More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
They have all identified what they want to spend their time on, and they work at it every day, no matter what. Whether their latest thing is universally rejected, ignored, or acclaimed, they know they’ll still get up tomorrow and do their work.
Twenty-Four Hours a Day. “It is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives men mad. It is remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but one day at a time.”
“A schedule defends from chaos and whim,” writes Annie Dillard. “It is a net for catching days.” When you don’t know what to do next, your routine tells you.
playing hooky isn’t as fun if you never go to school.
I’ll draw a line down the middle of the page, and in one column I’ll list what I’m thankful for, and in the other column, I’ll write down what I need help with.
“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.” Vonnegut
Another trick: When nothing’s fun anymore, try to make the worst thing you can. The ugliest drawing. The crummiest poem. The most obnoxious song. Making intentionally bad art is a ton of fun.
“God walks out of the room when you’re thinking about money.” —Quincy Jones
“Do what you love” + low overhead = a good life.
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” —William Bruce Cameron
focus more on what the work does that can’t be measured. What it does to your soul.
Yes!
We all go through cycles of disenchantment and re-enchantment with our work.
The world doesn’t necessarily need more great artists. It needs more decent human beings. Art is for life, not the other way around.
“To think independently of other human beings is impossible,” writes Alan Jacobs in his book How to Think.
