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The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin

"Do what you love" is for amateurs. "Love what you do" is the mantra for professionals.

Peter Kos

04 Apr 2021 — 4 min read

Shipping Creative Work.

The Practice by Seth Godin. I pre-ordered the whole boxed set of twelve books, plus some extra swag that Seth threw in there to make it a collector's item.
Am I supposed to feel special because there are only 399 other people in the whole world who got this deal? Do I need to feel better for spending over €200 on a set of books and going through a customs import hassle to get this package from The States to the EU? –I'm not sure if that was your intention, Seth, but it worked. I feel special, and I feel better.😷

I'm happy that I get to read The Practice after publishing my book at the beginning of November because it helps inspire me to go forward and write the next one.

I'm happy that I published before reading The Practice, so I don't feel inadequate about the whole thing. But I did it — Shipped. Creative. Work. As per Seth, I put myself on the hook because it doesn't count if you don't Ship. It was Creative because I refuse to be a cog in a system looking to replace me. And it was Work because I kept doing it even when I didn't feel like it. Thank you, Seth. You helped me Ship this Creative Work.

A few snippets of wisdom to get you hooked:

Attitudes are skills.
Creativity is an act of leadership.
Passion is a choice.
Results are a by-product.
Be paranoid about mediocrity.
Create change.
Trust your self.
Repeat.

Excerpts from The Practice by Seth Godin

Art is something we get to do for other people.

Too often, we walk away from a creative life, a chance to be generous, an opportunity to solve a problem.

Your work is too important to be left to how you feel today.

If you want to change your story, change your actions first.

We do the work, whether we feel like it or not, and then, without warning, flow can arise.
Flow is a symptom of the work we're doing, not the cause of it.

"Do what you love" is for amateurs.
"Love what you do" is the mantra for professionals.

I feel like an imposter. ... At least when I'm doing my best work. ... That's because my best work involves doing things I've never done before.

If you want to be a leader, then lead. If you want to be a writer, then write.

Writers write. Runners run. Establish your identity by doing your work.

Of course you're allowed to sound like you. Everyone else is taken.

Problems have solutions. That's what makes them problems. A problem without a solution isn't a problem, it's simply a situation.

You don't need to be a toddler to design toys, or a cancer survivor to be an oncologist.

Sales is about change: turning "I never heard of it" into "no" and then "yes".

Being a pretty good receptionist is easy. You're basically a low-tech security guard in nice clothes. Sit at the desk and make sure that visitors don't steal the furniture or go behind the magic door unescorted.

He typed when he wasn't inspired. The typing turned into writing and he became inspired.
We don't write because we feel like it.
We feel like it because we write.

Committing to a practice that makes us better is all we can do.

Staedtler should sponsor The Practice because it makes us burn the highlighters and increase their sales. This book is so packed full of wisdom that it's easier to inverse the usual activity — highlighting only the stuff we don't want to remember.

I'm happy I got a box of 12 books, so I get to be generous towards eleven remarkable people. If you don't get a copy from me, make sure to be generous towards yourself and gift yourself the gift of The Practice. It just might help you change your life. And don't forget — there's another book written for the same purpose:

Once again, let me Thank You, Seth. You helped me Ship this Creative Work. That was super generous of you. Also, the fact that you replied to my email.