Crafty Tuesday Motivation vs Discipline
There has been an on going discussion on an art board that I am mostly an onlooker unless I have something to say that is relevant to the topic at hand.
It started when it was made know that an artist who has had problems delivering art work in a timely fashion was asking for donations for which she would do a fast digital sketch for each person who donated over X dollars. Now this artist has a 5 year backlog of art that has been commissioned and paid for that they still have not done but apparently they can’t make their rent so donations are needed so they can continue to work on their back log.
It is known that this artist has some mental health issues that they said they were getting help for. We heard stories of bad effects of various medications, which made it impossible for the word to get done. Now they seem to be on something that is working for one problem but not for another. They say they have lost their motivation to create the art that they were paid for but as soon as they get this money and can get their motivation back, they will do all the work they owe people. They really promise this time.
Now a number of other artists who have the same issues have chimed in on this pointing out that medication does not solve all issues immediately but it can bring you to a point that you can function. And there is no guarantee that their motivation is going to magically come back.
One artist who has cleaned up their backlog after a breakdown and some time away from the Internet, pointed out that an artist doesn’t need motivation rather they need discipline. They pointed to a post on Tumblr by theangryviolinist who was answering the question “How do you keep yourself motivated to practice?”
They replied
F--- motivation. It is an unreliable little d---f--- and isn’t worth your time.
Better to cultivate discipline than to rely on motivation. Force yourself to do thing. Force yourself to get out of bed and practice. Force yourself to work.
Motivation is fleeting and it’s easy to rely on because it requires no concentrated effort to get. Motivation comes to you. You don’t even have to chase it.
Discipline is reliable. Motivation is fleeting. The question is not how to keep yourself motivated. It is how to train yourself to work without it.
This gave a lot of food for thought in the group. And a number of people chimed in that they hadn’t thought about art in that way. Others pointed out that learning to draw takes discipline or learning a new form of art skill.
Peter agrees. He never has to worry about motivation to write. He has the discipline to sit down and write motivated or not. Sometimes part of the story comes through motivation but most of it is just the discipline of sitting down and writing. He has said that if he waited for motivation, he would have never finished his first novel.
So Discipline is my word for the week. Let’s see what I can get done.
I am grateful for discourse on the Internet that does not dissolve into name calling and explaining people’s motivations for writing things.
It started when it was made know that an artist who has had problems delivering art work in a timely fashion was asking for donations for which she would do a fast digital sketch for each person who donated over X dollars. Now this artist has a 5 year backlog of art that has been commissioned and paid for that they still have not done but apparently they can’t make their rent so donations are needed so they can continue to work on their back log.
It is known that this artist has some mental health issues that they said they were getting help for. We heard stories of bad effects of various medications, which made it impossible for the word to get done. Now they seem to be on something that is working for one problem but not for another. They say they have lost their motivation to create the art that they were paid for but as soon as they get this money and can get their motivation back, they will do all the work they owe people. They really promise this time.
Now a number of other artists who have the same issues have chimed in on this pointing out that medication does not solve all issues immediately but it can bring you to a point that you can function. And there is no guarantee that their motivation is going to magically come back.
One artist who has cleaned up their backlog after a breakdown and some time away from the Internet, pointed out that an artist doesn’t need motivation rather they need discipline. They pointed to a post on Tumblr by theangryviolinist who was answering the question “How do you keep yourself motivated to practice?”
They replied
F--- motivation. It is an unreliable little d---f--- and isn’t worth your time.
Better to cultivate discipline than to rely on motivation. Force yourself to do thing. Force yourself to get out of bed and practice. Force yourself to work.
Motivation is fleeting and it’s easy to rely on because it requires no concentrated effort to get. Motivation comes to you. You don’t even have to chase it.
Discipline is reliable. Motivation is fleeting. The question is not how to keep yourself motivated. It is how to train yourself to work without it.
This gave a lot of food for thought in the group. And a number of people chimed in that they hadn’t thought about art in that way. Others pointed out that learning to draw takes discipline or learning a new form of art skill.
Peter agrees. He never has to worry about motivation to write. He has the discipline to sit down and write motivated or not. Sometimes part of the story comes through motivation but most of it is just the discipline of sitting down and writing. He has said that if he waited for motivation, he would have never finished his first novel.
So Discipline is my word for the week. Let’s see what I can get done.
I am grateful for discourse on the Internet that does not dissolve into name calling and explaining people’s motivations for writing things.