Develop a Routine
Resistance is Futile
Develop a Routine
Routine originates from the French word route meaning roadway or path-like. The suffix -ine, comes from the Latin -inus, in turn from the Greek -inos, meaning "of", "pertaining to", "made from" or "similar to". So, routine means route-like. Any route is a well worn path, something walked upon over and over again.
Observing master artists, one will notice great energy, consistency and perseverance to the point of relentlessness. It is because they show up to their work without resisting, without choosing, without questioning. Showing up is not a question. The questioning, the struggle is saved for the work itself. Like this? Like that? Is it just right? What’s the next step on the trail?
A routine is a powerful tool because it reduces our resistance to acting upon it. Resistance uses energy that is better spent on creativity. Things that we do in a routine way are done by rote, by habit. We don’t question them, they are done without thought, without decision making, you do it by assumption because it is a settled matter done without deciding or choosing. You just do it. While this is a bad idea for bad habits, it is a great idea for pursuing a creative life. So, develop your studio time into a daily routine. Make it an unquestioned certainty. Lack of an ‘all in’ commitment is the enemy.
‘To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.’ Sun Tzu
You will also notice among the masters, serial working habits which is to say they will begin with an inspiration of some sort and make a work of art. Then make another along the same line of thought and then continue forward exploring the possibilities, edges and limits of the idea seeking to penetrate to the depths of the idea to its essence. They might spend a year or a decade unfolding the possibilities once they have found something of interest, something worthy of exploring.
The masters are disciplined at their work, they don’t fly off into a hundred directions at the same time. This discipline is built on a foundation of well established routine.
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La vie
Sounding very Buddhist or maybe my having been to 7 temples in Kyoto is informing what I read.