Chuck Close’s Advice on Inspiration and Goal Achievement
The magic of productivity is just getting started . You may already know this, but the flip side of this message – waiting for inspiration before actually doing something – is just as bad and prevents us from doing great work, says artist and photographer Chuck Close .
Swissmiss posted this quote, which I could not abbreviate, but the emphasis is mine:
The advice I like to give to young artists, and indeed to everyone who listens to me, is not to wait for inspiration. Inspiration for lovers; the rest just come and get to work.
If you wait for the clouds to clear and lightning strikes your brain, you won’t have to work hard. All the best ideas are born in the process; they come out of the work itself.
Something comes to your mind. If you are sitting and trying to come up with a great idea, you can sit for a long time before something happens. But if you just get to work, something will come to your mind and something else will happen to you, and something else that you reject will push you in a different direction.
Inspiration is completely unnecessary and somehow deceiving. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get started, and I believe it almost never happens.
Suffice it to say that inspiration is always nice when it comes, but you can – and probably already live – without it. You will most likely do a great job without waiting for inspiration or that perfect eureka! the moment to amaze you is when you figure out how to best solve a problem at work. You just come every day and do your job to the best of your ability (and energy level on a given day). If that sounds right, you are already doing your job and doing a great job – and giving that inspiration a chance to emerge when it comes. Don’t make it a requirement.
Get Started | Swiss Miss