The Creative Act

“The Way of Code is a book about vibe coding.”

“I’ve realized that if I choose the guests I really want to speak to selfishly, that’s how I best serve my audience. This is akin to what Rick Rubin talks about in his book, isn’t it?”

“Rick Rubin, the legendary music producer, wrote a book called The Creative Act: A Way of Being; he talks so much about how creativity will flow through us if we just give ourselves space to observe without having to pay attention to a specific thing.”

“But you've also mentioned someone you admire is Rick Rubin and his book 'The Creative Act.' It has some really interesting ideas, and one of them is to accept self-doubt and imperfection.”

“that's the whole premise of the Steven pressfield book The War the war of art I haven't read that one I just started reading the Rick Ruben one”

“He wrote this book on creativity, it's really good, it's really fascinating.”

“the book is called the creative act a way of being Rick Rubin it's available now”

“This past year, Rick also authored his first book, which is a truly incredible exploration into the creative process. His book is entitled 'The Creative Act: A Way of Being.'”

“I’ll throw one out: Rick’s book, 'The Creative Act: A Way of Being.' But in addition to that book, what are some other books you recommend to stimulate thought or for health purposes—things you've found particularly beneficial in book form?”

“It's really amazing that the creative cycle book by Rick Rubin has been a bestseller, and it's a really out-there kind of book in a lot of ways. That’s really exciting.”

“And that goes to Rick Rubin and the creative circle, the origins of creativity and the muse from ancient Greece.”

“You have to find some way to be present and both very committed and also, as you talk about in the book, kind of detached from all of that external stuff. Absolutely, and I recommend that artists engage or re-engage with why they wanted to do it in the first place and really find their love.”

“If we put our—one of the things I recommend in the book is like creating the equivalent of creating office hours, having a schedule to work. Where you say I'm going to sit down for this could be 20 minutes, could be three hours; it's up to you what that window is and how you want to do it.”

“It’s the book I wanted to write; that’s one of the things about it is like—and I think when we did talk about it all those years ago, that was probably what you said. It’s like, why do you want to do that book?”

“His new book is entitled The Creative Act: A Way of Being, and it's not at all the book you might expect from someone in the music industry. It's a book about...”

“But before we get into the book, I'm hoping he'll explain to me how a white college student in the early 1980s became foundational to the development of hip-hop.”

“I have to confess I know very little about the music industry, and it never would have occurred to me to invite you on the show, but as we were brainstorming potential guests, someone in the meeting noted that Rick Rubin's got a new book out, and he's legendary.”

“I picked up a copy of your book knowing literally nothing about it, and I was honestly shocked.”

“This book isn't a memoir or an expose; it's a book of philosophy, a meditation, and it spoke deeply to me from the very first pages.”

“I gotta say, I rarely have been so surprised by a book in such a positive way.”

“Before we talk about the book, can I ask you an embarrassing question?”

“The big part of what the book's about is that the artist's work is to live in the world in a way where you notice the things that no one else notices.”

“Reading your book, I suddenly stopped in my tracks.”

“But somewhere towards the end of your book, I broke out in this big smile, and I thought, 'Maybe I am an artist.'”

“You have an interesting point in the book about being like a spectator to your own failures.”

“There was a lot in Rick Rubin's book that spoke to me.”

“But if there's one big message, one that I would love for you to carry away, it's something early in the book.”

“He has a new book out about the creative process, and it's one of the strangest things I've ever read. I remember when I started the whole endeavor about eight years ago; meeting with publishers, I explained how I envisioned the book, and all of them said, 'Yeah, but you’re going to tell stories about Johnny Cash and you're going”

“Reuben just came out with this really fascinating unusual book called the creative act a way of being expected stories of late nights in the studio with famed musicians”

“We also spent some time talking about Rick's new book, which is all about creativity and ways to access creativity. The title of the book is The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin.”

“We also spent some time talking about Rick's new book, which is all about creativity and ways to access creativity. The title of the book is The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin.”

“This is a book that I've now read three times from cover to cover, and I'm now reading it a fourth time. Because it is so rich with wisdom and information that I'm applying in multiple domains of my life, not just my work but my everyday life.”

“And so whether or not you consider yourself somebody creative or not, or whether or not you seek to be more creative, Rick's book and today's conversation sheds light on what I believe to be the fundamental features of what makes us human beings. That is what allows us, unlike other animals,”

“But as I went into your book, which I've done twice. I've read it twice, and by the way, I feel so blessed and honored to have gotten an early copy from you, or a final copy early that is.”

“When I was reading your book, I was thinking about there's a set of things to follow, things to pay attention to-- you talk about this-- things to access, that none of the creative process comes from just within us. It can, but it's always being fed by things outside of it.”

“ANDREW HUBERMAN: I was thinking in your book you describe, again, when you're thinking about the creative process as a cloud. For me, again, it serves as such a powerful anchor.”

“And then I think about the biology, the neurobiology of like strategy formation or strategy implementation and then almost by sheer luck or miraculously, I turn a few pages later into the book, and there's a description of how animals that are trying to accomplish something—eat, mate, find water, accomplish the requirements of living—require a narrow visual focus.”

“One of the things I talk about in the book is that, because it is a difficult thing to do, it’s fun to play, and it’s fun to think maybe it’s not the best it could be yet, to use whatever the next project is going to be as motivation to finish the one you’re working on now. I'm working”

“And you said your description of source is something within us. I don't know if I would say that was accurate. It's definitely in us too, but it's not only in us.”

“I recall distinctly that in the book, you described how the physical world is constrained by the laws of physics and certain things. The imagination is unconstrained. I think I have this right; you said the work sets somewhere between those—it’s neither one nor the other.”

“Aside from your daily routines, when it comes to someone going from project to project, and you know you're going to be doing work with somebody, it could be your own work. And we'll talk about the writing of this book and its structure, which is very unique.”

“So this relates to an amazing chapter and series of writings in your book that I'm not going to describe because I want people to find it for themselves about disengaging, about disengaging from the process. One question I had as I read that chapter, and as you're saying this now, is even though you're disengaged, do you believe that”

“ANDREW HUBERMAN: What I want to do is drill into your process a little more deeply; when you approach a project, everyone meets each other, shakes hands, and here are the engineers. We're going to sit down, and everyone knows what they're doing, because you work with professionals.”

“In the book, you talk about this notion of entertaining the idea of the opposite being true. There are not only emerging but established fields of psychology that are making great ground, I think, into the human psyche; Byron Katie's work and others.”

“The other thing that I used over time to reset this ability to think in a structured way without it feeling like it was overcoming me, maybe even access the same thing in some ways that you're accessing with wrestling, was I like to stare at aquaria. I like to go to aquariums or I'd build aquariums.”

“One of the things I discovered while working on the book was that we aren't required to treat the different phases of work in the same way, whereas before, I did. In the past, everything was in this state of play.”

“ANDREW HUBERMAN: The chapter on self-doubt was particularly interesting to me. RICK RUBIN: Tell me what it says because I can’t remember.”

“But I've seen a little bit of the evolution of it, and I've seen it now and read through it in its final form twice, as I mentioned. I'm going to continue to read through it again.”

“It is one of those books that is so filled with gems, like every chapter. I could take notes on this and take notes on that, and it's assembled in a very digestible way that allows people to extract the meaningful parts in every chapter.”

“Please also be sure to check out his new book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin.”