This post was originally written September 30, 2010, and revived July 24, 2025.
In farming, there’s a thing called crop rotation.
Basically, planting the same crop in the same spot every year (called monocropping) depletes important nutrients from the soil. It makes it harder to grow healthy plants.
I’ve noticed it can also apply to creative work. If you make the same kind of thing in the same way, every single day, year after year, your imagination might run out of nutrients.
If you’ve been a musician for 30 years and have written the same song hundreds of times, maybe it’s time to put down the guitar for six months and study fiction writing, painting, or improv acting. It will expand your life experience, give you new mental models to draw from, and strengthen your artistic statement. At the very least, maybe you’ll have something new to write songs about.
My personal example: At the end of 2001, I quit music. I worked at a small advertising agency, where I devoted myself to studying sales and marketing.
3.5 years later, I released the Sir Millard Mulch concept album, How To Sell The Whole F#@!ing Universe To Everybody… Once And For All! inspired by what I learned. It was the most exciting creative experience of my life.