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Creativity is a practice,
not a personality

Music, ideas, and small experiments in getting unstuck. This is where I share what I’m working on

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Music

Songs, videos, live shows, and Matt Derda & the High Watts.

Creativity

Exercises, experiments, and ideas for getting unstuck.

Writing

Essays, reflections, and things I’m figuring out in public.

shop

Band merch, workbooks, shirts, and other things I’ve made.

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News and Writings

Creative Exercises

The Bad Idea List

Write down 15 intentionally bad ideas for a problem, song, project, or decision you are stuck on. Do not make them clever. Make them awful. Then review the list and circle anything that contains a useful piece hiding inside the junk.

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Borrow a Brain

Pick a person with a very specific point of view: a mechanic, a seven-year-old, a diner waitress, a drummer, your most practical friend. Answer a problem from their perspective. It can be any problem in your life, big or small. What would they notice first? What would they ignore?

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The Wrong Tool

Choose a problem and solve it using the wrong tool on purpose. Explain a business problem like a nursery rhyme. Plan a website like a diner menu. Write a sales page like liner notes. The mismatch is the point.

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