It is illuminating to note, here, how the daily rituals and working routines of prolific authors and artists … - Oliver Burkeman

Same topic Authors

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My project could be only to photograph as I felt and desired, to regulate a pleasant form of living, to get up in the morning-free, to feel the trees, the grass, the water, sky or buildings, people-everything that affects us; and to photograph that which I saw and have always felt.

Oliver Burkeman

It is illuminating to note, here, how the daily rituals and working routines of prolific authors and artists - people who really do get a lot done - very rarely include techniques for 'getting motivated' or 'feeling inspired'. Quite the opposite: they tend to emphasise the mechanics of the working process, focusing not on generating the right mood, but on accomplishing certain physical actions, regardless of mood.

Artist, Opposites, People, Certain, Feeling, Done

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Uncertainty is where things happen. It is where the opportunities - for success, for happiness, for really living - are waiting.

Happen, Opportunity, Really Living, Things, Uncertainty, Waiting

The effort to try to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable.

Effort, Happy, Miserable, Trying

The routines of almost all famous writers, from Charles Darwin to John Grisham, similarly emphasise specific starting times, or number of hours worked, or words written. Such rituals provide a structure to work in, whether or not the feeling of motivation or inspiration happens to be present. They let people work alongside negative or positive emotions, instead of getting distracted by the effort of cultivating only positive ones. ‘Inspiration is for amateurs,’ the artist Chuck Close once memorably observed. ‘The rest of us just show up and get to work.

Artist, Charles, Darwin, Inspiration, Motivation, Number

Resisting a task is usually a sign that it's meaningful-which is why it's awakening your fears and stimulating procrastination. You could adopt "Do whatever you're resisting the most" as a philosophy of life.

Life, Meaningful, Philosophy, Procrastination, Stimulating, Usually

Ceaseless optimism about the future only makes for a greater shock when things go wrong; by fighting to maintain only positive beliefs about the future, the positive thinker ends up being less prepared, and more acutely distressed, when things eventually happen that he can't persuade himself to believe are good.

Believe, Fighting, Maintain, Optimism, Shock, Things