do the work
Journalist Sebastian Junger reframed the idea of being blocked: “It’s not that I’m blocked. It’s that I don’t have enough research to write with power and knowledge about that topic.”
Dan Mall • Dan Mall’s 10 Principles for a Worthy Design Career | Figma Blog
A creative block isn’t a wall at the dead-end of an alley. It’s a bridge under construction, that needs to be built to move forward.
To build the bridge you need the right materials and the tools. Look forthe materials by diving into research, gather the tools - mental models, physical ones, change your technique.
As you prepare and work, you find that the bridge appears before you like it was always there.
“I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of 'work,' because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don't always want to do.”
― Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
Most people’s mental models of energy are flawed: they think there’s a ‘tank’ of energy that gets depleted as you spend it. This may be roughly true for physical energy, but mental energy is different: spending mental energy on things that you consider productive or important gives you more mental energy for other things: a positive feedback loop.
... See morenabeelqu.co • Advice That Actually Worked for Me
"Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things."
- Ray Bradbury
The word “practice” is such a wonderful word because it has time built into it: you can only practice if you practice
The person who focuses on one task and sees it through to completion—even if they work in a somewhat slow or outdated manner—beats the endless optimizer who jumps from tool to tool and always hopes a new piece of technology will help them finish what they start.
James Clear • 3-2-1: On seizing the day, perseverance, and focusing on one task at a time
the grass is not always green my friend. It pays to water the grass you're standing on no matter how long it takes.
The structure of games is not that the points are valuable, but that the attempt to get those points, the attempts to win the game and the game’s terms sculpt some kind of interesting or beautiful activity.
New York Times • A Philosophy of Games That Is Really a Philosophy of Life
