#9 Admiring early work

ByLukas

Admiring (flawed) early work is easy when we already know the late work is going to be great.

Everyone forgives Picasso or Da Vinci for a lousy early sketch. In fact, people pay good money to hang one in their living room.

Maybe the early work, showing that even the greats are mere mortals on a journey towards excellence, is the most valuable?

And yet, it’s much harder to be gentle on a beginning artist for shipping mediocre creative work – not in the least for the beginning artist themselves – when their path to excellence hasn’t unfolded yet.

After all, something that one day will be “my early work” is still “my current best work” today.

The road to excellence is invisible from the trenches.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Which makes me wonder…

When I know that through persistence and daily practice, one day, I’ll look back on today’s creation, smiling, thinking: “Oh how far I’ve come… How much I’ve learned… And some of this was actually pretty good…”

Can I admire my creative work less for what it looks, feels, or sounds like, and more for who I’m becoming through making it?

Can I do the same for the creative projects of others?

With that mindset… How much easier and forgiving would the daily creative journey be?

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    #285 It can be this easy

    ByLukas

    When you’re having a busy day and life gets in the way, writing one word can make all the difference.

    One minute of running makes all the difference.

    Thirty seconds of meditating.

    Ten seconds of stretching.

    One second of envisioning who you want to be.

    That’s all it takes to change how you feel about yourself and who you are.

    Because now, instead of giving up, you’re still on track.

    It’s that easy.

  • |

    #40 Pushing a destructive frontier

    ByLukas

    5 billion years ago, our solar system didn’t exist in its current form – but the laws of our universe already held the promise that one day, an earth like ours would revolve around a sun.

    That earth has been revolving around the sun long before any human started observing planetary orbits and realized we’re not the center of the universe.

    Animals, plants, mountains and oceans have instinctively dealt with the law of gravity long before an apple fell on Newton’s head.

    Energy and mass have been two sides of the same coind long before Einstein proposed a formula for mass-energy equivalence (E = mc²).

    Knowledge: invented or discovered?

    More importantly: what do we do with all that knowledge – and the power it give us?

    100 years ago, nuclear weapons didn’t exist yet – but the atomic building blocks and reactions making it possible have always been hidden inside the earth and the universe.

    50 years ago, the internet wasn’t “invented” yet – but the concept of an internet has always been possible.

    Today, general artificial intelligence don’t exist yet. Yet it seems that the laws of the universe have always made developing artificial life a possibility – even if it means biological life becomes obsolete.

    Do we pursue power
    persistently pushing the frontier
    even if we run the risk
    that we destroy everything we hold dear?

    Lukas Van Vyve
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    #177 Doing, then believing

    ByLukas

    I won’t believe I can publish a blog post every day – until I publish a blog post every day.

    I won’t believe I can run a marathon – until I run a marathon.

    I won’t believe I can speak a foreign language – until I speak a foreign language.

    I won’t believe I can work through trauma – until I work through trauma.

    You don’t have to believe something to start doing it.

    You do something to start believing it.

    Actions overrule thoughts.

  • #443 Be consistent with the how, not the what

    ByLukas

    If you’re curious about one topic, you can stay curious, even if your interests change over time.

    If you’re kind to one person, you can stay kind when talking to other people.

    If you showed leadership in your last job, you can show leadership in your new job.

    You can be consistent in how you do things, without having to be consistent in what you do.

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