Lil Wayne and ADHD
One of the more recurring themes among my ADHD coaching students is that shipping stuff is really hard.
For some folks, getting started is the tough part. For others, it’s that last 10 percent. In both cases, perfectionism is often at the root of the issue.
Over a decade ago, I learned a lesson from rapper Lil Wayne that changed my life (yes, I’m serious). Today, I wanted to share it with you.
Let’s dig in!
A lot of what you make will be garbage
This is actually more liberating than it sounds.
Lil Wayne has released more than 40 solo albums in the last 25 years. That includes 15 official studio albums, and more than 25 mixtapes. It doesn’t include the countless cameos and features he’s done on other people’s songs.
The dude makes a lot of music. And honestly, a lot of it is garbage. But a lot of it is also amazing, witty, emotional, great music.
That good stuff? It can’t exist unless you’re willing to make the shitty stuff, too.
Sometimes, one of Wayne’s shitty songs will have a few good lines or a catchy hook that gets repurposed and used for another (better) song later.
Your work can be like that, too.
Just because something you make isn’t great doesn’t mean it’s wasted. You can recycle parts of it, or make furniture out of the sawdust.
Remove the stuff you hate
Lil Wayne doesn’t write down lyrics. He steps into the booth and freestyles.
He’s talked about why in various interviews, but this quote really resonates with me and my ADHD…
At like 16 or 17, I made a choice that I’m about to stop writing. Like, I’m about to stop writing my shit out. I had too many [thoughts coming at once]… the words keep popping up in my damn head, and that’s when it really started happening, becoming a headache, a real problem. That’s when I said, I’m not about to write no more.
I sometimes hear people say stuff like…
I really want to blog more, but I get stuck trying to write and proof read long articles.
So don’t! Keep it short, end abruptly if you run out of stuff to say, and publish those typos!
I really want to start a podcast, but I hate the idea of editing.
So don’t! Don’t include intro music, and don’t edit unless someone says something really dumb. Leave the “ums” and “ahs” in. Reduce friction. Just hit record, then publish it.
You may eventually want to do that stuff. But don’t let your current dislike of it prevent you from ever getting started.
Ship, then iterate
Because he doesn’t write down his lyrics, Wayne often stops, rewinds the track, and revises parts in real time as he goes.
If you’re into hip-hop (or music in general), it’s kind of a fascinating thing to watch. Here’s a short clip from his documentary (the good stuff starts at the 3:08 mark—warning, it contains explicit lyrics).
He can’t iterate those lines until he gets the shitty first version out.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Don’t let it be the enemy of bad, either.
Be prolific
A lot of ADHD folks have more ideas than they can use in a lifetime.
While you can’t do all the things all at once, you can see a lot more of those ideas breathed to life if you let go of perfect, skip the stuff you hate doing, and ship a shitty first draft.