Trane Of Thought

I once had a cassette of an interview John Coltrane, the great jazz saxophonist, gave on a long forgotten radio show, in which Trane gives the best description of the creative process I've ever heard. (As an aside, the disk jockey also asked one of the best interview questions of all time, and I say that having interviewed thousands of people throughout my career.)

"So when you play," the DJ asked, "are you like a chess master? Do you see five, six, seven moves ahead? Do you know what the band is going to do and what you're going to do?"

Coltrane, obviously intrigued by the question, paused for a moment. No, it wasn't like that at all, he replied. He got to a certain jumping off point in any song and then jumped. There were certain things he had to do to get to that point, but once he jumped he had no idea where he was going to land. He had to trust himself to get to where he needed to go, even if he didn't know where that spot was when he reached that jumping off point.

Brilliant question. Brilliant answer. And the entire creative process in a few sentences.

I've worked with and known a lot of creative folks — writers, designers, artists — who would stare at a computer screen, a piece of paper, a canvas, a lump of clay, wondering where to begin. But the trick is not knowing where to begin. It's knowing where to end. And trusting yourself to get there.