The Practice

Creativity is a choice, it’s not a bolt of lightning from somewhere else. There’s a practice available to each of us—the practice of embracing the process of creation in service of better.

Creativity is a choice, it’s not a bolt of lightning from somewhere else.' - Seth Godin

The practice exists for writers and leaders, for teachers and painters. It’s grounded in the real world, a process that takes us where we hope to go.

Art is something we get to do for other people.

We can adopt a practice. Here are the surprising truths that have been hidden by our desire for those perfect outcomes, the ones industrial recipes promise but never quite deliver: Skill is not the same as talent. A good process can lead to good outcomes, but it doesn’t guarantee them. Perfectionism has nothing to do with being perfect. Reassurance is futile. Hubris is the opposite of trust. Attitudes are skills. There’s no such thing as writer’s block. Professionals produce with intent. Creativity is an act of leadership. Leaders are imposters. All criticism is not the same. We become creative when we ship the work. Good taste is a skill. Passion is a choice.

Artists have been shunned or shamed for embracing them, but that’s because these truths work. They subvert the dominant power structure while at the same time they enable us to make things better for the people we seek to serve.

Our work is about throwing. The catching can take care of itself.

It’s about throwing, not catching. Starting, not finishing. Improving, not being perfect.

Being creative is a choice and creativity is contagious.

Artists make change happen. Artists are humans who do generous work that might not work.

Our passion is simply the work we’ve trusted ourselves to do.

The practice of choosing creativity persists. It’s a commitment to a process, not simply the next outcome on the list.

The imposter syndrome had been around long before the term was coined in 1978 by P auline Clance and Suzanne Imes. It’s that noise in our heads that reminds us we have no business raising our hand, jumping in the water , or standing on stage.

The only choice we have is to begin. And the only place to begin is where we are. Simply begin. But begin.

The practice requires a commitment to a series of steps, not a miracle.

Your contribution—the one that you want to make, the one you were born to make—that’s what we’re waiting for, that’s what we need.

Everyone has a voice in their head, and every one of those voices is different. Our experiences and dreams and fears are unique, and we shape the discourse by allowing those ideas to be shared.

The fifth hammer is you, when you choose the practice and trust yourself enough to create.

Our practice is to bring a practical empathy to the work, to realize that in our journey to create change, we’re also creating discomfort. For our audience. And for ourselves. And that’s okay.

Generous doesn’t always mean saying yes to the urgent or failing to prioritize. Generous means choosing to focus on the change we seek to make.

Reassurance is futile because it seeks to shore up a feeling, and in any given moment, it might or might not do the job. We don’t have to be victim to our feelings. They don’t have to arrive or leave of their own accord. We can choose to take actions that will generate the feelings we need.

The essence of your art isn’t that it comes from a rare place of genius. The magic is that you chose to share it.

The practice demands that we seek to make an impact on someone, not on everyone.

Selling is simply a dance with possibility and empathy. It requires you to see the audience you’ve chosen to serve, then to bring them what they need.

Enrollment is acknowledgment that we’re on a journey together.

When we get really attached to how others will react to our work, we stop focusing on our work and begin to focus on controlling the outcome instead.

The ability to eagerly suggest an alternative to your work is a sign that your posture is one of generosity, not grasping.

Believing that we’re owed something is a form of attachment. It’s a foundation for us to count on, a chip on our shoulder for us to embrace whenever we feel afraid.

Art is the human act of doing something that might not work and causing change to happen. Work that matters. For people who care. Not for applause, not for money. But because we can.

Asking why, even if the asking and the answers make you uncomfortable, forces you to truly look at something. And that’s not only brave, it’s generous.

The first step is to separate the process from the outcome. Not because we don’t care about the outcome. But because we do.

The practice is choice plus skill plus attitude. We can learn it and we can do it again. We don’t ship the work because we’re creative. We’re creative because we ship the work.

Today, the best work and the best opportunities go to those who are hard to replace.

All change comes from idiosyncratic voices.

Better clients demand better work. Better clients want you to push the envelope, win awards, and challenge their expectations.

The process of shipping creative work demands that we truly hear and see the dreams and desires of those we seek to serve.

To cause change to happen, we have to stop making things for ourselves and trust the process that enables us to make things for other people.

Mindfulness demands intention. Mindfulness is the practice of simply doing the work. Without commentary, without chatter, without fear. To simply do our work.

Your audience doesn’t want your authentic voice. They want your consistent voice.

We can only deliver what our audience needs by being consistent, by creating our inauthentic, intentional, crafted art in a way that delivers an authentic experience to our audiences as they consume it.

Inauthentic means effective, reasoned, intentional. It means it’s not personal, it’s generous.

The system established credentials to maintain the consistency of our industrial output, but over time, they’ve been expanded to create a roadblock, a way to slow down those who would seek to make change happen.

The magic power a famous institution has to bless us with status and authority. You can’t start a varsity football team on your own, but what about an improv troupe?

The institutions have no magical powers, as they’re regularly proved wrong in their ability to select, to mold, and to amplify human beings who care enough to make change happen.

The truth: if a reason doesn’t stop everyone, it’s an excuse, not an actual roadblock.

The practice seeks to make change, but the process demands originality. The practice is consistent, but only in intention, not in execution.

The infinite game is a catch in the backyard with your four-year-old son. You’re not trying to win catch; you’re simply playing catch.

You are not your work. Your work is a series of choices made with generous intent to cause something to happen. We can always learn to make better choices.

Flow is the result of effort. The muse shows up when we do the work. Not the other way around.

Befriending your bad ideas is a useful way forward. They’re not your enemy. They are essential steps on the path to better.

Don’t worry about changing the world. First, focus on making something worth sharing. How small can you make it and still do something you’re proud of?

How Do I Make This Better?” Is Different than “How Do I Make This?

There’s a huge clue here about what to do next: get a pencil . That’s what’s scarce. People who will draw up plans. People who will go first.

Good needs to be defined before you begin. What’s it for and who’s it for? If it achieves its mission, then it’s good.

Assertions are the foundation of the design and creation process.

An assertion is a promise. A promise that you’ll try . A promise that you’ll ship. And a promise that if you fail, you’ll let us know why .

It turns out that it’s not training hours or DNA that changes outcomes. It’s our belief in possibility and the support of the culture around us.

Attitudes, of course, are skills, which is good news for all of us, because it means that if we care enough, we can learn.

Ultimately, the goal is to become the best in the world at being you. To bring useful idiosyncrasy to the people you seek to change, and to earn a reputation for what you do and how you do it.

We can teach people to make commitments, to overcome fear, to deal transparently, to initiate, and to plan a course of action. We can teach people to desire lifelong learning, to express themselves, and to innovate.

All creative work has constraints, because all creativity is based on using existing constraints to find new solutions.

If you want to change your story, change your actions first. When we choose to act a certain way, our mind can’t help but rework our narrative to make those actions become coherent. We become what we do.

“Do what you love” is for amateurs. “Love what you do” is the mantra for professionals.

The practice is not the means to the output, the practice is the output, because the practice is all we can control.

Art is the generous act of making things better by doing something that might not work.

Artists have a chance to make things better by making better things.

Diversity might involve ethnicity or physical abilities. But it’s just as likely to involve idiosyncratic approaches and differences in experience. If enough peculiar people get together, something new is going to happen.

Desirable difficulty is the hard work of doing hard work. Setting ourselves up for things that cause a struggle, because we know that after the struggle, we’ll be at a new level.