Jay Shaw uses pregnancy as a metaphor for creative work: a pregnant woman doesn't assemble body parts or check off organs, she just stays pregnant. Most people approach projects with checklists, trying to gather every component first. Instead, nurture the idea and let it develop naturally.
You got to learn how to stay pregnant. I love the analogy of pregnancy because think about it, as many people as it is in this world, as many people as I talked to over the years, I have never seen a pregnant woman walking around with a checklist. I've never seen a pregnant woman out collecting cells and collecting a brain and a heart and some lungs and some kidneys and some skin. I've never seen a pregnant woman running around saying, Jay, you know I can get some skin. What, what You said skin, what you mean, like, like, like flesh? Nah, I don't know where you can get no— as a matter of fact, quit talking to me because she don't got to build a baby, she just got to stay pregnant. I want you to sit with that for a second. I want you to meditate on that for a second.
