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About this talk
After the huge success of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert asks why we expect creative work to bring suffering. She borrows an older idea that takes the pressure off: you don't have to be a genius, you can have one. Your job is simply to keep showing up.
- 19 min
- Creativity
- by Elizabeth Gilbert
Key notes
What to take away.
- 01Creativity doesn't have to mean suffering
Gilbert thinks the idea that artists must be tormented is dangerous, and that we should help creative people live.
- 02Having a genius, not being one
In ancient Rome a genius was a helping spirit, not a clever person. That gave artists a healthy distance from their results.
- 03Too much weight for one person
Believing you are the only source of your work warps the ego and creates impossible expectations.
- 04Talk back to the pressure
Musician Tom Waits eased his anxiety by telling a song idea to come back when he could write it down.
- 05Show up for your part
Gilbert keeps writing on hard days and tells herself she did her share of the job.
- 06"Olé!" to you, nonetheless
Whether or not the magic shows up, keep doing your dance. Showing up is worth celebrating.
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Read next
Books by Elizabeth Gilbert
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