How To Enjoy The Process

There will be many times when we won't look good—to ourselves or anyone else. We need to stop demanding that we do. It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time. Remember that in order to recover as an artist, you must be willing to be a bad artist. Give yourself permission to be a beginner. By being... See more

The most common disguises of procrastination

Learning, researching, organizing, and building systems are the most tempting forms of procrastination. You can tell yourself that you're "making progress" only to avoid the point where you need to make a decision on what to do next.

Even having to get feedback on every action you take is ultimately a form... See more

Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive

It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time. And yet, we always want to look good.  We want to be polished and respected. We want ballooning analytics and bestseller lists and the prime spot at the table. We want praise instead of critique and we’d like it now, if that’s not too much trouble. ... See more

Once you choose a project, you are confined to a relatively narrow band of impact (

Figure 1

B); barring an unexpected surprise, the solution to a mediocre problem will have incremental impact, whereas solving an important problem will have greater impact. Even if you execute well, it is hard to make the solution to a middling problem interesting. In... See more

“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of [lightning] to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.” 

— Chuck Close, artist