Draw, write or build something nobody will ever see. That’s how you meet the artist who isn’t trying to impress.

Work made for nobody comes out differently. The instant something has a viewer, you begin editing toward approval, and whatever was odd and interesting gets smoothed off before anyone ever sees it. Making a thing with no audience attached is how you find out what you would make if the reaction did not exist.

Make one thing this week that you promise in advance to show nobody: a drawing, a page, a shelf, a tune. Keep that promise. Pay attention to how much looser the work gets when it is not evidence for anything.