Do you know Manuel Odendahl, of Ruin & Wesen fame? I don't personally, but we've been corresponding over emails since I bought one of his MiniCommand devices (a MIDI control device used with the Elektron Monomachine). Manny is a software engineer, musician, techno live set artist, and now going to school for product design! Amazing, this type of guy is my peeps! Anywho here's the crux of this post (with his permission):
1. write down what your "taste" is, what your goals are. that gives you a clear idea of what you're going for, and allows you to refresh your "enthusiasm" everyday. 2. read the "bible" for that field. it's easy, look for the people who made this their religion, look for the book they all recommend on amazon, it's usually called "the art of ..." 3. do what the "bible" says, in the first two chapters. usually it's doing something by hand and doing it in a systematic way. 4. copy what the masters did and do, verbatim. your own style will develop out of it anyway, don't be ashamed to copy. 5. et voila
That obscure thing called "creativity" is i guess just awareness of the possibilities coupled with being well rested, well fed and feeling well. if you feel good (after a night of sleep), there is a lot of things around you to "copy", and you feel good about yourself, you won't have any trouble about feeling creative.
Why do I re-post his email? Well, quite simply, this is the best prescription for anyone who has ever wanted to get from 0 to hero as far as anything you can apply it to. Specifically, taking baby steps to achieve the final goal, but making sure that each step is tracked and reconciled against a list. Why? A lot of people give up, without achieving their goals because they lose sight of the end goal, due to bumps in the road, or over ambitious goals that inevitably lead to failure.
I think I'll go make a list. Thanks Manny! ;)
BTW, Ruin & Wesen are an awesome techno duo!