Don’t know how to start? Just start and the process automatically becomes breaking down the task into thousands of tiny parts that you then just do.
One way I categorise artists I have met is engineer-type artists versus discovery-type artists.
* engineer-type artists: definite goal. The artist has a defined goal in mind for a piece of art, they plan towards achieving that goal, and they produce their artwork. Learning and creativity within some of the steps.
* discovery-type artists: no defined goal. There is a huge mount of play and seemingly random experimentation with their medium, almost searching for random discovery. Often playing within a chosen restricted domain. They might say something like “the work discovered itself as I did it”.
I am an engineer at heart, so I have really appreciated learning how discovery-type artists create. Disclaimer: not an artist.
As a discovery-type it is sometimes really difficult to work with other people!
I lean more towards this engineer mindset, but know plenty of artists who just dive right in and start molding and hacking away. One of the big takeaways that I've gotten from observing them is the importance of just starting. Even if I don't know where I'm headed. If I persist in generating bad ideas I will eventually fall into a creative groove that is rewarding. It might take an hour or more to arrive there, but it happens.
The composer Carla Bley summed up the importance of her daily work routine succinctly in an essay: "If the muse strikes when you're in the kitchen, the best you're going to get is a sandwich."
I believe I also say this sentiment described a while ago in a long-forgotten HN essay. The writer referred to it as AIC: Ass-in-chair methodology. Just sit down and start working.
Most people don’t believe they can and don’t even try. But the brain is very fascinating and imo anyone is capable of problem solving.
One practical reason I am really sold on diversity in Tech is that I believe peoples experiences shape the way they think about problems. Having different kinds of minds looking at the same problem can result in different solutions. And that’s amazing. We can’t predict how it will work in advance, all we can do is create the right conditions which precipitate this result.