feeling listless

Philosophy Can Ego inhibit creativity? Probably, it would appear:

"We have powerful tendencies to set up judgments about ourselves and others that limit creative expression. As actress Madlyn Rhue noted, 'The mistake we all make is in thinking that certain standards exist and that we must meet these standards in order to establish our place in the universal hierarchy. But hierarchies in artistic expression are not valid nor universal; they're personal.'"

Watching the Golum documentary in the extras for LotR: The Two Towers it becomes apparent that even though Andy Serkis was essentially creating a character, to some extent he had to fight to validate himself as part of the cast and not just as a stand in for a character who'll be added in later. He knew the job he was doing and the important part he was playing, while Elijah Wood and Sean Austin seemed to look upon him as a space filler until they noticed he was really giving a performance. They had their standards, but Serkis was fulfilling his own all along.