Be a River

I found the water … and walked along its shore. — Foo Fighters “I Am a River”

I just finished Sonic Highways on HBO and it truly inspired me. If you’re not familiar with the series, it follows the Foo Fighters as they make their most recent album of the same name. They travel to eight different cities across the United States finding a local studio to record a track in, and more importantly they discover the local music history which inspires the track.

Throughout the series I couldn’t help but feel like I needed to take this inspiration and amplify it, so this is my best opportunity.

Think about your favorite anything. I mean literally anything: book, song, movie, dress, car, building, tv show, game, picture, piece of jewelry, app, gadget, or blog. A person made that! The person that makes the next thing could be you. Are you reading this post right now? You could write something better. You know why? You can be a river.

Right now I hope there’s a bunch of people sitting in a room saying everything I did is shit and making something awesome — James Murphy of LCD SoundSystem

What is a river? To me, a river is a flow of creativity which produces something, aka anything. By linking one river to the next you can be inspired and you can inspire the next generation of creators to do something better.

The most important part is making something. Record a song. Give it to your friends. They’ll think it’s shit. Take their criticism, and lather, rinse, repeat. With hard work, determination, and a lot of luck you’ll be on your way to a Grammy nomination.

You can become an influencer, but only if you create something.

Consuming things is important. How will you know what makes a fun game or an attractive floral arrangement until you see and try what others have created.

Always remember that the best creators are still people. Your life will have many measures, and one of those is how many people did you influence. You can become an influencer, but only if you create something. So get going!