The artist rarely says, “I’d like to do less.”

“One skill they had mastered was relentlessly narrowing the scope of their responsibility.” — Seth Godin

Seth Godin has a way of summing up stuff I’ve been working on for a year in a single post.

In my book Create, I strive to get across the idea that all of our consuming and reading and listening is great and all, but the true joy, the meaning and purpose in our lives comes from not when we are “taking it in” but “letting it out.”

Seth’s post is called “But what could you learn instead?“

Compared to one university, another school where he taught, he had reactions like this:

“The difference was stunning—they were there to learn something.”

— Seth Godin

He goes on to talk about creating, about what he calls “art.”

Contrast this with the joy of creativity. Of making something magical. Of art.

The artist rarely says, “I’d like to do less.” Instead, she wonders how to contribute more, because the very act of creativity is the point of the work.

— Seth Godin

But then he gets back to doing (what I call making, doing, creating):

“But it’s the doing that allows us to become our best selves, and it’s the doing that creates our future.”

— Seth Godin

This is what I see as CREATE and the basis for the book and who knows what else.

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