The practice is there especially when we don’t feel confident.
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Notes
Confidence is a feeling, and as such is variable—from person to person, but also from day to day.
Feelings can be generated by actions. The practice is a choice that, with discipline, we can always choose.
Thoughts
In my thoughts about the previous chapter, I was trying to develop at least an outline of what my practice would be. I wrote about how my attitude—possibly overthinking, possibly just resisting—seemed less influenced by the subject of that chapter (kiasu, the fear of falling behind) and more by fear of failing (an undefined, vague bogeyman).
This chapter reiterates an earlier concept: that we often have cause and effect reversed in our minds. We don’t need to be inspired to work; work leads to inspiration. It’s the same here, with confidence: I don’t need to overcome imposter syndrome or a fixed mindset; work leads to confidence.
Perhaps the practice is discovered/invented through work. If so, that’s another reason to just get started. I don’t need to wait to design the practice and then put it into action. No, I need to start the work, so that the practice can emerge, through trial and error.
I’ve said before that I’ve already started, but that’s only partly true. I have done a few things that will eventually lead toward an album (the creative work I’d like to ship), but it’s piecemeal and random. I’ve not had a practice, so in some ways I have not actually started.
What is a first step, then? Two aspects of a practice are coming clearer to me: routine, and (from this chapter) discipline. So perhaps the first step is to identify time each day to focus on creating the album, the creative work that I want to ship. It won’t be enough time; I won’t know what to do during that time. But it will be a start, and I can discover/invent it as I go.
Even this scares me a little, for some reason. I want to say that my schedule is so erratic that finding a specific time is impossible, but (a) no one said it has to be a specific, just consistent; and (b) I spend lots of time, and probably consistently, being a consumer rather than a creator. Less than I used to, to be sure. But still…
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.