Committing to a practice

At a time when much of society was paused, Seth Godin released a book called The Practice, which quickly became one of my favourite books. It explores the idea of showing up consistently, and doing the work daily.

Seth says there’s no such thing as “writer’s block.” Instead, he believes that we become creative when we ship the work. Creativity happens when we write when we actually do the work and put it out there.

The idea is that it’s a commitment to show up, consistently, learning by doing the work over and over — even when you don’t feel like it.

Especially when you don’t feel like it.

The practice of writing weekly

With this newsletter, I've committed to a weekly practice of publishing something every Friday. Sometimes that means writing something earlier in the week, or adapting some notes and thoughts from attending an event into a piece. But other times, it looks like waking up on Friday morning and getting that reminder to write something for today.

One of my speaking engagements was rescheduled, which changed up my day, creating some much-needed space to walk, write, and work on 2 pressing documents.

I was reminded to send out my newsletter but didn’t have a topic yet, as most of my output this week has been focused on preparing for two in-person talks, plus two live sessions I hosted with The Good Growth Company.

There’s been a lot of output, with little time left for reflecting on a newsletter topic.

But that’s the whole point of this commitment — it’s a practice, something I’ve committed to.

If you’re a creative, you have to be creating

This idea doesn’t just apply to writing. Writers write, and runners run.

If you’re a creative, you have to be creating.

If you’re an artist, you have to be making art. (This is something I talk about in the workshops I lead for artists, makers, and creatives).

You establish your identity by doing the work.

This is something I tell my students, many of whom are just starting out and have little experience in the industry they’re aiming for. I remind them, especially in my Careers Skills course and my first-year Introduction to Creative Advertising classes, that while it’s important to have titles and roles for your resume, you earn those by doing the work.

If you design, you’re a designer; if you write copy, you’re a copywriter. You become these things by doing them, whether it’s for yourself, a nonprofit, a friend, or a blog with only 3 readers.

And as Seth also points out, you might not get paid for it, at least not right now. But you approach it as a professional — as if you were hired to do it.

That’s exactly what this newsletter is for me. Nobody pays me for it. Nobody even asked for it. But here am I writing it, week by week.

So what is a practice?

The practice is simply sitting down, every day or every week, to create something — focusing on making art, writing, business, or content without fixating on the end result. The practice isn’t just a means to the output or a goal; the practice is the output — because it’s the one part we can actually control. I can’t control how many people open this email, but I can control the commitment to sit down and write it.

Seth Godin practices what he preaches here. He’s one of the most prolific bloggers and writers online, with over 20 bestselling books, a successful career as an entrepreneur, and a well-known influence in marketing. His philosophy is simple: not only should you write every day, you should publish every day. In an interview, he shared:

What’s your practice?

What’s something you can commit to doing daily or weekly, whether you feel like it or not?

Creativity and growth all come from showing up, and they build with consistency.

So, what’s your practice?