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Jay Shetty PodcastRick Rubin Addresses Criticisms & OPENS UP About His Greatest Challenge in Life
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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Rick Rubin on Authenticity, Creativity, Success, and Losing 135 Pounds
- Rick Rubin says the best path to acceptance and to making great work is staying true to your own taste and perspective rather than guessing what others want.
- He identifies worry about others' opinions as a major creative block, and describes work as a devotional offering made to the best of your ability.
- He and Jay Shetty discuss practical ways to break sameness, such as changing the context, environment, or audience, and using walks, drives, and distraction to solve problems.
- Rubin recalls feeling deeply unhappy when his first album hit number one, arguing that outward success doesn't fill an internal hole, and names losing 135 pounds as his greatest challenge.
- He encourages following intuition and curiosity, holding beliefs loosely, and treating all advice as one person's experience, closing with a Final Five that includes 'Love each other.'
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasAuthenticity is the best chance of being liked
Rubin says you can't predict what others will like, so tuning into what you honestly like and why is the most reliable approach, much like instantly knowing whether you like a food.
Creative work is an offering, not a bid for approval
Rubin says he came to see making art as an offering to God, made out of love and devotion, which leaves no reason to alter it for a particular audience segment or budget.
Changing context breaks creative sameness
Examples include recording a first take in the dark, having Johnny Cash sing a love song as devotion to God, and renting a mansion for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' album, all to produce something different.
Distraction can be useful, procrastination is not
Rubin says holding a question while walking, swimming, or driving engages part of the brain and helps solve problems, and he found walking meetings far better than lunch or office meetings.
Criticism reveals the critic as much as the work
Rubin notes most of his artists avoid reviews, that people receive work through their own filter, and that comparing albums is like apples and oranges, so the only real competition is yourself.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesI think we mistakenly think some kind of outward success is gonna change something in us, and it does not. It may make life more comfortable, but it doesn't change who we are, and any hole in ourselves that we're hoping to fill does not get filled.
— Rick Rubin
The only people who we can honestly compete with is ourselves. It's like, is this the best I can make today? Have I gone further than I've gone before?
— Rick Rubin
The wisest thing we can do is know enough to know we don't know.
— Rick Rubin
Any time you know how it is, your world just got a lot smaller.
— Rick Rubin
There are no special people, really. We're all special.
— Rick Rubin
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SPEAKERS
Rick Rubin
guestRecord producer and author of "The Creative Act: A Way of Being," known for work with artists like the Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Slayer.
Jay Shetty
hostPodcast host of "On Purpose," author of "Think Like a Monk," and former monk who interviews guests on wellbeing and personal growth.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
