bookworm

The Practice – Seth Godin

Review

If you’re creative and struggling to get stuff done this is book is the one. It’s a reminder that you don’t have to wait for inspiration, you’re not beholden to that magical force, you have control.

Now… I’m off to workout how I can periodically send these notes to my future self.

Key Takeaways

The 20% that gave me 80% of the value.

  • Ship Creative Work.
  • The magic is that there is no magic. Start where you are. Don’t stop.

Approach Creativity With Professionalism

  • You are creative because you ship. Ship work on a schedule, without attachment
  • You earn skill through hard work. Skill is rarer than talent.
  • Work is investing time in what you can control. Worry is the opposite.
  • You can earn better taste, judgement and capabilities.
  • Be consistent, even at the expense of authenticity.
  • Focus on better practice, on consistency and longevity
  • Learn your field. Study the greats, read the classics.
  • First become the best in the world. Make a super power. Outsource the rest

Share what you’ve made

  • It only counts if you share.
  • Sharing helps you learn from feedback
  • Hiding because you’re afraid is worse than rejection
  • Don’t protect a special idea. There will always be more.
  • Consistent practice builds self-trust. Helps you share.
  • We can’t control or measure confidence as its a feeling. Don’t let it hold you back.
  • There is never enough reassurance. It’s futile.
  • Overcome resistance by shipping to be generous
  • Overcome resistance by consistently practicing which builds self-trust
  • There are 100x more critiques than creators.
  • Promise to ship. Don’t promise the result.
  • Work is never good enough for everyone, but it’s already good for someone

Focus on the few, not everyone

  • Find 10 people who care enough to enroll in your journey and share your work
    • What do they believe? What do they love doing?
  • Create for your audience. Don’t worry what ‘everyone’ thinks’.
  • Balance empathy with “its not for you”
  • We have to be able to say ‘It’s not for you’ and mean it
  • Be more and more specific.
  • Don’t sacrifice your point of view to attract the masses
  • Great architects need to secure great clients to do great work. It’s part of it.

First do the work. The identity and the passion will follow.

  • You become what you do.
  • You can only identify your calling or passion, after doing the hard work.
  • Doing in front of others will cement your identity.

Now is the best time to start

  • Start where you are. Begin.
  • Do art to make a change, to help others.
  • We all have more leverage than ever before.
  • Don’t wait to be picked.
  • Practice improves your work. Credentials don’t.
  • Conditions will never be perfect. Start.
  • Everyday doors shut on the better tomorrow you imagined. Take your chance.
  • Roadblocks stop everyone. Excuses stop the fainthearted. Know the difference.
  • There’s a tradeoff between polishing and sharing. Polishing is overrated.
  • Don’t start with a masterpiece. Make something small and share it.

Practice consistently. Don’t wait to be in the mood.

  • Creativity is a choice. Don’t wait for inspiration. Practice and it will come.
  • Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Practice in all weathers.
  • Learning to work without flow induces more time in flow.
  • Writers block is an internal narrative. Write badly to get unstuck.
  • Asimov typed daily. He got to 400 books because typing turns to writing.
  • Just as batting practice is practice, writing everyday is practice. Professionals don’t stop.

Failure happens. Detach from the outcome. Improve your practice

  • Practice as if the journey is the goal.
  • Improve your practice. Don’t worry about the outcomes.
  • If its not working yet, just add more cycles
  • Consistent practice brings improvement, which helps you trust in the process
  • Art is doing something that might not work. Failure is part of it. Don’t try and make success certain.
  • Bad ideas unlock good ideas. Bad ideas are essential
  • Do you. Everyone else is taken. Don’t sound like everyone else to avoid criticism
  • You create narratives about the world that inform your choices. But are they accurate? Are they helping you achieve your goals?
  • The game is infinite. No scoreboard, no winners and no rules. Ship to contribute not to win
  • Find and embrace constraints. They help create art.
  • Low expectations mean low oversight and more freedom

Bojan

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