A couple of years ago, while listening to an episode of The Show by Ze Frank, I learned of a concept he called Zero to One. It is the idea that creative endeavors create something out of nothing. A painter begins with a blank canvas, brushes on some paint, and creates an image. A sculptor begins with a lump of clay and shapes it into something new, something more than it was. A writer adds words to a blank page.
It’s the moving from nothing to something. In the binary world, it’s flipping a bit… zero to one.
You may be thinking, “Well, duh. That’s the very definition of the word creation.” I know, yet somehow this concept got into my head, started bouncing around, and took on greater significance than the simple definition. It became profound in its connotations. Zero to One captured the very spark of creation. After several long moments of deep thinking about Zero to One I realized I was hungry and went off to make a sandwich. Zero to One moved from my forebrain (which became filled with the thought “I wonder if this mayo is still good”) to the background.
And there it stayed for the next six to eight months, until I heard the concept again. This time I think it was Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writingpodcast. Once more, I started turning it over in my head. Zero to One still seemed as important as before, but why? What was it that intrigued me about this concept?
After mulling it over for a while I came to the conclusion it was the movement between nothing to something that excited me … jumping the gap between zero and one. Although mathematically the distance between 1 and 2 is the same as between 0 and 1, subjectively the distance between 0 to 1 is far greater than even the distance between 1 and 100. To move off of zero you have to break inertia.
I must admit I was quite pleased with myself. It seemed as though I had tapped into some fundamental law of the universe.
Jerry Seinfeld once described his method of motivating himself. Every day that he put words on a page he’d put a big red X on his calendar. His goal became to have every day of his calendar filled with X’s. He was jumping the zero to one gap on a daily basis.
Armed with this knowledge of zero to one, I knew I would easily write more. Just a word each day would be moving from zero to one on a daily basis. If I could do one word then why not ten? Why not 100? Even 500? The trick was jumping the gap between zero and one each day. Just like Jerry Seinfeld.
For some reason thinking must make me hungry, because once again my stomach grumbled and all thoughts turned to that left-over Papa Murphy’s pizza in the refrigerator. After grabbing a snack I’d get back to my Zero to One thinking. Sure I would.
Another eight months or so passed and Sherry Ramsey presented me with an opportunity to write a column on writing. My first thought was that I’ m not a professional writer, what could I possibly share about writing? But the more I thought about it the more I began to think “So what?” I may only be a hobbyist, and won’t be able to share how to negotiate that six-figure advance, but I can share things I have found helpful. And new things I’m learning. That’s the wonderful thing about writing, you never stop learning. While deciding what to call this column the concept of Zero to One came up again. To me, it’s the perfect name, because I’m forever trying to get from zero to one. Not every subject I share here will specifically relate to Zero to One, but I still like the name.
So what does it take to move from zero to one? One simple thing, confidence. Not the confidence that your work will be wonderful literature, hailed by the critics, and make you rich and famous. No, the confidence I’m talking about is a small thing. It is the belief that you can do something simple: write some words. Don’t worry about what you write, who will see it, or how you will be judged about it. Simply put words on a page and move from zero to one. I may not be able to move from zero to a million, but I have complete confidence I can move from zero to one. Like the Nike slogan … “Just Do It.”
Whew. After all this thinking about Zero to One, it’s time to go get something to eat.
