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This has probably been the hardest thing for me to implement in my creative life. It is why artists who think they are ready to be seen and heard really aren’t. It is why restaurants fail, why musicians don’t make it, why companies don’t prosper. It’s also known as ‘spreading yourself too thin’ and it lead to stress (see yesterday’s napkin) and frustration.
But the hardest thing to realize is that disciplining yourself also leads to stress and frustration. You purposely have to pull back from things that interest you and you know you could succeed at. You purposely have to forgo some possibly lucrative avenues when you really might need the money. You have to watch others succeed in those directions you decided against. You have to have patience and believe in spite of the current situation.
But, even though discipline AND lack of it can lead to stress and frustration, only one continues on past that forest and into a clearing. The route of discipline moves on, it reaches its goal. So, while you may see the world around you and want to indulge in all of it, if you stay focused and know what you truly want to see happen in one particular direction (ok, maybe two) AND you are willing to do the work, then you will find success on your path.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily blog
Quote by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., no record of date of birth – still alive, American author
