Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Fierce trust demands that you put forth the work anyhow, because fierce trust knows that the outcome does not matter. The outcome cannot matter.

Don’t let go of your courage the moment things stop being easy or rewarding. Because that moment? That’s the moment when interesting begins.

Einstein called this tactic “combinatory play”—the act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another. This is why he would often play the violin

Or you might just end up having to dance alone in the corner of the castle with your big, ungainly red foam claws waving in the empty air. That’s fine, too. Sometimes it’s like that. What you absolutely must not do is turn around and walk out. Otherwise, you will miss the party,

Chop up that failure and use it for bait to try to catch another project.

Anyhow, what else are you going to do with your time here on earth—not make things? Not do interesting stuff? Not follow your love and your curiosity?

Be careful of your dignity, is what I am saying. It is not always your friend.

What would you do if you knew that you could not fail? But I’ve always seen it differently. I think the fiercest question of all is this one: What would you do even if you knew that you might very well fail?

My soul, when I tend to it, is a far more expansive and fascinating source of guidance than my ego will ever be, because my soul desires only one thing: wonder.

Curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living.