On Practice

 The idea for this blog has been inspired by Seth Godin's book The Practice (2020). I've first found  about Godin's work through Marie Forleo's YouTube channel. I liked what he said about being consistent and tackling rejection - apparently, his first book got 900 rejection letters! - so I decided to buy his latest work to see what was in it for me.  

I normally do not reach for this kind of literature. I like me some good self-help and inspirational literature, but in my mind Seth Godin hasn't been talking to me. His work seems to target entrepreneurs who manage companies, churn out ideas, and produce stuff for people to buy or enrol into. Marketing, entrepreneurship, apps and start-ups. Not my stuff, or at least that's what I thought. 

Maybe that's why it has taken me some time to read the book. Godin writes in a direct, clear and no-nonsense way. He uses examples, he doesn't embellish. There are over 200 sections in his book, but they're mostly micro chapters that sometimes resemble old-school telegraph messages or shopping lists. The style is consistent with Godin's blog and therefore idiosyncratic and easily recognisable, which I actually like. It may not be the kind of style that I'm used to, but it does help to put the message across. 

The main message of Godin's book is the title P R A C T I C E. Godin says "Build streaks. Do the work every single day. Blog daily. Write daily. Ship daily. Show up daily. Find your streak and maintain it" (205). Simple yet incredibly difficult to achieve. Also very true. The kind of consistency that Godin's advocating is a buffer against the feeling of failure which I believe comes more from not doing things than having the work rejected. It probably has to do with the fact that consistent practice renders more results which you can ship to people.  The more results, the higher the possibility that some ideas will catch on.  I guess it also takes the edge off waiting for response: the dreaded "no," or the glorious acceptance, which we nevertheless always under-appreciate. 

In my line of work, the latter is important. I write academic papers which are evaluated in an anonymous peer-review process. The process can take very long, sometimes up to a year.  Some of my papers were published two or more years after they had been submitted. This is frustrating. I've recently got a glorious acceptance letter for a timely paper on the representation of Donald Trump in a recent American novel. The  paper will not be published until June 2022. 

If there is practice, there is always another thing to write as part of it, so there's no point in thinking about what has already been shipped but has not been evaluated yet, or waits to be published. 

So here it is:  the practice. My practice. My commitment to write and ship but without the constraints of journal publication systems.  For me. To build my streak.