A little over twenty years ago, Robert Rodriguez shook the Studio System with El Mariachi, an ultra-low budget feature shot on film for $7,000 with unknown actors and where Rodriguez did about everything but acting.

This led him to write Rebel Without a Crew, a book retracing his journey from writing to making El Mariachi, to selling it and seeing his career kick-off. The book was based on the extensive notes Rodriguez took daily as he has been journaling daily since College.

I’m not sure how many would have bet on Rodriguez’ career longevity in 1992, and yet, 23 years later, not only is Rodriguez still standing, but he’s been behind a wide range of films and alternative projects, is now head of a network, El Rey, and has made his DIY/one-man-band spirit a trademark.

Robert Rodriguez has been purposefully creating within a low-key/outside-the-box genre (I’m making up this genre, but you get the drill) that goes beyond filmmaking. A sort of DIY-Renaissance man, Rodriguez reads every fields from cooking, to painting or parenting as an opportunity to learn and be creative, bringing it home through his own creative endeavors.

In a recent podcast with Tim Ferriss (whom you should be familiar with by now), Rodriguez talked for two hours about a variety of topics, but the main thread that connected them all was creativity.

I really encourage you to listen to the full interview, which is long (2h) but no longer than a film class, and filled with anecdotes and wisdom that will leave you inspired and with an itchy desire to create (and that I’ll bet, whatever your field). What more can you ask for?

In the meantime, here are 30 moments that I extracted from these 120 minutes, and that reveals Robert Rodriguez philosophy to lead a creative life: never stop learning, keep a naive mind, everything is creativity and nothing will ever happen unless you start the journey.

Without further ado:

30 Piece of Advice from Robert Rodriguez to Lead a Creative Life

Document what you do, so you can record a methodology and learn from what didn’t work.

Creativity isn’t job specific. If you know how to be creative, you can just jump from job to job with no training and do them pretty well. The technical part of any job is 10%. 90% is Creativity.

You don’t need to know. You don’t need to know what notes you’re gonna hit specifically when you go on stage for your solo, you just play.

Just get out of your own way. Open up the pipe and let the creativity flow through. As soon as your ego gets in the way and goes “Oh, I dont know what to do next” you’ve already put eyes in front of it and blocked it a little bit.

Nothing ever goes according to plan.

The job is that nothing is going to work at all, and you go “How can I turn it away, turn it into a positive so I can get something much better than if I had all the time and money in the world?“

I only do one thing, I live a creative life.

When you put creativity in everything, everything becomes available to you. Anything that has creative aspects is suddenly yours to go and do.

Be naive, stay naive, don’t over think it.

Find the freedom in limitations.

Surround yourself with masters in any field.

Always keep learning, always keep trying.

Even if you don’t know what to do, you have to just begin. You only get ideas once you start.

Get your ego out of the way, it’s not you anyway. The sooner you shut up, the sooner ideas will come through

If you spend 4h a day on anything, you’re going to become pretty good, even if you have zero talent.

Don’t get frustrated, keep going, keep practicing, keep putting the hours.

Anytime you have a feeling to do something that goes against the grain, you should go and do it.

It’s good not to follow the herd, if everyone is going that way, go the other way. Yes you’re gonna stumble, but you’re also gonna stumble upon. You’re gonna stumble upon an idea no one came up with.

If everyone is trying to get through that little door, you’re in the wrong places.

I’m not here to win, i’m here to learn.

You have to be able to look at your failure and know that there is the key to success in every failure. If you look at the ashes long enough you’ll find something.

If you have a positive attitude, you can always look back and say “Oh, that wasn’t a failure, that was a key moment in my development“.

Your gut is hard to explain to people because it’s just a feeling.

You really got to think about why: Why is it that i’m doing what I am doing?

Set precedents and do it as early as possible, if you want to edit, fight for it asap, same goes with everything.

Cultivate your instincts.

Technology is not the art form.

Sometimes you know too much and you stop doing things. Keep your hands up and keep believing.

Try and live as creatively as possible because that’s the unknown that could change everything, even if you don’t think you’re creative, everyone inherently is creative.

Everything is an opportunity to be creative.

—

More about Creativity:

—

More about Tim Ferriss’ Interviews: