Seth Godin’s The Practice is a guide for creatives who want to take their work seriously. No inspiration porn, just practical advice on discipline and building a creative practice.
Core ideas from The Practice by Seth Godin
Encouragement for the creative mind.
Reassurance is futile. Attitude is a skill. Produce with intent. The work is too important to be left to how we feel. Instead, trust the process and do the work.
Change your actions first. We become what we do.
Peculiar means specific. The standard narrative pushes us to fit in, but through specificity and peculiarity, we stand out. Change comes from idiosyncratic voices. Be more specific and less generic.
Attachment to status, outcome, and opinions brings nothing. There is no such thing as a foundation. The process of engaging with the genre, the audience, and the change ís the foundation. Become unattached.
The practice is about doing it more than once, regularly, until it becomes… practice.
Ship on a schedule.
Credentials are just a piece of paper. Instead, create a body of work that shows you have insight, experience, and concern.
The work is an infinite game. No winners, no losers. (The reward for work is more work, said Tom Sachs.)
Determination counts (versus inspiration).
Chop wood, carry water.
Mise en place is preparation. The muse shows up when we do the work.
Seek desirable difficulty to seek improvement. Be uncomfortable.
Genre states your idiosyncratic work. Generic is a trap. Learning a skill is attitude and cohort.
Constraints feed creativity.
Be paranoid about mediocrity.
Relating to The War of Art
Many, many quotable sentences. A companion to The War of Art and Do The Work.
Who is this book for?
This book is essential for:
- Creative people who struggle with discipline
- Artists who stick to the process
- Writers, photographers, creators of all kinds
- Anyone who wants to deepen their creative practice
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