The Stallion Theory: How aimless creativity ruins your life

Is creativity all it's cracked up to be? And if it isn't... what can you do about it? This is the Stallion Theory...

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The Stallion Harness:
This is a worksheet I made for myself as an actionable - feel free to use it/change it to suit yourself etc:

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[yaniksilver]

You broke this down perfectly. I remember watching Jerry talk about not breaking the chain of writing one joke per day as his discipline. As a creative person - we think we want zero constraints and unlimited funding but it’s just not true. One of my recent projects came about from an experiment of drawing one journal page every day for 108 days. It didn’t matter if it was 1am or 3am. Knocking out that checkbox felt great and I also had no expectation of what the end result would be aside from something for myself. The project turned into a published book and oracle deck bought by a publisher. I believe it’s better to be proficient than to be perfect. Great work on this video

[sarahs]

This is literally the reason I chose to go into visual design instead of fine art. I thrive on boundaries and my creativity has a box to think outside of, instead of a daunting sea of endless options.
I needed this video sooo much today, as I’m literally missing class because of a domino effect of indecision. But now I have a sticky note above my desk that reads “quantity over quality. Creativity will come.” Thank you!

[mayanightstar]

This is one of those videos that came into my life at the perfect time. Perfectionism has literally been ruining my life for the last 2-3 years but I finally feel like I'm starting to see the end of this tunnel

[sebasg.]

as a student graphic designer with adhd this has explained so much and this honestly helps me so much. I didn't know this was a thing but the creative anxiety where I do research all day instead of actually doing something is crazy.

[pristine]

This video makes so much sense to me, i work freelance as a costume designer. Want to make my own brand but have been crippled by the freedom of being able to do whatever i please with it. I have invested money already to make it happen but after making a logo, cant seem to make myself design the actual pieces i wanna produce. I been stuck on this loop of today is the day or ill do it tomorrow, its been a few months…help.

[JaRyCu]

I wanted to write a comment about how it's a shame this video isn't longer... but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it didn't need to be. Short, sweet, to the point, and absolutely amazing. Thank you for this.

[Startrper]

This video perfectly explains this feeling I've been having lately. Ironically enough, I found that the developing my skills to the point where I could draw almost anything is what hindered me the most and led me into a frozen state. What got me out of that state? The constraints of an assignment on a digital media team where I was responsible for creating posters based on specific academic subjects. As someone who always hated constraints on my creativity, I was shocked by how easy it was to create the posters, and how much joy I found in it as well. Fast forward about two weeks later, and I'm realizing that just like that stallion, I won't get anywhere if I don't harness all this energy into something more focused...so I'm gonna go work on that...later

[NYKIRA]

Love how you pointed out the duality in Freedom "Less Choice = More Action". It's so funny how it works, yet truly having active boundaries in your creativity (and life tbh) creates a system where you can just flow continuously 💛

[MandaPanda]

This resonates so much. Im a very creative person, constantly procrastinating by endless options ive accidentally created for myself, resulting in low productivity and output. Frozen by choice is so dang accurate

[RocketSlug]

I'm a big fan of Mark Rosewater, the lead designer of the card game Magic: The Gathering, and he has similar views on creativity. One of his repeated maxims is "restrictions breed creativity" and he's also advocated for systematizing creativity and often recommends the book A Whack On the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech

[esselmeyer]

Creative angst is such a good name for it! I'm not a big deadline person, but this definitely opens up my mind to different ways I can apply some constraints to my creativity to get me flowing. I've definitely been feeling the creative angst towards my webcomic, so some ways I can think of limiting myself is by limiting my style, the colors, or the composition(s).

[RangoJalex]

This is insanely relevant to me at this exact moment thanks for posting this haha!

[CourtneyCoulson]

The Pomodoro method changed my life. I have so many different hobbies and projects I want to do, but some would get a lot of attention, while others were ignored for months or years. But if I do a little bit of everything for one hour a day, I'm constantly making progress at a consistent rate, I can now plan and predict in a way I couldn't before.

[pettypsghetti]

I needed this video. I've been writing the same script for ten years. I get asked "don't you want to write another story???" I couldn't imagine doing that, because this story needs to get done in the "perfect" way. as I age and my bones creak and my baby grows inside me, I realize the "perfection" is inside the creative process. I also realize I really want to write more than I want to overthink.

[gaminggreat]

Alternate title: How the internet ruins your life.

[iendros]

That creativity needs constraints is something I knew for some time, already. With my very severe ADHD in mind, I feel that the Stallion Theory even more applies to my needs. Because: No structure at all and my head is a 3D-Cloud-Map. I think I really found a good tool for alot of things for me here! ADHD, for me personally, is kind of like a rocket engine. Complex. If it works, it's pure, massive energy. But it needs alot of work and dedication so it works fine and stable. Due to my personal circumstances, I've learned most things alone. And instead of working, I struggled how to build up a working structure at all and find any kind of self-organisation and overview. I never learned that. And with overthinking for a veeeery long time? Well, vicious circle! Instead of focussing on a problem solution, I sat down with the problems and just listened aimlessly to their problems, wondering why nothing happenes. You forget about solutions and even rewards. This and the lack of progress intensified so much, I then had lost most interest and desire to do most things I actually love to do. I was totally reduced to daydreams and very few real results. So I was the extreme version of that. And this video just comes to the absolute best time.
Thank you so much =)

[LaurieLondon]

Yay, this is the video I voted for! It reminds me of an exercise an old painting instructor gave us. We were to paint something using only 1 color plus black and white. He said too many choices can be overwhelming, that we can often be more creative with a limited palette. Thanks for another great video!

[halahsmith]

This video helped me realize I’ve been stuck in analysis paralysis, or state orientation when it comes to choosing a career. I’ve been going back and forth with X makes more money that Y but I’m more passionate about Y but hey what if I did Z!? It’s been driving me crazy but this was definitely helpful to push me in the right path. Thanks Struthless 🖤✨

[Manj_J]

Damn I needed this video right now! I'm stuck in an endless cycle of procrastination and perfection, but I think I'm gonna just set a 1 hour deadline every day to write something crappy just so I can actually DO something instead of being stuck in this paralysis all day!

[nef]

I think this might be the only art block/motivation/whatever video that really got through to me. Every other video I've seen just gives you a routine to follow, usually formatted as a "this is how I got gud" story, with no arguments for why it works other than "trust me bro".

Nothing I've seen has really given me basic concepts I've felt like I could work with like this video.