Once again, Robert Genn hits the mark. As always, he does it with creative style, eloquence and humour. Today, Robert's Twice Weekly Letter speaks to all of us whether we are painting, bill-paying, sculpting, designing, negotiating, looking for a new career, making music, teaching, selling, promoting, marketing, managing, care-taking, healing, living life or blog posting!
Your Master Muse Genius ripples out into the world.
You shift perspectives and inspire action.
Thank you,
Thank you,
-Royce
Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letter:
A woman wrote recently and told me she was unable to paint because a neighbour was "using some sort of Weed Eater or Leaf Blower." Pressed for time, I wrote her a quick note quoting Confucius--"An inconvenience is an unrecognized opportunity." I suggested she get a headset to close out the annoyance and tune in to Chopin. Then I started thinking about my inbox with all the excuses people give for not painting. With a little digging, I was able to find a few choice ones:
"I ran out of yellow ochre." "I saw ants in the studio." "I was too hot." "I was too cold." "Somebody broke into our house and stole the TV." "Our Jack Russell, 'Jack Russell' had to go to the vet." "This day next week my sister-in-law is coming." "I can't think of anything to paint." "My brother is moving out." "I'm overtired from sleeping on the floor." "My art teacher died." "I had to help Dad with his walk-in bath." "I couldn't find my sketches from last year." "My brushes are in too poor shape." "My Pontiac worries me; it needs replacing."
The excuse, "I was fooling around with the Painter's Keys search engine and it used up all my time," was already taken.
While all the excuses listed above were interesting, "This day next week my sister-in-law is coming," seemed overly loaded with possibilities. Have you any idea how golden a pre-sister-in-law week can be? The anticipated sister-in-law may be Jabba the Hutt (quote: "Spasteelia a bunkadunka") with drool and a voice that shatters glass, but the eternity before her arrival may just turn out to be the most fantastic week of your life. To a butterfly, a week is a lifetime.
Annoying as all these impedimenta are, they shouldn't bother folks with internal drive. Internal drive is the forge of productivity. In all self-starting activities where end results are dependent on you and you alone, procrastination is the default mode. You can pretty well always find a reason not to work. But like that headset mentioned above, there's practically always a solution if you want something badly enough.
Best regards, Robert
PS: "There is no waste of time in life like that of making explanations." (Benjamin Disraeli)
Esoterica: The natural fears that go with original creativity can be neutralized by simple ruses: Get started on your work before you have a chance to think why you shouldn't. Think of those who have real interference--like militia knocking on the door. If necessity is the mother of invention, the only thing stopping an invention may be self-sabotage. Self-sabotage is a negative habit that persistently stymies the joy of testing our will. "The most pernicious aspect of procrastination," says author Steven Pressfield, "is that it can become a habit. We don't just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed." Henry David Thoreau put it in stronger words: "Despair and postponement are cowardice and defeat."
The Painter's Keys A Seminar With Robert Genn
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