When I said I talk myself out of it, I meant it.
Here’s the thing. I’ve been meaning to start writing everyday, theoretically since years ago, realistically since last week. Unfortunately, as Benjamin P. Hardy put it:
For most people, learning has become an escape from doing. Filling your head with useless information is the opposite of hard-won wisdom and understanding, which can only happen via the application of knowledge and re-application based on experience in the real world.
I’m one of those people.
Sometimes you get lucky and end up at that part of the internet, the one filled with wisdom, authenticity, amazing studies, and amazing people, so pure, so raw, so genuine that it fills you up with joy and hope.
Wrapped up in others’ brilliance, you forget. At least I do.
The brilliance I stumbled upon isn’t mine to claim.
No matter how amazing the art, how good the podcast, how an article gives you goosebumps every 100 words, how a song has been on repeat for days, how that guided meditation makes you sob every time, how that movie spoke directly to you and validated your experiences and feelings in a way you hadn’t known was possible before, they’re not yours.
You can, and should, feel joy and maybe even pride over other people’s art, but you shouldn’t use it as a substitute for your own creations.
Cal Newport says on his (great) book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World:
This provides another general observation for joining the ranks of winners in our economy: If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive — no matter how skilled or talented you are.
Usually, I read on my Kindle and highlight my favorite passages there, but I’ve written that one down. I need to get it tattooed on my forehead as well.
If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive.
It’s beyond me why I find it so hard to grasp that concept.
I think it’s because when you don’t absolutely have to, as is the case with me and writing everyday for myself/the world and not for clients, it’s easy to just say, “I’ll do it later/tomorrow/over the weekend/in my next lifetime.”
So here are two things you need to keep in mind as a writer/doer/creator.
- Create your own art.
- Create your art.