Between Chaos and Rigidity
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Ruiz Picasso
Here’s a helpful framework.
We can think of our career as a river flowing between two banks.
One bank is chaos. This is where we find careers of invention, but also risk and uncertainty. This is where Elon Musk swims. Also, Neil Gaman, Oprah Winfrey, and JK Rowling. Poets and artists and creators.
The opposite bank is rigidity. That’s where defined career paths swim along. The bank of steady advancement. “Safe” careers. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, military officers.
Dr. Dan Siegel is a neuroscientist and clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA, and he’s the guy who came up with this river metaphor. He calls it the River of Integration and suggests it’s best to be somewhere in the middle. Mental illness lives on both banks. Too much chaos is schizophrenia. Too much rigidity is OCD.
At different stages in our careers, we may find our sweet spot closer to one bank or the other.
Early in our careers, we ought to swim closer to rigidity.
Lady Gaga studied classical piano back when everyone called her Stefani Germanotta. When James Earl Jones started acting, he studied Shakespeare. He was Othello before he was Vader.
But once we know the rules, we can start swimming toward the opposite bank. We can begin to think of our careers as something we create rather than trying to squeeze ourselves into roles someone else created for us. We can embrace some chaos.
Rigidity early. But not too much.
Chaos later. But just the right amount.
I’m sure Lady Gaga still plays the piano beautifully, but she’s admired by other musicians for her ability to craft unconventional songs with hooks, verses, and pre-choruses that collide and repeat in unexpected ways.
That’s how Stefani became Gaga.
Her fans don’t show up to hear classical piano.
They want Bad Romance.
