The Hole Theory

Quality Through Quantity.

The Hole Theory explains the origins of all creativity. As creatives, we see a hole, a lack, and our mind starts generating innovative ideas in order to fulfill that which is absent or left incomplete. The ‘hole’ represents untapped potential or opportunity which the creative mind seeks to address.

When you start writing, the ‘hole’ is an empty page, or a beat with no lyrics. When the creative mind fails to ‘fill the hole’, we often refer to it as a ‘block’. As far as we’re concerned though, these blocks are not real. Writer’s block does not exist. What’s really happening is that the writer somehow thinks that whatever they come up with is not good enough to ‘fill the hole’ (pause). Causing the writer to halt their own creative process.

LaRussell explained 'The Hole Theory' in one of his many excellent short form content videos:

“Once you start digging a hole, different ideas start coming. But if you never start digging, no idea comes. 

Like first you just start digging a hole, and when it gets to a certain point you’re like ‘oh I could plant a tree in here’. You’re like ‘oh I could put a swimming pool here’. Once you get a swimming pool there, you realize it get dark and you can’t see. So you’re like ‘oh let me put lights around the pool’. Once you do that, you realize ‘oh the pool kind of cold, maybe I should add a jacuzzi so it’ll be warm on this side’. You feel me? 

If you never execute one idea, you don’t get other ideas. 

My pergola is on version 3 or 4 of it’s revamp. Because we built it and we realized what didn’t work, and we added to it. It’s hard for ideas to stop coming if you keep working.”

- LaRussell

Perfectionism will keep you imperfect. Seriously. Nobody ever got good at something by not doing the very thing they were trying to get good at. Just start where you’re at. There is no other way. 

If you keep putting off writing, because you don’t feel motivated or inspired, you’ll miss out on your own creativity. Whereas if you just start digging, you just might uncover new inspiration.

The perfectionist loves to tell themselves it’s “quality over quantity”. When quality and quantity inevitably go hand-in-hand. If there’s a lack of quantity of output, the artist will most likely never reach their full potential due to a lack of practice and repetition. You need practice and repetition to hone your skills and perfect your craft. A lot (!) of practice and repetition (read: high quantity). 

A career as an artist means making hundreds, if not thousands of songs. Only for people to recognize you for a handful of these songs. Everyone recognizes In Da Club or 21 Questions by 50 Cent, but most people have never heard track 10 off of his third mixtape. Let alone the countless tracks that were deemed not good enough to release. (Track 10 of off 50 Cent’s 2002 ‘God’s Plan’ mixtape is ‘Fat Bitch’ by the way).

In the grand scheme of things, what the audience hears, sees, feels and knows is the tip of the iceberg. If you want music to be your career, you have to be willing to build an iceberg, not just the tip (pause). You have to absolutely love making music, more than you love the music itself. Loving the process over the end result.

Over the span of your career, you’ll make so many songs, who cares if you have some wack tracks in there? It’s all part of the process. So say no to perfectionism, allow yourself to create bad music. It’s totally okay to create bad music and execute bad ideas, that’s how you get to the good stuff. There is not a single artist in the world who hasn’t ever created work of lesser quality, even the artists you idolize.

Halt Your Judgement Till The Work Is Done

If you find yourself critiquing your own work whilst in the midst of creating it. Chances are you’ll never finish those works, meaning you will never know their true potential. Allow yourself to create without any pre-conceived limits. If you find the work is bad or not up to your standards, (which is still subjective) no one ever has to hear it if you don’t want them to. And even then there’s a good chance someone out there would love what you just created.

The point is to let go of any fears that the finished work might turn out inadequate. By holding off on your own judgements till the work is done. You’ll find there’s value in everything you make, even in your worst ideas. All ideas start somewhere, and any bad idea might lead to a good idea later on.

What’s one song to a career?

I know tons of artists who will spent months perfecting a single song. Think about this, any big artist in history has released well over hundreds of songs, some even thousands of songs. Do you really think they spent months perfecting every single one of these tracks? They would have to live to be hundreds of years old if that was the case. Prioritize getting it done over getting it done ‘perfectly’. You will develop potential and skills you didn’t even know you had. And potentially end up with something that’s of a higher quality than you initially envisioned.

The moral of the story is: just start writing, and keep writing.