thoughts on art, creativity, and making a better life
The problem with doing something for the first time is that you’ve never done it before. You don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t know exactly how much effort will be required to succeed and you don’t know every single pre-requisite and support structure needed to prop up your New Thing. When faced with [...]
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Whom the gods wish to destroy, they give unlimited resources. –Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit In her book, The Creative Habit, dance choreographer Twyla Tharp tells the story of creating two different dances for two different ballet companies in New York City. The first was in 1999 for the New York City Ballet. She was [...]
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Is there a project on your To Do list that feels hopelessly stuck? Are you spinning your wheels with lots of motion, but little forward progress? Are you ignoring something even as your feelings of guilt increase? Turn your mountain into a mole hill by focusing on one small step you can take today. Here [...]
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Last week I pointed out a speech by John Cleese on creativity. Cleese argued that creative work requires boundaries of time and boundaries of space. I would add a third requirement: boundaries of space and time for rest. Are you working on a project that’s dear to your heart but you’ve been struggling to keep [...]
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This is Part 1 of Heroic Artists, an ongoing series on how prolific artists work. You can also check out the series introduction here. What’s standing between your current life and the life you want to live? According to Steven Pressfield, in his book The War of Art, the answer is Resistance. What is Resistance? [...]
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