Restraint
Too much of a good thing dilutes the good thing.
At some point, I will be done typing and hit send.
It’s the most daring moment for creators: The piece is done. I’ve said all I have to say in the best way I can say it. It’s in your hands now.
But when do we accept that crucial moment? Isn’t there still a way to make this even better? I could add an exemplary anecdote. Or a supplemental video. Or some preachy polish - everyone loves that.
Or I could not.
Fall Out Boy front man Pete Wentz has a great take about this:
Pete is speaking to an interviewer about a song from their 2023 album. The song could have appeared on their 2007 album, but the band “didn’t have the tools at the time.”
“What do you have now that you didn’t have then?” the interviewer asks.
“That’s a great question,” Pete says. “No one’s asked that.”
The answer: Restraint.
“I was at some little stand in Florence, Italy, and it was the best pizza I’ve ever had,” Pete says. “How is it the best pizza I’ve ever had? I started thinking about it: It was simple and they just used the best ingredients. There were four ingredients, but they were the best.”
He mentions past Fall Out Boy albums and how the band stuffed every sound they could into solos as an attempt to prove themselves.
“There was a little bit of ‘We made a great sauce, so then it doesn’t really matter how the steak is cooked.’”
Even too much of a good thing dilutes the good thing. Give it space to breathe and stand on its own. Pete added:
“Be able to step away from it and say ‘This is good as it is.’ You don’t need to just keep adding to it.”