Monday Rules (Part 7)

Rule 7: THE ONLY RULE IS WORK. If you work, it will lead to something. It's the people who do all the work all the time who eventually catch on to things.

But it's so haaaard doing all that work.

You are not wrong, and I'm the worst to preach at you about this — I waste more time worrying about work than I do working. But the rule is true. The more you work — the more you screw up — the more you learn about what you're doing.

Then you can do it again. righter and betterer.

It's our old friends GESTALT and SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION, isn't it? The trick is to keep churning out the ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS so that you can step back and check your work.

I like, too, how Sister Corita says that artists "catch on" to things. We don't really know the solutions to problems, and we don't really figure it out.  It's not a math problem (unless it is, and even then...).

It's more that moment when you step back for a good GESTALT, and  the solution is an astounding "Aha!" moment — is there anything better?

But you don't get those moments unless you're doing the work, whether it's literally stepping back from a painting, or writing in your journal, or walking your neighborhood to clear your brain about some project. Keep working, and the answer will eventually arrive.

(Spoiler alert: Sometimes the answer is ABANDONMENT.  Failure is always an option.)