Yes, you're allowed to do that!
“This business of… being a writer is ultimately about asking yourself, ‘How alive am I willing to be?’” —ANNE LAMOTT
Jeff Goins • You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One)
We’re not playing to win, we’re playing to play. And ultimately, playing is fun. Perfectionism gets in the way of fun. A more skillful goal might be to find comfort in the process. To make and put out successive works with ease.
Rick Rubin • The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Can you learn to enjoy the process as the end in itself, not the means?
In the beginning, the dissonance between the scale of your aspirations and the reality of your days will riddle you with anxiety. You will be tempted to strip the unknown of its surprises and travel to the future: What if my customers churn? What if a competitor introduces a... See more
In the beginning, the dissonance between the scale of your aspirations and the reality of your days will riddle you with anxiety. You will be tempted to strip the unknown of its surprises and travel to the future: What if my customers churn? What if a competitor introduces a... See more
Sari Azout • Check your Pulse #49
The essence of play is being fully immersed and joyful in what you’re doing, without being constantly distracted by concerns about the outcomes.
Dave Evans • Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life
Process > artifacts
As I’ve learned to let go of my prior fixation with outcomes, I’ve found myself more inclined to explore and play, and in this is another lesson: play does not imply lack of purpose. Quite the opposite, it honors the most meaningful kind of purpose: that which arises from process. We don’t find meaning, we make it.
When we are... See more
As I’ve learned to let go of my prior fixation with outcomes, I’ve found myself more inclined to explore and play, and in this is another lesson: play does not imply lack of purpose. Quite the opposite, it honors the most meaningful kind of purpose: that which arises from process. We don’t find meaning, we make it.
When we are... See more
Rebecca • [BIFFS vol. 1] Rest does not require artifacts
Be ambitious about the process, not just the outcome. (To use my own hobby as an example, when I bake, I put on some good music, I take my time, I eat too much batter. That way, if the recipe implodes–like when I accidentally mixed up powdered sugar and flour–the whole thing isn’t a wash.)
Let more than one thing hold your ambition, or meaning.... See more
Let more than one thing hold your ambition, or meaning.... See more
Anne Helen Petersen • This Will Change the Way You Think About Ambition
When I try to make the best thing, it feels different. It feels like I’m trying to prove something to someone instead of trying to discover something for myself. It feels dishonest and disrespectful of where I’m at. I’m not the best, so why should I try to make the best things? I’m just me, so I should make me things.
I don’t like making the best things - internetVin
Read this list of permissions. Check the ones that make you want to pump your fist and shout, “Yes, I do!” Skip the ones that make your eyes go wide or your stomach jump. As you read, you may think of some new ones. Add them at the end.
Janet Conner • Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within
I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”
I suppose what I’m trying to offer here, both to myself and to you, is this:
Permission to trust what is happening when you can’t seem to find the words.
Permission to take off your meaning-making hat and simply soften into the moment.
Permission to let what you... See more
I suppose what I’m trying to offer here, both to myself and to you, is this:
Permission to trust what is happening when you can’t seem to find the words.
Permission to take off your meaning-making hat and simply soften into the moment.
Permission to let what you... See more