“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.”

That is one of my favorite quotes from Chuck Close. 

So many people I meet are waiting for things to be perfect for them to start something. Whether this is spending too long on the first podcast, video, product, post, or whatever. 

This pursuit of the “right” moment or time is an ultimate way to procrastinate and hold off the inevitable work. 

Waiting for motivation is a funny thing. (I see the irony of this being part of a “Monday Motivation” email. I just didn’t have a better name for it.) 

Anyway, I get asked a lot about what do I use for motivation? For me, it’s in doing the work. It’s problem-solving. It’s starting the first draft, knowing it’s going to suck. That’s how it gets better. 

This is why I always talk about loving the process, not the end goal. The process is where the gold is. This is what keeps you sharp and making progress.

People procrastinate and wait for “inspiration” as a form of failure avoidance.

See if you don’t start, you don’t finish, you don’t get to present your idea, then you can’t fail. But also you don’t get success. This is what I loved about Highland Games and throwing. It’s that exposure of being alone in the ring and having to perform when it counts. 

It’s the practice that provides confidence and ideas. That’s where institution comes from for me. It’s the pursuit of progress. It’s not a linear path. You are going to fail. 

Embrace your rough drafts and make sure you fail small enough to right the ship. 


SHARING THE STOKE - 
What Matt is Currently Diving Into

01. READ / LISTEN
 
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
 
This is a book that I've been really enjoying. Self-control of not just my actions, but also my perspectives is something I am more interested in. I love the ideas behind Joe Dispenaa and how you can manifest the life you want. This book breaks down how that works so it's very digestible. This is serious koo koo woo woo shit. How your energy brings back the energy you put out. Perhaps this is the idea behind the golden rule? Give to the universe what you want to receive more of. 
 
 
02. WATCH
To make up for last week, there are two things here.
 
 
 
David Choe has been a long term fascination by me.  Incredible artist and a suite lunatic. This is another episode of him on Rogan to promote the new Netflix series BEEF.  This guy is a wild man and I love those untethered sides of creatives. And few are as untethered as Choe.
 
 
 
This doc on dune is about the original directors attempt to make it. Full lunacy in a time before they were capable . What an incredible undertaking to chase this vision and not simply a project. Similar to the lunacy of BLOOD SWEAT AND CHROME.
 
 
03. MUSIC
Need some fresh music? Bonnie's got you. Find her Spotify adventure playlist here.
April 10, 2023