Day 36: Press ‘Play,’ Every Day

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

As I wrote yesterday, this idea for this blog came from Austin Kleon’s book, Show Your Work, which urges artists and writers to share a sliver of their works in progress every day.

Since I get to learn lots of interesting thing as a legal scholar and director of an immigration clinic that I’d like to share more widely, I liked the idea.

But I confess, there was another factor that pushed me over the edge - and that factor was fear.

The Fear Factor

I graduated from college in 1992 - think about it, we didn’t even have email then.

Back in “my day,” communication in writing wasn’t instantaneous. Even on my college newspaper staff, the words I wrote one day wouldn’t be in my classmates’ hands until a week later. Plenty of time for re-thinking, re-writing, re-working.

Frankly, the thought of writing something and hitting the ‘Publish’ button every day terrified me.

What if I say something stupid and regret it the next day? What if I realize I’ve made a major factual error because I didn’t have time to research it thoroughly? What if I just don’t have very much to say?

20th Century v. 21st Century Institutions

Although the fear was palpable, the imperative was clear.

I built my career on establishing credibility within 20th Century Institutions - newspapers, big law firms, universities, publishing houses.

But guess what? Every single one of those institutions is struggling today. And I know why.

For universities in particular, they’re struggling because their 20th century hegemony has been challenged.

In the 21st century, knowledge can be shared immediately, and on a mass scale. Communities of learners can congregate without leaving their apartments.

I knew I faced a choice: Commit myself to continuing to do things the 20th Century way - and struggle as those institutions are struggling.

Or - adapt and change. Experiment with the 21st Century ways.

It’s risky. Any time you spread your wings, you don’t if you’re going to fly, or just crash ingloriously to the ground.

You Have to Move

So I guess you (if you’re reading this) will determine whether I’m more often flying or falling.

But one thing I’ve learned already from this exercise: regardless of the results, the process itself is valuable.

The pressure of having to ‘go public’ every day brings its own edge. And on that edge, you (occasionally) find things that you never knew existed.

Artist and director Robert Rodriguez described this process to Tim Ferris. While at the University of Texas, Rodriguez produced a daily comic strip called Los Hooligans. At first, he’d come home and stare at the ceiling, hoping he’d see an idea for that day’s comic right there, fully formed.

But that never worked. Eventually, he’d start running short on time, so he’d go to his desk and just start drawing. And drawing. And drawing.

Eventually, he’d draw something that was kind of funny. Then he’d draw a couple of other things that were funny, then he’d draw some things to backfill the strip, and finally - there it was. That day’s comic.

“You had to actually move,” Rodriguez said of the process. “You have to act first before inspiration will hit. You don’t wait for inspiration and then act, or you’re never going to act, because you’re never going to have the inspiration, not consistently.”

The Daily Dose

I’ve used this concept to produce longer-form works like law review articles and books. But the beauty of having to show your work every day is that you can’t hide. Long-form works take a long time to produce, so you can hide from yourself for a little while - days, weeks, sometimes even months.

When the commitment to hit ‘publish’ is daily, you can’t do that. Like Rodriguez found, a few hours is all you have - and even that will cost you. Eventually, it becomes like a reflex.

And that reflex becomes something you can use in everything you undertake: Writing a blog. Going to law school. Finding a job. Trying a case.

Inspiration follows action. Just move. Today. Every day.