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Shipping, because it doesn’t count if you don’t share it. Creative, because you’re not a cog in the system. You’re a creator, a problem solver, a generous leader who is making things better by producing a new way forward. Work, because it’s not a hobby. You might not get paid for it, not today, but you approach it as a professional. The muse is not the point, excuses are avoided, and the work is why you are here.
Creativity is a choice, it’s not a bolt of lightning from somewhere else.
The practice is not the means to the output, the practice is the output, because the practice is all we can control. The practice demands that we approach our process with commitment. It acknowledges that creativity is not an event, it’s simply what we do, whether or not we’re in the mood.
The industrial system that brainwashed us demands that we focus on outcomes to prove we followed the recipe. That priority makes sense if the reliable, predictable outcome really matters and the payoff is truly guaranteed. But what happens when your world changes? Suddenly, you don’t always get what was guaranteed. And the tasks you’re asked to do just aren’t as engaging as you’d like them to be. The emptiness of the bargain is now obvious: you were busy sacrificing your heart and your soul for prizes, but the prizes aren’t coming as regularly as promised. The important work, the work we
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This new practice takes leadership, a creative contribution—something that not just anyone can produce, something that might not work but that might be worth pursuing. It’s often called “art.”
At the heart of the creative’s practice is trust: the difficult journey to trust in your self, the often hidden self, the unique human each of us lives with.
Leaders seek to make things better, to contribute and to find firm footing. The chance to make a difference and to be seen and respected, all at once. That search has created our culture and the world we live in. More and more people, engaging and contributing, weaving together something worth building.
Let’s call it art. The human act of doing something that might not work, something generous, something that will make a difference. The emotional act of doing personal, self-directed work to make a change that we can be proud of.
The real question is: “Do I care enough to do it again?” As John Gardner wrote, “The renewal of societies and organizations can go forward only if someone cares.”
When you choose to produce creative work, you’re solving a problem. Not just for you, but for those who will encounter what you’ve made. By putting yourself on the hook, you’re performing a generous act. You are sharing insight and love and magic. And the more it spreads, the more it’s worth to all of those who are lucky enough to experience your contribution. Art is something we get to do for other people.
Do you have a creative hero? Someone who regularly leads, creates, and connects? Perhaps they’re a dancer, a recording artist, or a civil rights lawyer. In every field of endeavor, some people stand out as the makers of what’s next, as the voices of what’s now.
Practicing how to throw. Getting good at throwing. If you get good enough at throwing, the catching takes care of itself.
The desire for outcome is deeply ingrained, and for some, this is the moment where they give up. They simply can’t bear a process that willingly ignores the outcome. For those who persist, the process quickly gathers momentum.
And then, without stress, throw/throw/catch/catch. It’s easy. There’s no problem, because the throws are where they should be, rehearsed and consistent. The process has gotten us this far. And then the last step is to add a third ball. It doesn’t always work, but it always works better than any other approach. Our work is about throwing. The catching can take care of itself.
For the important work, the instructions are always insufficient. For the work we’d like to do, the reward comes from the fact that there is no guarantee, that the path isn’t well lit, that we cannot possibly be sure it’s going to work. It’s about throwing, not catching. Starting, not finishing. Improving, not being perfect.
too often, we walk away from a creative life, a chance to be generous, an opportunity to solve problems. Or, if we pursue it, we do it gingerly, treating creativity as a fragile magic trick, the gift of the muse. If we must be creative, we try to do it out of the corner of our eye. Staring at the magic directly is frightening. Nonsense. It doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to wait to be picked and we don’t have to stand by, hoping that we will feel our calling. And we certainly don’t have to believe in magic to create magic. Instead, we can model the process of the successful
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This Is Art Not painting, but art: the act of doing something that might not work, simply because it’s a generous thing to do. The combination of talent, skill, craft, and point of view that brings new light to old problems. The way we change our culture and ourselves.
Art is the work we do where there is no right answer—and yet the journey is worth the effort. We might make art with a keyboard, with a paintbrush, or with our actions. Mostly, we do it because we lean into a practice, trusting we have a shot at making a difference.
Artists make change happen. Artists are humans who do generous work that might not work.
it’s art if you let it be. If you care enough.
The truth is that there are very few artists. [Making the world a better place through art] is the highest attainment of the specialization. It is to recognize that it is not all about you, and that you have a communal function you can serve to help everyone get along. This is important for people to understand, especially in a capitalist society.”
Art is the generous act of making things better by doing something that might not work.
Creativity Is an Action, Not a Feeling
Your work is too important to be left to how you feel today. On the other hand, committing to an action can change how we feel. If we act as though we trust the process and do the work, then the feelings will follow. Waiting for a feeling is a luxury we don’t have time for.
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.
If we condition ourselves to work without flow, it’s more likely to arrive. It all comes back to trusting our self to create the change we seek. We don’t agree to do that after flow arrives. We do the work, whether we feel like it or not, and then, without warning, flow can arise. Flow is a symptom of the work we’re doing, not the cause of it.
Once you decide to trust your self, you will have found your passion. You’re not born with it, and you don’t have just one passion. It’s not domain-specific: it’s a choice. Our passion is simply the work we’ve trusted ourselves to do.
The trap is this: only after we do the difficult work does it become our calling. Only after we trust the process does it become our passion. “Do what you love” is for amateurs. “Love what you do” is the mantra for professionals.
We live in an outcome-focused culture.
Lost in this obsession with outcome is the truth that outcomes are the results of process. Good processes, repeated over time, lead to good outcomes more often than lazy processes do. Focusing solely on outcomes forces us to make choices that are banal, short-term, or selfish. It takes our focus away from the journey and encourages us to give up too early. The practice of choosing creativity persists. It’s a commitment to a process, not simply the next outcome on the list. We do this work for a reason, but if we triangulate the work we do and focus only on the immediate outcome, our practice
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Susan Kare, designer of the original Mac interface, said, “You can’t really decide to paint a masterpiece. You just have to think hard, work hard, and try to make a painting that you care about. Then, if you’re lucky, your work will find an audience for whom it’s meaningful.”
Sometimes I use the phrase “trust your self,” with three words instead of two. Who is “your”? Who’s doing the trusting and who’s being trusted?
Annie Duke, former world champion of poker, teaches us that there’s a huge gap between a good decision and a good outcome. A good decision is based on what we know of the options and the odds. A good outcome happens or it doesn’t: it is a consequence of the odds, not the hidden answer. Just as a good process doesn’t guarantee the outcome you were hoping for, a good decision is separate from what happens next.
Decisions are good even if the outcomes aren’t.
focusing on outcomes at the expense of process is a shortcut that will destroy your work.
To Be of Service Isn’t that what we’re here to do? To do work we’re proud of. To put ourselves on the hook. To find the contribution we’re capable of.
our intent—the intent of being of service, of making things better, of building something that matters—is an essential part of the pattern.
In perhaps the most profound remark I can recall hearing from a member of Black Sabbath, drummer Bill Ward said this about their first hit: “I thought the song would be a flop, but I also thought it was brilliant.”
my best work involves doing things I’ve never done before. Recent research estimates that 40 percent of the workforce has a job that requires innovation, human interaction, and decision making. And for each of these people, every day exposes them to the feeling of being a fraud. Of course you’re not sure it’s going to work. How could you be?
Of course there’s no manual, no proven best practices, no established rulebook. The very nature of innovation is to act as if—to act as if you’re on to something, as if it’s going to work, as if you have a right to be here. Along the way, you can discover what doesn’t work on your way to finding out what does.
if you need a guarantee you’re going to win before you begin, you’ll never start. The alternative is to trust the process, to do our work with generosity and intent, and to accept every outcome, the good ones as well as the bad.
Identity fuels action, and action creates habits, and habits are part of a practice, and a practice is the single best way to get to where you seek to go. Before you are a “bestselling author,” you’re an author, and authors write. Before you are an “acclaimed entrepreneur,” you’re simply someone who is building something.
The only choice we have is to begin. And the only place to begin is where we are. Simply begin.
effective goals aren’t based on the end result: they are commitments to the process. That commitment is completely under your control, even if the end result can’t be. But the only way to have a commitment is to begin.
If you want to be a leader, then lead. If you want to be a writer, then write. “I am of service” is something each of us can choose to become. It only takes a moment to begin. And once you begin, you are.
(do then be)
Julia Cameron’s morning pages help unlock something inside. Not the muse or a magic mystical power, but simply the truth of your chosen identity. If you do something creative each day, you’re now a creative person.
Because creative people create. Do the work, become the artist. Instead of planning, simply become. Acting as if is how we acquire identity.
Knowing that the words are there, in front of others, confirms your identity. “I wrote this.” Blog every day. It’s easy, it’s free, and it establishes your identity long before the market cares about who you are and what you do. Writers write. Runners run. Establish your identity by doing your work.
Trust is not self-confidence. Trust is a commitment to the practice, a decision to lead and make change happen, regardless of the bumps in the road, because you know that engaging in the practice is better than hiding from it.
