If you have 5 minutes just go read the dang thing; I’m sharing half of it here as excerpts because it’s such a perfect internet essay: short, wise, memorable, re-readable.
Going into my bible as well.
EXCERPTS copied verbatim:
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The Muse arrives to us most readily during creation, not before. Homer and Hesiod invoke the Muses not while wondering what to compose, but as they begin to sing. If we are going to call upon inspiration to guide us through, we have to first begin the work.
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It is in approaching the edges of our abilities that we are really learning, and often simple projects feel more like delaying things, including delaying mastery. A chance of failure ensures your hands are firmly touching reality, and not endlessly flipping through the textbook, or forever flirting only with ideas.
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Someone once mentioned to me that “Write what you know” is not particularly interesting advice, and “Write what you’re learning” is much better
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On the other hand it is inspiring to help someone who has begun. There’s a bit of a silly demonstration of this in those viral videos that show a person starting to dig a hole or making a sandcastle at the beach, and a number of people come along to help. The principle is not at all silly: Enthusiasm is contagious.
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I said some time ago on Twitter offhandedly, “If you have a ten year plan, what’s stopping you from doing it in two?” This is what I mean. One can too easily sleepwalk into years of “I wish I could…” Or you can start with creation. Pick something hard. You will shape something and it will shape you.