“To know one way is to know all ways.” — Miyamoto Musashi, Samurai/Philosopher
In modern life, there isn’t much time given to proper preparation or honest reflection. In fact, most young artists, including some professionals, often skip one or both. The obsession is on doing — being productive and achieving maximum efficiency, the absolute mantra of technology and corporate business. This is all fine and dandy if it didn’t come with the price of losing our personal touch in the work, real growth in skill and understanding, as well as sacrificing what is, in my humble opinion, the greatest reason for doing art: the sense of fulfillment that comes with doing things the slow, attentive, and dutiful way.
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — Abraham Lincoln, US President
Preparation:
We’ve talked a lot about preparation here, how important it is, and how it can help in the process of creation. We know that it aligns us to our goals and sets out a path upon which to take. But being prepared is about more than just having a plan. It entails also a sense of readiness that incorporates both the mental and physical. In live performance arts such as acting, music and sports, artists are first practitioners — they acquire, practice and rehearse the skills and actions they need during the performance. Much can be learned from these creatives as their routines set in motion the power of muscle memory and sensory acuity needed to excel when it counts. Although the process of visual crafts such as film, animation, and painting compare more with the assembly act of designing and building architecture, visual artists would also achieve greater likelihood of success if they adopt a similar “performance” mentality because each day on the job is, in a way, a performance. We not only build our art this way, we build ourselves. There is no “undo” button in life, only do-overs.
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” ― Carl Gustav Jung, Psychologist
Decision-Action:
Ultimately, we have to do the work. But we should only act after we’ve developed some idea of what we’re doing or where we’re going. Goals matter. This is not a bad idea when it comes to creating art or living a life. Unfortunately (or fortunately) life is unpredictable, so therefore our plans and preparations are only just that — plans and preparations — they’re not predictions or assurances of a better future; results are never guaranteed. In the doing — deciding and then taking immediate physical action — comes the execution of all we know and an expression of our most inner selves. Here, instinct rules; there is no time for thinking. This is the test of all that we know up to that point. It’s also a test of our persistence and discipline. It’s the real thing. Success or failure loses its significance. Our attention is only on the doing; there’s no ego involved. Like a Zen student, we learn that only by giving in completely to the moment of action can we carry out our actions with honesty and full-focus; by being detached from desire there’s purity of attention behind the effort. It’s both an act of faith and one of liberation.
“You worry yourself unnecessarily. Put the thought of hitting right out of your mind!” ― Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery
Reflection:
Upon completion of a task, project or performance, an artist must take stock of things. This is more than just looking at the results but analyzing both the big picture and breaking down the details of what went well and what didn’t. Here’s where we let the left hemisphere — the analytical/rational side of us — respond to the outcomes as objectively and non-emotionally as possible. Of course, an allotted time must pass between a project’s completion and the post-mortem, but this step is important. Else we can’t learn from our mistakes and failures, and thus, inevitably repeat the same efforts and achieve the same disappointing results. We all know that doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results is the very definition of insanity. Only by taking the time to truly reflect, on both the results and the process taken, can we make a reasonable assessment on the entirety of the experience so that we can then properly make the necessary adjustments. It is wise to take this quiet time as a moment for contemplation.
“An unexamined life is not worth living” — Socrates, Philosopher
In summary, no more needs to be said other than the fact that we must go through the ENTIRE procedure of preparation, decision-action and reflection in order to progress in our craft. None of the steps can be ignored or by-passed and to be locked onto any one stage for too long can be paralyzing. So be careful of either automation or clever shortcuts; it might be tempting to skip or skimp on necessary actions to be faster, but in the long run there’s a huge price to pay — you become more ignorant (less skilled), lazier, and ironically, slower.
By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man.” — Immanuel Kant, Philosopher