Forget goals. Design systems.
Goals are big outcomes — mountains in the distance — which are supposed to motivate us to action. Systems are daily habits — putting one foot in front of the other — which move us forward regardless of our motivation.
The work of an artist isn’t in whatever finished pieces they produce, it’s their system, their practice.
In the last three years this systems approach has become the central philosophy to how I try and live my life. Systems power my creative work, my fitness and more.
My creative system
Bear in mind that “system” is just a fancy way of saying “habit”. But I think it’s a better word because “habit” has lots of negative connotations that make it feel like a drag.
A habit feels like an effort. A system sounds like a well-oiled machine that drives its own momentum.
So my creative “system” is basically this:
Every morning at 7am, I sit down and draw for a minimum of one hour.
That’s it.
I take Sundays off and I don’t draw when I travel, but otherwise, the system is active.
An hour a day doesn’t seem like a lot of time, and it isn’t. But add it up, and compound-magic happens…
