Its an incremental, iterative journey.
You dont magically arrive.
You just strive to get closer.
@dimove
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Updated 8 years ago,June 9, 2017
Mastery doesnt just happen.
Its an incremental, iterative journey.
You dont magically arrive.
You just strive to get closer.
But there are principlesa processthat must be followed if this is to happen.
Always Stay a Student It is impossible to learn that which one thinks one already knows,Epictetus says.
@dimove
Its on you if youlet pride and egosneak on you and convince you its the case.
He wants to know what people didnt likeso he can improve it or get rid of it.
Find Your Torture On the Howard Stern show, Jerry Seinfeld was explaining how it never gets easier.
How it is all work.
He joked that your blessing in life is when you find the torture youre comfortable with.
For me,thats writingIm grateful that its so hard.
ThatAllen Iverson clip: Were talking aboutpractice.Yeah, love practice.
The best ones always do.
Be Ok With Sucking Hemingway said that the first draft of everything is shit.
So be OK with producing shit at first.
Its how you get better.
Everyone needs to work with someone better than them, equal to themandsomeone who they can teach.
Notice that he saysgradual.
Its aboutthe small stepsyou can take each and every day to make a tiny bit of improvement.
Be too busy writing for that.
I would have done anything.
If I was starting over again, Id be willing to do more than anything.
Because thats how you learn and how you build relationships.
Its worth noting that Ben Franklin started as an apprentice in a printshop.
He did the grunt work (until he was good enough to run far away from it).
Developing a new insight in science or psychologythats the product of deep work.
An easy place to start?
Remove all time-sucking apps on your phone.
See how much better you feel and how much more youre able to accomplish.
Beat Resistance Into Submission Every artist struggles.
Every artist feels something preventing them from getting where they want to go.
Then they pick upThe War of Artand suddenly have a name for that mysterious force: The Resistance.
Theres only one way out: you beat it into submission.
I can only ask questions.
The answers have to be yours.
In my time as an apprentice I did the same thing.
Can you show me an example?
Do you mean like this?
Heres what I started with, is this close?
Am I doing a good job?
What else can I do?
Many artists have trouble looking back on their work, actors have trouble watching their own movies.
It feels foreign and strange.
Thats because it wasnt created by them.
It was created by the process.
It was created by something deep inside them.
After a few weeks, there would be a long string of days in a row of writing.
What kept him going was a sense of duty to protect and not break that chain.
Keep going, dont slow down, thats how you get better.
Theyve also been doing the job or craft that youre trying to do for centuries.
This is all written down, often in the first person.Read it.
Youmustlearn from this knowledge.
Do not skip it.
Consume Great Art Voraciously Where does inspiration come from?
Many places but one of the best is in the great art from the centuries.
Dont focus on whats popular now.
Root yourself in the great.
Pause and think it through.
His answer was simple: It starts by wanting to create a classic.
How do you become a master?
Same thing: It starts by wantingneedingto become one.
Apprentice Under Someone Great There is a reason that apprenticeships have been directly related with mastery for centuries.
Go directly to the seat of knowledge,Marcus Aurelius admonished.
Its a decision to which we must recommit every day.
Twelve-step programs say One Day at a Time.
The professional says the same thing.
Every day you will face Resistance.
Most days will be a challenge.
Every day you will have to recommit.
They dont assume, I know the way.
Humility engenders learning because it beats back the arrogance that puts blinders on.
It leaves you open for truths to reveal themselves.
A master lives that.
I moved across the country, left my job to writemy first book.
It wasnt a fun side project.
I had to step up my game if I wanted to survive.
I had to get better if I wanted it to work.
There is no way around ityou have to put the hours in.
Lots and lots of hours.
But dont lie to yourself how much you oughta work.
Sleep is important, family is important, reflection is important.
Pushing yourself past the point of diminishing returns is not.
There isa great line from Goetheas well: Absolute activity, of whatever kind, ultimately leads to bankruptcy.
The inventor of the Segway was passionate.
Better to haveclear-headed purpose.
Use Everything Around You Makeuse of Seinfelds question: Im never not working on material.
Every second of my existence, I am thinking, Can I do something with that?
Seek the lessons in everything, every day and apply it to your work.
If you want some more routines from great writers and artists, check outWritingRoutines.com.
