7 Creative Lessons from Picasso | #20

No. 20 — read time 4 minutes
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Imagine sitting with Beethoven as he composed Symphony No. 5 Or Shakespeare as he wrote Macbeth.

In 1955, that's exactly what a French filmmaker did — with Piccaso.

Le Mystère Picasso (The Mystery of Picasso) was the brainchild of French documentary filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot.

A longtime admirer of Picasso's work, he set out to document the artist's creative process. Picasso loved the pitch and the two began working closely together on the film. The result was a first-of-its-kind exploration of artistry and creativity.

Picasso had one request of Clouzot.

He wanted all the paintings shown in the documentary destroyed so that they would only live on in film. While most were destroyed, legend has it that till this day only a few remain.

There's no denying the impact Picasso had on the world of art. And seeing his creative process up close sheds a new light on how art is made. Much of creativity, as it turns out, is instantaneous. A feeling.

The only way to nurture it is to continue to paint. To write. To build.

To be prolific.

Zooming out, I realized there are simple but important lessons all creators can learn from Picasso.

1. Create Like A Child

Before the vicissitudes of life bred insecurities in us all, we were all once pure. Finding that inner child is how you create art.

2. Steal Good Ideas

I was first introduced to this idea from the book Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. And if my memory serves me correct, I found that book by watching a YouTube video by Ali Abdaal several years ago. More recently, I’ve heard David Perell refer to this as Imitate then Innovate:

There is very little true pure originality. And that’s fine.

We are all synthesizers.

The trick is to let others’ ideas guide you to an idea that you then shape and mold into your own. Someone else’s idea can be the catalyst for your own original work.

First you emulate your heroes.

Then you learn to use their work as the starting point for your own creative journey.

3. You Can't Succeed Without Action

Success doesn't just happen. It takes deliberate work, day in and day out to achieve your dreams.

I’ll save the longer discuss about what “success” means (it’s complicated), but understand this — nothing happens out of thin air. There must be some deliberate action.

4. Use What You Got

Don't get bogged down on the nice-to-haves. Work with you have and get going. Avoid chasing the newest toy or tool.

One of my biggest pet peeves when I’m coaching someone is when they get too bogged down on what tools they should be using.

This is a trap. Avoid it all costs. Just get started.

5. Paint Your Own Reality

Everything around you was created by mere mortals. You have the power at any point to bend reality to your will.

I believe Steve Jobs said something to this effect (see No. 2 above).

6. Eliminate The Unnecessary

In life, business, and art we surround ourselves with the pointless. To find the essence is to strip all the junk and focus on what matters.

Feature creep. Scope creep. Meeting creep. Creeps all around us.

Creation is destruction in a way.

For instance, if you want to start writing, you’re better off doing a mental dump on paper before doing any editing. When it’s time to edit, that’s when its time to begin the act of destruction. The act of elimination.

Eliminating the unnecessary to arrive at your work of art.

7. Don't Procrastinate On What Is Important

Procrastination can be useful. It's often the body signaling us to find a more creative solution to a problem.

But once life ends, it's over.

I’ve personally struggled with this. I’m naturally a lazy person. This would shock many people who know me since it seems like I’m always going on about achieving this or achieving that. That’s mostly my inner struggle to fight my laziness. A huge over-compensation.

As I’ve gotten older (and hopefully wiser), I’ve begun to understand that some things in life do have expiration dates.

And so, this lesson to me speaks more of confronting hard truths about time being finite and non-fungible.

What is truly important should be high priority every single day.

It’s learning yourself to correctly identify what is high priority that’s the hard part.

If you want to watch the film this weekend, you can find it for free here:

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