The Practice

Shipping Creative Work
by Seth Godin | Portfolio © 2020 · 272 pages

I love Seth Godin. Although we’ve only featured one of his other books so far (The Icarus Deception), I’ve read a number of others and I have been deeply inspired by him and his style and his fierce commitment to DOING.THE.WORK. This book is, essentially, a collection of over 200 Big Ideas all about, as per the sub-title, “Shipping Creative Work.” How do we best do that? We master “The Practice.” For our purposes, we’re going to focus on the ultimate creative work we are each universally called to do: Making our LIVES a masterpiece. How do we do that? As we discuss ALL.THE.TIME, we close the gap between who we are capable of being and who we are actually being by moving from Theory to Practice to Mastery Together by making TODAY a masterpiece. Let’s explore some Big Ideas on how to go about closing that gap TODAY!!!


The magic of the creative process is that there is no magic.
Seth Godin

“There’s a practice available to each of us—the practice of embracing the process of creation in service of better. The practice is not the means to the output, the practice is the output, because the practice is all we can control.

The practice demands that we approach our process with commitment. It acknowledges that creativity is not an event, it’s simply what we do, whether or not we’re in the mood.

Sculptor Elizabeth King said it beautifully, ‘Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.’ …

Make things better. Without regard for whether it’s going to work this time. The practice will take you where you seek to go better than any other path you can follow. And while you’re engaging in the practice, you’ll honor your potential and the support and the kindness of everyone who came before you.”

~ Seth Godin from The Practice

I love Seth Godin. He’s one of the world’s most popular bloggers and business/life strategists.

Although we’ve only featured one of his other books so far (The Icarus Deception), I’ve read a number of others and I have been deeply inspired by him and his style and his fierce commitment to DOING.THE.WORK.

Seth writes in the same type of pithy style as his friend and another one of my favorite writers/thinkers, Steven Pressfield. (Check out our collection of Notes on *his* books including The War of Art, Do the Work, Turning Pro, Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be, and a bunch of others.)

This book is, essentially, a collection of over 200 Big Ideas all about, as per the sub-title, “Shipping Creative Work.” How do we best do that? We master “The Practice.”

For our purposes, we’re going to focus on the ultimate creative work we are each universally called to do in our own unique, idiosyncratic ways: Making our LIVES a masterpiece.

How do we do that? As we discuss ALL.THE.TIME, we close the gap between who we are capable of being and who we are actually being by moving from Theory to Practice to Mastery Together by making TODAY a masterpiece.

How do we do that? By doing the hard work to get clarity on who we are and what, specifically (!), we do when we’re at our best. Then, by doing the even harder work of actually showing up and honoring that protocol. Not someday. And not when we feel like it. TODAY—especially, I repeat, if Today is a day we don’t feel like it.

That, my Heroic friend, is what we could call “The Ultimate Practice.”

Let’s explore some Big Ideas on how to go about closing that gap as we move from Theory to Practice to Mastery Together... TODAY!!!

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About the author

Authors

Seth Godin

entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker.