There has never been a better time in history to learn. YouTube videos, Skillshare courses (I've even made a couple of these myself), Masterclass.com, Studio.com, podcasts—you have access to knowledge and lessons from the world’s greatest creative minds.

Learning new skills and techniques from external sources is undoubtedly valuable. It expands our horizons, keeps us curious, and helps us grow.

But there’s a hidden trap in this constant quest for new knowledge: the belief that we need to keep learning from others before we start creating. This can become a comfortable crutch, an excuse to postpone doing the actual work.

There's Nothing in Success

After trying to convince radio host Howard Stern that he wasn’t born a good singer, Ed Sheeran offered up some cold hard sonic evidence. He had them pull up a YouTube video of him singing when he was fourteen years old. They played it right there in the interview. It starts out not half bad, but pretty soon it gets hard to listen to.

“You weren’t kidding,” Stern says.

“No I wasn’t.” Sheeran goes on, “This is what I play to kids, and I’m like, look, this is me at fourteen. I wrote The A Teamat eighteen. So four years later, I made The A Team and recorded it. And in four years, I learned harmony, I learned how to sing in tune, I learned how to perform, I learned how to do it in time, and you can do it.”

Writing and Videos