The Practice

The other route is to become a working professional, a leader, someone who chooses to ship creative work. And shipping means that it’s for someone. To commit to that path is a brave and generous act. And it puts you on the hook to see the audience clearly enough, and to be brave enough, to develop the empathy needed to create generous work.

Often, we’ll go to ridiculous lengths to make the story come true. The story might be one of entitlement or talent. It might be one of injustice or privilege. Often, though, the story is based on lowered expectations, the seduction of compliance, and the avoidance of failure. We keep trying to make the existing narrative true, because that’s a lot

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.

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

you are already enough. You already have enough leverage. You already see enough. You already want to make things better. Start where you are. Start now. Find the pattern and care enough to do something about it.

Once you can put yourself on the hook to commit to who you are serving, you can find the empathy to make something for them.

The difficult part is becoming the kind of person who goes to the gym every day. And so it is with finding your voice. The tactics, the writing prompts, the kind of pencil—none of them matter compared to one simple thing: trusting yourself enough to be the kind of person who engages in the process of delivering creative work.

Intentional action demands a really good reason. Find a who, make an assertion, and execute your work to deliver on that promise. You can’t find a good reason until you know what you’re trying to accomplish.

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.