Keith Richards on Success, Creativity, and the Art of Observation — brainpickings.org

“The radar is on whether you know it or not.” In any creative discipline, commercial success is a double-edged sword: On the one hand, it activates “the winner effect,” the well-documented psychological phenomenon wherein success breeds more success, or, as Michael Lewis put it, “commercial success makes [things easier], and it also creates pressure to be more of a commercial success”; on the other hand, it tips the scales of productivity and presence in an unfavorable direction, catalyzing the compulsion to produce yet more work in order to maintain the already-attained success and gain more, in the process withering the capacity to actually enjoy it. Reconciling these opposing forces and finding in them fuel for creativity rather than suffocating exhaust fumes is always among the artist’s greatest challenges and most important tasks. Rock icon and legendary songwriter Keith Richards (b. December 18, 1943) of The Rolling Stones articulates this beautifully in a passage from his altogether excellent memoir, Life (public library):

Read More