I listened to Grayson talking about the advice he would give to his younger self on a Radio 4 podcast with Kirsty Young, and I loved nearly all of what he said. But one thing jumped out at me, and I can’t stop thinking about it. He said: “You have to trust your instincts, but you also have to train them.”
I took this to mean that while of course your creative practice must remain true to you, even if that is uncomfortable or challenging for others, you have to exercise these instincts – keep curious about the world and look at why things appeal to you, why things upset you or unsettle you, and where your boundaries are with the world.
It is very helpful to me to think about your instincts as something to be maintained, just like a muscle – to look at creatives and what their motivations are, to interrogate what their work makes me feel. But also to look at the things in my life which agitate or inspire me and analyse why, especially if I think they are silly or irrelevant.
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