Rick Rubin is most famously known as a master music producer. He’s produced a number of grammy award winning albums and worked with some of the world’s top artists. His known both for his eccentric character as well as his work ethic and dedication to perfection.

Rick Rubin has done series of interviews over the years and started his own podcast, Tetragrammaton., where he interviews a variety of interesting guests from Will Smith to Robert Greene. All of his discussions are full of jewels but one particularly stood out to me as an academic. In one interview he introduces the term the Ruthless Edit.

He gives a story to describe the philosophy behind this principle. Most albums only have 10-12 songs, and the artist and producer are responsible for selecting the best ones. One would assume that you would lay out all the tracks and select the 10-12 best. However, Rubin only selects five of the very best. These five tracks convey the true essence and message of the album and demonstrate the pinnacle of perfection. Then he either edits the remaining five to match that energy or works with the artist to create five new songs. This forces perfection! While he’s speaking to the process of preparing a music album, it applies to anything we write. When I heard this I immediately went back to my on-going book proposal and started revising.

His recent book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, is a gem for anyone interested.

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