

Obviously, I'm obsessed with them. And

even though there's like millions in the podcast directory, there's only a handful that are actually really great.

And I actually think Rick Rubin's podcast, Tetetrogrammaton, is great. And

one of the things that I describe it, one way I describe it to other people is what makes it so great. He's like he's a professional listener and he's been cultivating this skill over his career for decades. And so he has a lot of

for decades. And so he has a lot of opinions on this. He says formulating an opinion is not listening. Neither is

preparing a response or defending our position or attacking anothers. To

listen impatiently is to hear nothing at all. Listening is suspending disbelief.

all. Listening is suspending disbelief.

We are openly receiving, paying attention with no preconceived ideas.

The only goal is to fully and clearly understand what is being transmitted, remaining totally present with what's being expressed and allowing it to be

what it is. Listening is then not just awareness. It is freedom from accepted

awareness. It is freedom from accepted limitations. And that directly leads

limitations. And that directly leads into his thoughts on patience. This is

one of my favorite parts of the book.

There are no shortcuts. The artist

actively works to experience life slowly and then to reexperience the same thing a new. To read slowly and to read again

a new. To read slowly and to read again and again and again. I might read a paragraph that inspires a thought and while my eyes continue moving across the page in the physical act of reading, my

mind may still be lost in the previous idea. I'm not taking in information

idea. I'm not taking in information anymore. When I realize this, I return

anymore. When I realize this, I return to the last paragraph I can recall and start reading from there again.

Sometimes that's three or four pages back. Anybody that reads a lot has

back. Anybody that reads a lot has experienced that. Happens to me all the

experienced that. Happens to me all the time. Rereading even a well understood

time. Rereading even a well understood paragraph or page can be revelatory. New

meanings, deeper understandings, inspirations, and nuances arise and come into focus. So often we sleepwalk

into focus. So often we sleepwalk through our lives. Again, I think the patience section and the listening section are related. We're not actually paying attention. We are rushing through

paying attention. We are rushing through life. So often we sleepwalk through our

life. So often we sleepwalk through our lives. Our continual quest for

lives. Our continual quest for efficiency discourages looking too deeply. The note I left myself when I

deeply. The note I left myself when I got to that sentence. Our continual

quest for efficiency discourages looking too deeply was amen. I am not trying to rush through the creation of these podcasts through the creation of this this work. I think the hard way is the

this work. I think the hard way is the right way. So many times people give me

right way. So many times people give me advice I should be outsourcing X or I should be outsourcing Y. And what I try to explain to them is what makes this special is the compounding of this over 10 years. It's because I didn't take

10 years. It's because I didn't take shortcuts. It's because I read and

shortcuts. It's because I read and reread books over and over again, past highlights over and over again. I go

back and relisten to past episodes over and over again. I listen to I just told you I listen to the Rick Rubin one I did four years ago twice to prepare for this one. Why is that important? Because the

one. Why is that important? Because the

next sentence that Rick has in the book, it's through deliberate action and repetition that we gain deeper insight.

Patience is required for the nuanced development of your craft. That sounds

so much like Steve Jobs. What does Steve Jobs say? To make it really great. All

Jobs say? To make it really great. All

it takes is a little more time and a willingness to persevere until it's really great. It takes more time.

really great. It takes more time.

Patience is required for crafting a work that resonates and contains all that we have to offer. Impatience is an argument with reality. Even the masterpieces that

with reality. Even the masterpieces that have been produced on tight timelines are the sum of decades spent patiently laboring on other works. If there is a

rule to creativity that's less breakable than the others, it's that the need for patience is ever present. Moving on, we see another reoccurring theme that you and I have discussed. This pops up in

almost every single biography. The

people that are usually really great that create the greatest companies, the greatest inventions, the greatest technology, they're usually very obsessive and it causes them to discount other parts of their life. He says, "The great artists throughout history are the

ones that are able to maintain a childlike enthusiasm and exuberance naturally just as an infant is selfish."

There's a great interview that Michael Jordan did a long time ago with Oprah Winfrey that he has a line in there where he says, "Success is selfish." And

he's talking about the fact that he's spending time away from the people in his life to pursue his craft or his work. Now, the outcome of that work is

work. Now, the outcome of that work is not selfish. It's actually a gift to the

not selfish. It's actually a gift to the rest of humanity. Think about the tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions of people that were inspired by Michael Jordan's encore performance and his story and what he accomplished. But to

do that, the time away from other people that may have wanted his time in his life, it was selfish. Success is

selfish. Great quote from Michael Jordan, Rick Rubin saying, "Just as an infant is selfish, they're protective of their art in a way, the great artists of history, that is, they're protective of

their art in a way that's not always cooperative. Their needs as a creator

cooperative. Their needs as a creator comes first, often at the expense of their personal lives and relationships."

This story he's about to tell of a singer songwriter has been told to me verbatim by one of the greatest living entrepreneurs. And I'll get there in one

entrepreneurs. And I'll get there in one second. He says, "For one of the most

second. He says, "For one of the most loved singer songwriters of all time, if inspiration comes through, it takes precedence over all other obligations.

His friends and family understand that in the middle of a meal, conversation, or event, if a song calls, he'll exit the scene and tend to it without explanation." I literally have had one

explanation." I literally have had one of the greatest living entrepreneurs tell me that directly that his friends and family know. They could be in the middle of a dinner. If there's an idea or something, some kind of form of

inspiration comes to him related to his work, he will just get up and exit, you have likely used this person's products.

And Rick Rubin's point is this is a form of inspiration. He says, "When flowing,

of inspiration. He says, "When flowing, keep going. Our schedules are set aside

keep going. Our schedules are set aside when these fleeting moments of illumination come. Summon your strength

illumination come. Summon your strength and commit yourself on behalf of this offering even when it arises at an inopportune time. This is the serious

inopportune time. This is the serious artist's obligation. And one of the

artist's obligation. And one of the reasons this is so important because he has this great this great line that he repeats or he he doesn't repeat the line verbatim, but the idea behind the line that the work reveals itself as you go,

which goes back to the dangers of overthinking, overanalyzing, just get started. Action produces information.

started. Action produces information.

The work reveals itself as you go. And

then he talks about this paradox because he keeps talking about patience. But he

also talks about the importance of finishing your work, releasing it, and then moving on to the next thing. The

reward for great work is just more work.

And so he says this is a paradox. To

create our best work, we are patient and avoid rushing the process while at the same time we work quickly and without delay. That's a very Jeff Bezosike

delay. That's a very Jeff Bezosike statement. The motto for one of Jeff's

statement. The motto for one of Jeff's company is step by step ferociously.

We're going to avoid rushing the process while at the same time we're going to work quickly and without delay. And

again, I'm skipping ahead many pages and you see these ideas reappear over and over again in different forms. You just said the work reveals itself as you go.

Why is that so important? because he

compares it to finishing a puzzle. If

all the puzzle is complete except for that one piece, then you know exactly where it goes. The same is generally true for art. The more of the work that you can see, the easier it becomes to

gracefully place the final details clearly where they belong. So then he has advice as we get closer and closer to completion of the work. And a lot of this is when you're collaborating with other people, you're going to start to

get feedback. And he talks about how

get feedback. And he talks about how some of this when viewed as a challenge and separated from you know the critique of the person just critiquing the work is very beneficial to the overall project. Sometimes a challenge allows us

project. Sometimes a challenge allows us to focus on an aspect of the work and realize it's more important than we previously thought. In the process we

previously thought. In the process we access deeper wells of understanding into the work and ourselves. As you

collect feedback, the solutions offered may not always seem helpful. But before

discarding them, take a moment to see if they're pointing to an underlying problem you had not noticed. And he

talks about it's so hard for people to say, "Hey, the work is finally done."

It's so tempting to just keep working on it, keep working on it, keep working on it forever. Says, "When is the work

it forever. Says, "When is the work done?" There's no formula or method for

done?" There's no formula or method for finding this answer. It is an intuition.

And that intuition is the answer to the work is done when you feel it is. And he

has one of the greatest ways to think about why it's important to be patient, but also to work as fast as you can and to actually put what you're making out into the world. Hanging on to your work is like spending years writing the same

entry in a diary. Okay, I understand that the next sentence is so important.

The next two sentences are so important.

Moments and opportunities are lost. The

next works are robbed of being brought to life. And then something I haven't

to life. And then something I haven't touched on yet, but I should because it's central to Rick Rubin. All he cares about is making things that he is proud of and that he wants to see in the

world. He says when making art, the

world. He says when making art, the audience comes last. I get interviewed a lot and a lot of people ask me the questions like, "Okay, what does success for you look like in five years?" And my

answer is whether it's today, next year, 5 years from now, it's always the same.

I define success the same way that Steve Jobs did. Did I make something that I'm

Jobs did. Did I make something that I'm proud of? Rick Rubin just wants to make

proud of? Rick Rubin just wants to make great things and he's done so for decade after decade after decade. And that

starts with doing it for the right reason. So, he's got a section titled

reason. So, he's got a section titled greatness. This is excellent. Imagine

greatness. This is excellent. Imagine

you're building a home that no one will ever visit. Still, you invest the time

ever visit. Still, you invest the time and effort to shape the space in which you'll spend your days. The wood, the plates, the pillows, all magnificent, curated to your taste. This is the

essence of great art. We make it for no other purpose than creating our version.

We do the best as we see the best with our own taste, no one else's. We are

performing for an audience of one. Fear

of criticism, attachment to a commercial result, competing with past work, time and resource constraints, the aspiration of wanting to change the world. And any

story beyond I want to make the best thing I can make, whatever it is, are all undermining forces in the quest for greatness. I need to read that last

greatness. I need to read that last sentence twice. And any story beyond I

sentence twice. And any story beyond I want to make the best thing I can make, whatever it is, are all undermining forces in the quest for greatness.

Instead of focusing on what this art will bring you, focus on what you contribute to this art to make it the best it could possibly be. With the

objective of simply doing great work, a ripple effect occurs. A bar is set for everything you do, which may not only lift your work to new heights, but raise

the vibration of your entire life. It

may even inspire others to do their best work. Greatness begets greatness. It's

work. Greatness begets greatness. It's

infectious. Damn, that's good. Greatness

begets greatness. It's infectious.

Our calling is to make beautiful works to the best of our ability. And he's got another great way to think about this.

Being made happy by someone else's best work and then letting it inspire you to rise to the occasion is not competition.

It's collaboration. And then this next part really speaks to I feel a fundamental lesson from studying Rick Rubin. being comfortable with ambiguity,

Rubin. being comfortable with ambiguity, being comfortable with uncertainty and the importance of refining and then following your intuition. We live in a mysterious world full of uncertainties and we regularly make assumptions to

explain them. Generally, our

explain them. Generally, our explanations are guesses. These vague

hypotheticals become fixed in our minds as fact. We are interpretation machines

as fact. We are interpretation machines and this process of labeling and detaching is efficient but not accurate.

We are the unreliable narrators of our own experience. It is helpful to

own experience. It is helpful to remember that there are forces at work beyond our comprehension. We are dealing in a magic realm. Nobody knows why or

how it works. Again, it goes back to the subconscious, to the intuition. Now,

we're many, many pages ahead of where I just was. And yet, he repeats this idea.

just was. And yet, he repeats this idea.

He says it differently, but he repeats this idea. It is a form of intelligence.

this idea. It is a form of intelligence.

It's a form of wisdom. And he says, "This intelligence is beyond our understanding." And so another thing I

understanding." And so another thing I love about Rick Rubin is like he has these these combination of these ideas that you think might even be in conflict with one another. Like he's very comfortable with following the magic, very comfortable letting the work lead

to where he needs to go, but he also takes his work unbelievably seriously.

And so I love this idea about how to never lose a valuable idea. You may

worry that a great idea could get lost or overlooked in the spontaneity of a moment. To guard against that, when I'm

moment. To guard against that, when I'm working with an artist, I make an endless amount of notes. When outside

observers come into the studio, they often cannot believe how clinical the process looks. They imagine a big music

process looks. They imagine a big music party, but we're constantly generating detailed notes on focus points and experiments to test. For almost

everything that's said, someone is writing it down. 2 weeks later, there will come a time when someone will ask a question like, "What was that lyric we loved? What was that previous version of

loved? What was that previous version of this element like? Which take was the best for the fill going on in the second chorus?" and we go back to the notes.

chorus?" and we go back to the notes.

Faithful notetaking by a connected observer helps prevent special moments from getting lost in the churn of excitement. And finally, the last idea I

excitement. And finally, the last idea I think is a great summary of what this is all about, what you and I are trying to do and frames our work as an act of service to other people, which I think again one of my favorite lines from the history of entrepreneurship comes from

Henry Ford where he says, "Money comes naturally as a result of service." Focus

on service. To hone your craft is to honor creation. By practicing to

honor creation. By practicing to improve, you are fulfilling your ultimate purpose on this planet.