Recently I posted something that said…
“Have you ever sat down to write, thought for 30 minutes, and realized you actually haven’t written anything?”
That ended up being one of my most liked tweets ever.
And that’s because all great artists, creative geniuses, and visionaries have this “problem.”
Leonardo da Vinci had it.
Gary Halbert, one of the world’s best copywriters, had it.
And Beethoven had it too.
But Beethoven did something simple that helped turn this problem into part of his creative process.
HOW TO WALK LIKE BEETHOVEN
STEP ONE: THE SLUMP
First, you need to find your “slump.”
You know the type of slump I’m talking about, right?
Where you sit there and think:
Uhhhh, ummm… I could say—wait… no, I can’t use that. Hmmm, maybe… oh wait, no.
I’m going to tell you something no one else will:
You’re insane if you sit through more than 30 minutes of that.
Beethoven would go on long walks as part of his routine, and I think after a little practice you’ll start to feel the moment when your brain starts deteriorating.
Anyways, once you feel this, go on your walk.
And the magic is what happens on the walk:
STEP TWO: THE WALK
I want you to look at this note:
That person did PERFECTLY what Beethoven did all the time.
They started walking… doing something that requires almost no brain power.
Probably just doing the laundry.
Suddenly, a magical moment happened:
Inspiration struck like a robber in the middle of the night.
And boom, just like that, it came and went.
They lost the idea for no reason other than not being prepared to capture it.
Here’s the thing:
You can’t conjure up inspiration at will whenever you want.
But you can put yourself in the right situation, and capture it when it comes.
As they say:
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Beethoven used a notebook.
You can use that too, or you can use a voice recorder, or whatever.
Just bring something, even Google Docs, where you can write down any inspiration that comes to you during the walk.
STEP THREE: BACK TO WORK
Now that you’ve gone on the walk, you should have either:
New inspiration for the project you’re working on,
or a fresh mind to use.
Most of the time, you get both!
THAT’S IT.
Simple, simple, simple.
I get it.
But amazing people like Beethoven are made up of simple habits like this one.
So give this a try tomorrow.
See what happens.
Maybe it becomes your new favorite thing.
Also, if you’ve been thinking:
“Eh, I’m always working. I never have the slump… but at the end of the day I somehow have gotten nothing done.”
Check out this.
It will solve your problem.
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