George Kao explains how caring deeply about your subject and audience can push through the awkwardness of starting creative work. He calls this loving discipline: a weekly writing habit, protected deep-work time, and saying no to scattered projects. These aren't restrictions but acts of devotion that keep your curiosity alive.
I have to start with that caring for the topic and for my people. And then the unglamorous part of starting the video recording. I don't feel like it. I'm shy. I'm, I feel like making, I'm afraid to make mistakes, right? Whatever. All the reasons that, that keep me from not making videos. I do it anyway because of that care. First couple minutes, not glamorous. And then after that, I find my, I find the flow because of the a willingness to sit through the unglamorous middle part, right? The starting part and sometimes middle part. So, um, all right, a— and this is what I call loving discipline, because it's not just discipline grinding your teeth and go, I hate this, I'm gonna do it anyway. No, it's, it's discipline born of love, born of love for the topic, for the issue, and born of love for the people that this thing will serve, whatever I'm putting out there. It protects your curiosity. A writing, a weekly writing practice is loving discipline. Protecting your mornings or afternoons or evenings for deep work is loving discipline. Saying no to projects that scatter your attention is loving discipline. These are acts of devotion to your own aliveness.
