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Creative Discipline: The Practice You Shouldn't Ignore
The math is simple: more distractions = less creative work.
Your creative cure—weekly insights, lessons, and inspiration from the greatest minds.
This is not another motivational post or a list of productivity hacks.
I don't believe in hacks anymore.
It took me too long to learn that looking for shortcuts is a waste of time. More than half of them are wrong turns with dead ends.
I'm not saying it was a waste of time. I learned a valuable lesson. But there is a better way.
Growing up, my dad would say, "Wise people learn from others' mistakes. Smart people learn from their own. Stupid people never learn."
His words always resonated with me. I saw truth in them.
Little did I know my pops wasn’t trying to teach me a lesson. Instead, he was planting seeds of his understanding so that I, one day, could enjoy the fruits of my own.
So, here is a seed for you: wise people learn from the mistakes of others AND their successes, and the wisest of the wise learn from the best of the best.
I also wish I’d learned that sooner.
But that's why I like to bring you along on this journey of discovery, where we learn how the most creative, influential, and powerful minds faced challenges, approached their work, and sought fulfillment. We do this to harvest their seeds of knowledge, bury them deep within us, and, with a little work and patience, not only enjoy the fruits of our labors but also share them with others.
So, if you’re in the business of growing a garden of ideas and producing creative work that nourishes you and others, there is a practice you can't ignore.
And no, it's not a hack. I don’t believe in them, remember?
But more on that later...
Oh! If you love THE WORK, share it with a friend. If you hate it, share it with an enemy. Or you can help fund my coffee addiction. Whatever feels best.
TODAY’S MENU
💡 The Practice You Shouldn’t Ignore
🧠 Learn to Fight Creative Resistance
🍄 Andrew Huberman on Creativity, Work, and Psychedelics
🤗 This is How You Write Better Notes
— Santi
Creative Discipline: The Practice You Shouldn’t Ignore
creative discipline: the practice of consistently showing up and persevering through challenges, focusing on the creative process rather than the outcomes.
Discipline isn't sexy. It's not inspired work. It isn't mysterious.
It kinda goes against all things “creativity.”
Discipline is hard work.
I know. I get it. I've been there.
It's easier to get lost on Instagram or Threads than on the page, your canvas, or that expensive Lululemon mat you bought last year but haven’t touched. And by you, I mean me.
Without creative discipline, you give away your creative power to the distractions that are at war with your ambitions, fighting for a few more minutes of your attention.
The math is simple: more distractions = less creative work.
And I’ll be the first one to admit that this lack of creative discipline was responsible for my lack of focus, productivity, and fulfillment for many years. After all, the whole purpose of living a creative life is to create.
In some weird selfish way, I was pleased to learn that some of the greatest creative minds, from Picasso to Maya Angelou, also battled distractions.
Their weapons?
Consistency: you have to show up.
Perseverance: you have to show up when it gets hard.
Process: you have to show up because you care.
Remember what I said about learning from the best?
This is what some of the creative giants had to say about creative discipline.
Consistency
Showing up every day and giving your creative process structure is foundational. Consistency builds momentum and discipline. It also creates a safe environment for creativity to thrive and inspiration to find you.
Pablo Picasso
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
Picasso had an incredible work ethic and ridiculous output.
He would often work long hours every day, which led to the 13,500ish paintings he made in his lifetime.
Take it from Pablo: inspiration favors the disciplined.
Stephen King
Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.
If you’ve read “On Writing,” you know Stephen King is a creative savage with the discipline of a Navy SEAL.
King’s approach to writing: write 2,000 words every day. Yes, including holidays.
If the man who’s sold over 400,000,000 books worldwide is telling me to get up and go to work, I am going to get up and go to work.
Perseverance
Life will test you because that’s what life does. It’s important that you learn to push through self-doubt, criticism, and other obstacles. Deep creative discipline involves continuing to work despite your internal and external challenges.
Maya Angelou
What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks 'the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.' And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try.
The queen has spoken.
Commit to creating every day regardless of the quality of your work.
Maya Angelou rented hotel rooms void of distractions to get her work done. She’d get there at 6:30 a.m. and work until 2 p.m.
She understood that it’s harder to persevere when your creative energy is being pulled in 100 different directions.
Minimize distractions and keep making, even if you think what you’re making sucks. It might not be that bad.
Vincent VanGogh
If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
Maybe it was because of his struggles with mental illness, but VanGogh is probably one of the most insecure artists to have ever lived. In his short, 10-year career, he only sold one painting out of the thousands he produced.
If your mind is blown, I hope it’s because he produced over 2,000 paintings in 10 years despite suffering from crippling self-doubt.
Outwork your insecurities.
Process
A deep commitment to the process is essential for living a creative and disciplined life. Nobody has explained this better than Anton Chekhov, the master of the short story.
Anton Chekhov
You must once and for all give up being worried about successes and failures. Don't let that concern you. It's your duty to go on working steadily day by day, quite quietly, to be prepared for mistakes, which are inevitable, and for failures.
I’ve seen many creatives slide back into misery simply because of their mindset around success and failure.
Chekhov reminds us that fixating on success or failure is useless. Instead, focus on your work.
Don’t spend your time trying to get noticed. Spend it trying to be great.
If you create consistently regardless of the challenges life might present you with and are committed to your creative journey, you create the environment needed to live an inspired and fulfilling life.
What are you working on? What’s your biggest creative struggle? I’d love to hear from you!