The Magic Behind the Curtain
This morning, while making coffee, getting ready for the day, I popped my headphones on and hit shuffle on Spotify. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular – just something to accompany the clink of the spoon in my mug. And then, out of the blue, Queen’s I Want It All came on.
It wasn’t what I’d planned to listen to, but I let it play. The song dragged me straight back to my teenage years. On a whim, I tapped ‘Go to Album’ – and that’s when I stumbled into something unexpected. A treasure trove of original takes from Queen’s The Miracle. Familiar songs, yes – but not quite the versions we all know. The lyrics were different. The tone was raw. Some takes felt unfinished, experimental, even uncertain.
And yet, I was captivated.
The Rough Takes We Rarely See
We often encounter creativity in its final, polished form. The chart-topping single, the bestselling novel, the sleek product in a shop window. What we don’t often see is the messy middle – the false starts, the rewrites, the discarded drafts, the awkward riffs that never made it past rehearsal.
Listening to Queen’s early takes was like sneaking a look behind the curtain. These were the rough beginnings of songs that would eventually become iconic. Hearing them in this raw state didn’t diminish their brilliance – it enhanced it. It made me appreciate the journey it takes to create something worthwhile.
It made me wonder: how many great ideas are abandoned because they didn’t come out “right” the first time?
One and Done? Not Likely.
We live in a culture that celebrates the highlight reel. Success stories are told in reverse – from the mountaintop down. Rarely do we hear about the scrambles, slips, and backtracks along the way.
And yet, creativity – real creativity – is rarely a one-and-done experience.
Whether it’s a song, a business idea, a painting, or a blog post, the first version is almost never the final version. The process is iterative. You begin with a spark, however small. You test. You tweak. You fail. You learn. You keep going.
Think of any creative process like sculpting. The masterpiece starts as a lump of clay. The form takes shape only through patient chipping, smoothing, and reworking.
Embracing the Process (and the Bins Along the Way)
Let’s be honest: facing a rough draft can be disheartening. It’s tempting to bin it, to say it’s not good enough, that you’re not good enough. But maybe that messy beginning is exactly what you need. It’s not a sign of failure, it’s a sign that you’ve started.
And starting is everything.
From there, the real work begins. Not glamorous, not always fun, but essential. You listen back, read through, assess. You keep the good. You refine the rest. You bin what doesn’t serve the vision. And you repeat.
Every artist has their ‘bins’, literal or metaphorical, full of unused verses, scrapped canvases, or sidelined ideas. But those abandoned parts weren’t wasted. They were stepping stones. They taught the artist what didn’t work so they could better uncover what did.
Keep Moving: Progress Over Perfection
The two most important steps in any creative journey are deceptively simple: start, and keep going.
Perfection is seductive. It whispers that unless something is flawless, it’s not worth finishing. But perfection isn’t the goal, progress is. Growth is. Discovery is.
There’s power in continuing. Power in showing up again, tweaking the chorus, rephrasing the sentence, redrawing the sketch. The more you create, the more you learn. And the more you learn, the closer you get to that final, polished version, the one the world might eventually admire.
Conclusion: Your Version of a Masterpiece
So here’s the question: what are you working on? What idea have you sidelined because the first take didn’t land? What draft lies forgotten in a folder somewhere?
Dust it off. Have another look. And if it’s still not quite right? That’s okay. Keep going.
Creativity isn’t about brilliance on the first try. It’s about the courage to begin, and the grit to keep refining. That Queen album reminded me of something powerful, that even the greatest start rough. The final masterpiece is the reward of patience, persistence, and belief.
Whatever you’re creating, keep moving forward. The world might not see your early takes. But they’ll feel the heart you put into the finished piece.
Patrick Hickman 