You Can’t Schedule a Breakthrough
The breakthrough isn’t a gift. It’s a consequence.
We romanticize the lightning, but never the storm it takes to get there.
Everyone wants a breakthrough. That moment where the fog lifts, the wheels catch, and you finally feel like you’re moving forward instead of spinning in place.
But what if breakthroughs aren’t magical moments at all? What if they’re just the reward for obedience?
Not blind obedience to hustle culture or someone else’s version of success, but to your own practice. To the promise you made to yourself to keep showing up. To do the thing you said you would—even when it’s uncomfortable, unrewarded, or invisible. Sometimes, it really is that simple. And that difficult.
We underestimate what a miracle it is to make something out of nothing. To sit down with a cluttered mind and turn the chaos into something someone else can feel. But creativity gets cheapened when we see so much of it presented like it’s easy. Every scroll, there’s someone else selling a course on how to turn your creative hobby into a six-figure brand. But the truth is, everyone’s selling the map. Few are honest enough to admit they’re still lost.
So I’ll be the first to say it, I’m lost.
The more I create, the more I realize how unreliable inspiration actually is. Yes, you can nudge it along by taking a walk, listening to a podcast, or scrolling through a creative motivation page like Create.Repeat (shameless plug).
But let’s be honest: most of what we call “inspiration” today is just a dopamine hit dressed up in a trendy Canva template. It tricks your brain into thinking you’ve already done the work. But you haven’t. And that’s why you keep coming back.
The real work doesn’t begin when you feel inspired. It begins when you stop waiting to feel inspired and start anyway.
Breakthrough comes from living. From continuing. From building. From walking back out into the world, again and again, trusting lightning strikes those who keep showing up.
And yeah, sometimes that looks crazy. Sometimes it feels like a waste of time. But nothing is a waste—not the silence, not the false starts, not the things you wrote that no one read, not the ideas that didn’t land, not the days you wanted to quit but didn’t. You’ll use it all. Even if you don’t know how yet.
A breakthrough isn’t a gift—it’s a consequence.
A consequence of putting yourself in the path of possibility. A consequence of showing up when it’s boring and thankless. A consequence of being obedient to the craft, especially when no one’s watching.
If you’re still searching for your lightning, trust that the storm is already moving. Your only job is to stay in the open, rod in hand, willing to be hit.
Keep creating and repeating,
- Zack
🎥 Stop Chasing Original Ideas: A video essay by Low-Fi Cinema on how creativity isn’t about invention, but reinterpretation.
📘 The Making of Practice: A look at Figma’s new book “Creating something of value takes practice. It takes reps. It requires starting somewhere and working your way through it. Trying and failing.”
🧠 Combinatorial Creativity: Maria Popova explores how creative breakthroughs often come from remixing what already exists. Ideas don’t stand alone, they’re part of a larger web.
🪄 Find the Poets: Tom Elia of COLLINS reflects on how reading poetry can help creatives break free from jargon and find fresh, human-centered language in their work.
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This week’s advice…
How to Survive Social Media as a Creative
If you’re reading this, you’re probably tired of playing the social media game. Or you’re intimidated by it. Or you think I’m some kind of content mastermind here to share all my secrets.
This week we’re excited to highlight Caio Mattoso, a writer from Brazil now based in LA. He’s worked with agencies like Wieden+Kennedy, and now he’s experimenting with something new. His Substack, Method Studio, is doing something different. It’s not a traditional newsletter, it’s made up of video-led articles that blends the depth of a masterclass, the vibe of a documentary, and the pace of a newsletter.
Caio interviews top creatives in advertising and digs into their process, from mental resilience, to ideating, to craft, to selling ideas to clients, to the managerial role that scares most creatives.
Here’s a quote that stuck with him from his former boss:
“The only piece of advice I allow myself to give is: work with people who are better than you.” – Alberto Ponte
Please go check out his work, we love seeing creatives experiment with different mediums on Substack and are excited to see where ideas like this will go.
One of his favorite pieces:
Create.Repeat is a community for creatives.
The Create.Repeat Substack is a project designed to be a weekly diary on creativity. Sharing inspiration for artists to keep creating and repeating.
Written and curated by Zack Evans & James Warren Taylor
Each week we will be sharing recent thoughts on creativity, some links helping us stay creative, and a talent show featuring an artist from the community. Thank you for engaging with us.
History repeats. Create the future.
This resonates so much! Breakthroughs can’t be planned, they’re consequences of consistency 🙌