Do your worst ... create your best | Ryan Hildebrandt | TEDxWindsor

Why is the "shitty first draft" bad advice? How do real people start things?

After spending years interviewing creatives and designers, Ryan discovered that they thought about the start of the creative process in a pretty unusual way. This trend pops up for people who have created everything from online businesses to board games to balloon dresses. If you think of yourself as an aspiring creative, product designer, entrepreneur, or change-maker, this talk will give you a new frame for starting.

In this talk, Ryan shares a counterintuitive approach to starting your next creative project , whether that be publishing a book, launching an app, starting a non-profit, or however else you want to change the world. Find more about Ryan at http://ryanhildebrandt.com and on Instagram at @rmhildebrandt

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

There was a group of adult students
in a pottery class,

and unbeknownst to them,
they were part of a social experiment.

Now, half the class, they were told
to make the best pot they could,

and that their grade for the whole
semester would be based

on the quality of one pot they hand in.

The other half, they were just told
to make as many pots as possible.

"Don't worry about the quality.
Just make as many as you can."

And as you'd expect, this second half
made way more pots than the first half.

And if you guessed that they made some
really bad pots, you'd be right as well,

but only at first.

See, by the end of the semester,

this second half,
they'd also made the best pots.

But my question is: Why?

This doesn't seem to make any sense.

You could argue that
"practice makes perfect,"

but this group, they weren't trying
to practice making a good pot.

In fact, making a good pot
would have taken more time, not less,

so I think there's
something else going on here.

It's pretty well-established that we
have an innate drive inside us to create.

Freud called this "eros,"
or the "life force."

He said that our drive to create,
it comes from the same place inside of us

as our drive to have kids,
or even to survive.

And Mr. Max-Neef here,
with the difficult-to-pronounce name,

he said that the drive to create
is one of the core human drives,

alongside things like affection,
or understanding the world around us,

or even having freedom.

And so, this explains why we want to join
pottery classes in the first place, right?

Or why people want to publish books,
or write songs, make apps.

It's part of our nature to want
to make things.

It's natural. It's part of who we are.

See, I believe that creating things is how
we contribute to the world around us.

There's something quite magical, I think,
about making something

that can live on outside of you
and can be enjoyed by other people,

even across the world
or in your community.

Everything from the pyramids
to a food truck,

to abstract things like a political party
or a cultural movement, a charity,

this building that we're all in,
the chair you're sitting on,

this whole event, in fact ...

It was all made by somebody,
it was made for you,

whether you know the person
that made it or not; you probably don't.

It's part of our nature to want to create.

See, but it's not enough
to just make stuff, right?

We want to make something
that we're proud of.

We want to leave a legacy that's good.

But when you're first starting out
and you're brand new,

there's no getting around it,
you're going to suck.

This is completely unavoidable, alright?

And I think that's one of the reasons
why we love inspiring stories

of the multi-millionaire businessperson

who started out, you know,
in their garage,

or the world-famous
New York Times best-selling author

who just was typing away in a coffee shop
and had this stroke of inspiration.

Because these stories,
they promise that if we just wait,

maybe we'll have a really cool idea,

and that for that idea,
we won't have to be a beginner.

We can just skip this whole
"shitty first draft" stage,

just be good from the start.

It's a bit of a false promise, though.

And, you know, maybe you've got a friend

or you know somebody
who is waiting around for this,

that they want to publish a book,

but they want their very first book
to be a New York Times best seller,

while the idea is still in their head.

Or they're going to make a company,
or a publish an app,

and they just know their app is going
to be the next Google or Facebook,

and they haven't done anything yet,
but they're waiting for this idea.

They just know it's going
to come eventually.

And it's sometimes funny
to mock this thought process,

but I think it's
a very healthy thought process

because creators that truly want
to change the world,

who want to do something
that's good, do their best,

they're not lazy.

Now, they're waiting around
because they have pride in their work.

They want to do something
that's good for the world,

so they're waiting around
for this good idea to come to them.

And I think that's why
there's so much emphasis

or discussion around this idea
or this concept of the shitty first draft.

Maybe you've heard
this concept before, right?

It's based on this Hemingway quote -
"the first draft of everything is shit."

Therefore, people say, "Well,
you should make this shitty first draft."

Which, for somebody that's creative
and wants to make something that's good,

I think is kind of insulting.

I mean, if you were dating,
and someone told you,

"It's OK. If you just go on this date,
you might find them absolutely repulsive.

But it's fine, just get it over with,
and later on, it'll be better,"

you would never go on dates, would you?

You would just wait around

because, as much as it's OK
if you're repulsed by them,

it's better if you're not.

And as much as it's OK
to do a shitty first draft,

if you consider yourself
to be a person that wants to do your best,

do your best work,

clearly it's better if your
shitty first draft is not so ...

shitty.

So as a result,

this idea or this advice,
it creates a bit of a conflict.

See, on one side, people know
we're a beginner, this is unavoidable.

It seems like a pretty obvious conclusion.

And we've been told,
"Well, don't be a perfectionist."

It seems fairly logical, right?

At the same time, we want to do our best,

and we want to be proud of what we do.

So even if it's not perfect,

we at least want to try our hardest
and know that we gave it our best shot.

But these two concepts,
they're contradictory.

I mean, how can you do your best,

but not be a perfectionist?

They don't make sense together.

And so, in the head
of somebody who is creative,

or if you've got an idea for yourself
of something you want to create,

what this causes is just inner stalemate.

Nothing happens.

Most creative people
that want to make something,

as a result of this idea,

they never start.

They're screwed from the beginning,

and this is especially true

as people hold themselves
to higher and higher standards.

And the thing that sucks
is that these are the people's creations

that we need most, don't we?

And we need people
that hold themselves to high standards.

You guys are creative people.

I'm sure you've got ideas for you,
for things you'd like to create.

Maybe that's a café, or a charity,
a scholarship fund.

What would happen if these things
just never got created?

It would suck, wouldn't it?

It sucks to think about dying

with the regret of never
having released this project

that you'd always wanted to release.

But if creativity is how we contribute
to the world around us,

if creativity is how our civilization
has been shaped,

the rest of us miss out on that thing too.

I mean, if this event had never happened,
we wouldn't all be here.

And we're in that time now, aren't we?

We've already missed out
on countless creations

from people that have just died,

billions of them.

And what would happen
if the car had never been invented?

What would happen
if we didn't have cures for polio?

What would happen
if we never had the iPhone?

I mean, I'm old enough
to remember that sucked!

Having to type in your contacts by hand,

that was terrible!

The decisions that we make today,
the people that are alive today,

about what we create or what we don't

will shape our civilization going forward.

And my concern is that this idea
of "it's OK to do a shitty first draft,"

it's holding our whole civilization back.

But if telling people
"just do a shitty first draft"

causes this inner conflict,

what exactly do we do?

So I've spent the last few years
studying people that have created things,

everything from fashion shows
to balloon dresses to leather belts,

and everything in between,

and I've learned from them

that they think about the start
of the creative process

in entirely the opposite way
to most people,

or to what common knowledge
would have you think.

So a few years ago,
I had an idea for an app,

so I drew up some ideas for what I wanted
the screens to look like,

and sent them off
to a professional graphic designer.

I mean, I had the means
to make it look not shitty,

so I was going to make it so.

And I put these up on Facebook
and asked my friends for some feedback,

as you're supposed to do, right?

This is the normal way of things,

or the way I thought was the best way.

And I got a lot of really
good ideas, frankly,

for how to make my app even better.

And one of the people
that gave me some suggestions

was a classmate of mine from university,

very, very smart guy,

and he works for Google.

So I was expecting Google-quality
advice and suggestions

for how to make my app
the best it could possibly be.

I was expecting a more advanced version
of what I got from my friends.

But that's not what happened.

See, my friend told me
that my app was too good.

And I'd never been told this before.

In all my years of handing in projects
to teachers and bosses,

not a single time have I been told,

"This is excellent, we love it,

but it's too good, make it worse."

This is not the normal way
of things, right?

As the guy who did my best
all throughout school and work,

this was entirely the opposite advice

to what I was expecting from one
of the smartest people that I knew.

So I didn't get it.

But my friend explained to me that
when I made my app look really good,

look polished, fancy graphics
and everything,

what I was doing is I was signaling
subconsciously to people

that I was quite far
along the creative process,

that I'd done all the work for them.

I wasn't really looking for feedback
on what the app was,

but more so just on how it looked,
the finishing touches.

And so, as a result, the risk was
I could create something

that looked really cool,
looked really good,

but wasn't actually useful to anybody,

which is the opposite of what I wanted.

See, although I was
verbally asking for feedback,

I was signaling that I didn't want it.

I thought I was doing the right thing.

I thought I was doing something
that you're supposed to do,

that I had been taught my entire life,

that my ego really wanted
to be proud of my work.

What I was actually doing
is I was pushing away the feedback

that I needed the most.

And as I studied more and more creators,

people that have made anything
from online businesses to board games,

I saw the same pattern
happen again and again.

These people,

they were using making something
look kind of shitty, kind of bad,

not as a quick way of releasing something,

but as a very intentional tool
to get feedback

and test out the core
of what their thing was.

So I realized

that if you want to create
your best work in the long term -

this is kind of weird -

I believe you just have to start
with your worst,

on purpose,

even if you can make it better.

And I know this seems counterintuitive,

it seems kind of odd,

it seems like you would
just break the world,

people would be embarrassed
and nothing would work functionally

if we all did this.

This would be chaos, right?

But the good new is,
actually we have a really solid example

for where this works really well,

and it's not people at all; it's nature.

If you think about how a tree works,

every single tree on Earth
starts as a seed,

and if you look at a seed,

I mean, this would be
the worst-looking tree ever.

It doesn't look anything like a tree.

And that's kind of the point.

You see, a tree can grow on an open field
or on the face of a cliff,

but it can only grow in those places
because it starts small,

and it can adapt to the environment.

You see, the tree does not grow
and be created only by the seed.

It's a collaboration
with the environment around it

because it has to exist
within the environment.

Animals are the same.
People are the same.

We all start as little, kind of crappy
versions of our future selves,

and we're created in a way

that's in collaboration
and in response to the environment.

See, your job as a creator,

if you want to make
something cool for the world,

whatever the case may be,

you don't have to be
totally certain from the start

about what your thing will become
in the long term.

This whole thought process of,
"Oh, I don't have the right idea yet.

Oh, I just need to find the right outline,
and title and cover,"

and whatever the case is,

that's not your job.

If your thing has to exist in the world,

your only job is to get something
kind of small, incomplete, bad, ugly,

out of your head, into the world,

and collaborate and get feedback
from those around you

to help define exactly
what your thing will become,

in the same way that nature works.

And the way to facilitate that process

is to start with something
that's pretty bad.

And the cool thing is,

I used to think that I was really imposing
on people when I asked for feedback.

"Oh, please, do me a huge favor!

Can you please give me some feedback
on my app? I would really appreciate it."

But the opposite is true.

See,

I'm sure all of you are familiar
with the store IKEA;

like, the furniture store, right?

There's this thing called
the IKEA effect.

So when I was doing
research for this talk,

this solidified an observation
that I have been making,

which is when you ask people for feedback,

they love the process of doing that.

So, this is the IKEA effect:

studies show that when we have a hand
in contributing to something,

we place more value on that thing

than if it were to have just
been done for us.

And your shitty IKEA furniture
is an example of this, hence the name.

So when you create something
and you ask people for input -

not in how to correct
the mistakes that you've made,

but their actual advice
on what your thing could become,

whether that's the name,
the title, how it's structured,

the color scheme for your app,

it doesn't matter -

you're involving them
in the creative process.

See, you're giving them an opportunity
to satisfy their own drive to create.

And if someone's missing that,
if they don't have that in their life,

this is a massive opportunity for them,
they love this process.

Just try it, I mean, try asking somebody
for advice on something

and see what their reaction is.

It's wonderful.

So when you do this,
when you start with your worst,

you don't just get better feedback
on the core of what your thing is;

you build your initial fan base.

People love it.

It's cool.

So I know you've been told
your entire lives to do your best work.

Everyone knows this,
"Do your best. Always do your best."

For your teachers, for your bosses,
for the world, even.

And I would agree

that when you're handing in your project
to your teacher or your boss,

you're publishing, you know, that song
or that app or that book for the world,

that's a great strategy.

I really do think so.

But when you're starting something new

and you're making
something cool for the world,

and maybe you're not sure if you've got
the right idea, or what it is yet,

or whether you've got the right skills,
or whatever the case is,

when you're at that point
and you want that feedback

and you want to build that team,

I think it's better to start
with your worst.

Start with something bad, ugly.

See, in doing so, you build that team,
you get better feedback,

and we are hardwired to love
the process of helping you grow it.

It's in our nature,

exactly like the adults
in the pottery class.

So, I'll leave you with a few strategies
for your next creative projects,

things to think about as you start.

So, first off, make it ugly,

on purpose.

This is hard to hear for people that
are used to making things look pretty.

If you're like me and you can't
make it good anyways,

then this is perfect.

But even if you have the ability
to make it look kind of fancy,

screw it, just don't do that, right?

So leave in a few spelling mistakes,
ditch the fancy graphics,

make it out of cardboard if you have to.

See, when you do this intentionally,

what you're doing
is you're signaling to people

that you are still at the early stages
of your creative process,

you're still defining what it is.

So when you do your worst,
you'll get more real feedback.

Second, don't create alone.

So if your thing needs
to exist in the world,

if it's for other people
and it's for others to experience,

it doesn't make sense to create
in isolation from the environment

which it has to exist in.

You need that feedback,

and people love giving it.

We are starved for our drive to create.

So when you do your worst

and you share your ugly thing
with other people and ask for advice,

we love helping you out.

Try it.

And last,

focus on quantity over quality.

The nature of any creative projects at all

is you never exactly know
what will work and what won't

while the idea is in your head.

You just don't.

And just like trees make many seeds,

you never know which one will grow
and which one won't.

Make a lot of creative projects, right?

Because I guarantee you

that the thing that you can create,
that will become amazing in the long term,

people will still love
when it's really ugly and really bad.

So when you do your worst,

you give yourself more chances
to find the thing that you could create

that will grow into your best work.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)