Nicolas Cole argues that creative professionals need disciplined, often boring practice before they earn the right to play. The ones who succeed are those willing to do tedious work others skip. Allocate time for both, but don't let fun distract you from the foundation.
Rule number five, practice before you play. So what this means is, especially when you're in any sort of creative field, writing is a good example. Everyone has no problem prioritizing the fun stuff. You know, like, playing is easy. I heard a great quote the other day, which is, if you're doing something that you enjoy, you don't have to be disciplined. Discipline kicks in as soon as you have to do something that you don't enjoy or maybe is a little more tedious or a little more boring. And so practice before you play, for me, is a really good reminder that, yes, I might want to do something fun and enjoyable, or I want my want to work on a project that really has grabbed my attention. But before we go do that, we need to do the things that need to be done. And oftentimes the practice component is doing something that's a little boring or a little tedious. This is the moat. You know, whoever can tolerate the most boring work wins. So, yes, give yourself time to play. You know, give yourself time to explore that shiny object that's grabbing your attention, but don't constantly jump to the fun thing and skip over the necessary but maybe boring or tedious thing.
What Every Writer Gets Wrong About Their Audience #writing #creator #writingtips
