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Rachael Kalicun

"If God gives you something you can do, why in God’s name wouldn’t you do it?" - Stephen King

Seth Godin's The Practice - a Summary

October 24, 2024

What does a person do after abandoning the practical path? Where does motivation come from if not from money or power? I’ve asked these questions recently but could only come up with vague answers. Be creative but I wasn’t sure why.

For a long time, I felt creatively stifled and believed that if I could just free myself, I’d be creative. But it turns out that facing an empty canvas with endless time was daunting and created a lot of resistance. I decided to turn to the wisdom of experts and began reading books on the subject of creativity. The first one I read was The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin.

This book answered both of my questions. What does a person do after abandoning the practical path? Make art. Where does motivation come from? From generosity and the desire to impact others by contributing that art.

Art? The word makes me think of paintings in a museum. But, according to Godin, art is any new creation made to support an assertion and delivered to a specific audience with the primary goal of changing that audience. The process is intentional. It’s a practice.

Here’s a summary I wrote to myself although I hope you’ll read it as a guide to yourself, too, if you need it.

Find and serve my audience

Find the “smallest viable audience”, the smallest group that I think I can impact through meaningful change. Then dedicate myself fully to them. Share my perspectives, ideas, peculiarities, and uniqueness with them. Tell my story. Be vulnerable and develop a connection with them. Learn everything about them and develop total empathy because they aren’t me. Define this audience and the change I want to bring. My art is for them, and I must ignore the noise from everyone else.

My contribution

My art will serve as the catalyst for the change I seek to make. It should only be created and delivered to support a clear assertion for that change. Instead of providing answers, which are one-sided and imply certainty, offer assertions that invite conversation, collaboration, and experimentation. Each assertion should implicitly start with “perhaps.”

Find the “smallest viable breakthrough”, the smallest change from what’s the same.

Choose a genre and stick to it.

Make something worth sharing, something to be proud of, but the smallest version of it.

The reasons to do it

“You are in charge of the change you make in the world. Who else should be? Who else could be?”

I’m someone who cares, who has ideas to contribute, and who wants to bring positive change to the world. I need to focus on serving others by working on an assertion and impacting someone through my work. When I’ve managed to do that, I’ve succeeded. Then I keep doing it. That’s the reward.

I’m also obligated. It’s why I’m here. The world is in dire need of help. People are waiting for me to make it better, to lead, and to share my ideas. Morally, I cannot be selfish and withhold or take away what I have to offer. The world is counting on me.

The wrong reasons to do it

I can’t do it for money, recognition, or likes on social media. These rewards are not guaranteed, they are out of my control, and I’m not owed anything for the work I put in. I need to ignore and reject these results. They are selfish outcomes.

How do I do it?

Show up every day for the audience and the work that will create change. Invite the muse by showing up. Stick to schedules and streaks and talk about them.

Find like-minded people, a group that supports me, encourages me, values my work, and holds me accountable. Don’t talk about this work with people who want to protect me from hurt.

Practice mindfulness in the work. Detach from it, make it impersonal, and focus on the mission.

Then most importantly, ship it. I’m not being generous unless I ship it. Trust myself enough to say “Here, I made this for you”. Learn from the process. See if the art achieved its purpose. Repeat the process over and over again.

Grow myself

Be the best in the world at being me. Develop, earn, and promote one superpower, one that’s worth waiting for, seeking out, and paying for.

Build my skills through hard work and studying experts, both past and present.

Be a professional. Consistently serve my audience in a generous way. That doesn’t necessarily mean for free. Money supports my commitment to the practice and serves as a good indicator of traction.

Next steps

With a clear understanding of the why, guidance on the how, but still lots of decisions to be made, I’ll make action plans with the following steps being a good start. They will be shared here.

  1. Define an audience and the change I can bring to them
  2. State the assertion
  3. Pick a genre
  4. Schedule the work
  5. Develop an accountability system
  6. Brainstorm ways to find a supportive group of peers
  7. Engage with the audience and ship the smallest piece of work I can
  8. Measure the impact
  9. Repeat

Elements of the practice (verbatim from the book)