What "consistency" looks like

Why it works so well + a great short video to go with it

Daniel Farò. Skin Deep project. Death to Stock.

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Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.
— Angela Duckworth

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Hi friends,

There is Main Character Energy, and then there’s the quiet-yet-electric New Year Energy that charged up this letter!

Here are some things worth letting sink in + what’s coming up:

• I found a life-changing idea about staying consistent (on Threads, of all places)

• imo still the best video under 3 minutes about sticking with your craft

• a peek at my Wednesday essay: “There are 3 phases of creativity, and we’re missing the most important”

💡 Idea of the Week: “true consistency”

TheFacebook launched in 2004, you guys. That means we’ve had social media for 20 years. Humanity has been using and grappling with it pretty intensely the whole time.

One evergreen lesson that social media (and the internet in general) has taught creators is this: If you stay consistent, you’ll get somewhere. As

Austin Kleon

unforgettably put it in Steal Like an Artist: “The secret: Do good work and share it with people.”

He’s absolutely right. Incredible things happen when you work those two steps. But maybe like everything in life worth doing, they are simple but not easy.

Here is one of the most common expressions I hear in my practice:

“I have so many ideas, but it’s hard for me to stick with one and stay consistent.”

You too? Oh, me too. Thank god we’re all in it together. And I wholeheartedly thank the algorithms for leading me to this:

What a 10/10 piece of visual communication. Each circle represents a day of the week, filled in with effort/energy/time. I feel like a plant that’s just been repotted into a bigger, roomier pot. Yes. Sigh of relief. Thank you, dude.

Quiet Confetti exists partly because it’s what I need to hear. In case you need to hear it too:

You’re a warm-blooded human, not a machine, so “all-or-nothing” input/output rules do not apply to you.

True consistency looks like the moon: is ever-present yet waxes and wanes.

📺 Watch of the Week: Why wanting to quit means you really shouldn’t

• THE GAP by Ira Glass (2 min 18 sec)

This American Life creator Ira Glass is one of the most consistent storytellers on public radio. Fun fact: he started TAL at a time in his career when he hated how his voice sounded on-air.

This video is 10 years old, has 2 million views and has stayed an Editor’s Pick on Vimeo for good reason: it pairs Glass’ sage and fresh take on “don’t quit” with a delightful film by Daniel Sax (it took him a year to finish).

But most of all, it tells the truth. I’ll never stop sending it to clients and friends. Enjoy (and remember)!

📝 Upcoming Wednesday Essay: There are 3 phases of creativity, and we’re missing the most important

My work is kind of meta — creating stuff about creativity means I:

• get creative to help highly creative people make and do new things

• have read 50+ books on the topic of creativity

• have read summaries/bulletins on creativity studies conferences drier than motel continental breakfast toast

• digest tweets and ‘grams and pods and ‘tubes about it

So when I went on a meditation retreat a few years ago, all that stuff cooked in my brain for two weeks.

I had an epiphany about the part of the process we neglect the most — which means it’s where you and I have the most to gain.

…more soon!

Shazam: don’t use it a lot but it’s clutch when I do

To replanting ourselves into spacious pots,
Kat