Posted by David Fendley in I am an emotional person, many times to a fault.
Films, art, technology, anything, I base my perspectives on a more thin-sliced, emotional attachment to the object, later utilizing my analytical mind to determine the constituents of my feelings. My emotions, my sentiments, define me as the artist that I am. They make me this ardent, driven man; but when it comes to achieving goals and completing tasks, emotions get in the way.
Perhaps it is time to actively disconnect.
I am reminded by the Zen is Stupid episode, “Negotiation“: “I think you have to disconnect,” says Gwen Bell.
Right. On. The. Head, Gwen.
I find that I am a better entrepreneur, a better leader, better at achieving goals and dreams when I personally disconnect from the task at hand. While it is easy to see how this can and should be applied towards objective situations such as the aforementioned, it applies to the artistic process as well.
When I am writing, I pour my heart out. I think. I dream. I write. What do I do once these words are down on paper? Nothing. Why? I am too involved in them. Perhaps I fear failure. Perhaps I am not satisfied with my work. Regardless, while this emotional attachment is fervent, thrilling, and moving, it is also binding. It motivates us, it drives us, it is our passion. However, emotions are unstructured. Try to structure your emotions while submitting to them and you will find your feelings and creativity dampened. This is why we artists let our our emotions and imaginations run wild. It is liberating and ascending.
Emotions are fleeting, though. “Love is blind.” Why? That physical feeling is so powerful that it prevents us from stepping back and rationally observing the situation. In “Blink”, Malcolm Gladwell describes how as the heart rises above 120bpm, blood flow is redirected from logical parts of the brain towards instinctual parts crucial for survival. In these moments we are rationally bound. I have felt this before. Now that I am aware of it, I can begin to control it. It is good to escape to the world of raw emotion from time to time, but when it comes to the process of setting and achieving goals, to acquiring our dreams, emotions only give us the vision — they do not get us to our goal.
These written words — what do I do with them?
So far, I have not done enough. They sit in my story-writing software waiting to be paired up with additional typographic mates. They are infused with emotion and intent, yet they lack structure. It is at this point that one must actively disconnect. While I am sure I am not the first to coin this term, active disconnect is what I refer to as the process in which one retains their umbilical cords of emotion, that which feeds and nurtures the work, to the piece itself, but takes a step back in order to assess the bigger picture — where am I going and how do I get there?
To define this in David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” terms (thanks, Patrick), this sequence is the bridge between the mind-mapping process (read: creative, emotional outpouring) and the organizational process (read: compiling, editing, structuring, defining).
It is this small but ever so important bridge that has been missing in my life. I am so in love with the creative process that I never separate myself from my work in order to actually give it form. Remember: “love is blind.” Thus these thoughts, dreams, and visions float on in a sea of abstraction. Amorphous, they refuse to take shape; but if you were to ask me for water, I could not simply pour it into your hands. It must be contained.
The more I reflect upon this approach of actively disconnecting, the more I see its truth. Art, business, technology, dreams, life, goals, the opposite sex — it is applicable in all situations. It is the symbiosis of emotion and form.
I recall one of my closest friends telling me: “I just had to do [this film].” Elaborating, he described how he could could no longer dream of “someday.” He had to do it now. His passion to be a filmmaker stirred within him.
So what did he do?
He actively disconnected, and gave that passion form.
Emotion inspires. Ambition drives. Form defines.
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