Motivation kills creativity.

I used to employ a 9-to-5 work ethic in my art.

For my first book, I wrote for 6 hours a day, then felt lazy because it wasn’t an 8-hour work day.

First off, an 8-hour workday is arbitrary BS. Secondly, that's an insane standard for an artist.

I never wanted to release that tight grip on long work hours. It felt like that was my motivation. If I let go of those high standards, my art would suffer.

What I found was the exact opposite.

The same motivation that drove me to work hard and long on my art was the very thing overheating my engine.

Having more compassion for myself has improved my art, rather than make it lazy. I’m writing more good stuff in a shorter amount of time than ever.

I used to view exercise, therapy, and sitting on the bus as impediments to my art.

Now I’ve gotten better at seeing them as they really are: necessary parts of the artistic whole. Time to sit back and let my unconscious mind simmer with ideas and bring them to the foreground.

As an artist, a middle-class American work ethic was poison to my creations, and poison to my body.

Laziness without guilt (and without trying to transform it into work) is the necessary source of my most amazing creations.

[Animation courtesy of https://bit.ly/2QYnZ4u]