“If you don’t want to teach your students your secrets, tell them that there are no secrets, except one, and it’s called hard, hard work.”
– el Furecat, aka Matt Furey
It’s been said that “success leaves clues.” The same can be said of failure.
If you look at the hardest working people on the face of the earth, the ditch diggers, the migrants in the fields, the roofers, the asphalt pitchers, you’ll find they are NOT the most successful people.
Sadly, this idea of “hard work” has crept into the arts. Writers, musicians and painters will tell you that the key to success is shedding plenty of “blood, sweat and tears.”
Hardeharhar.
Yes, there is “work” that goes into creating the life you deeply desire, but it’s a cool breeze compared to laboring in hot, humid fields.
When you’re doing what you love, you’re not doing hard, hard work. Much of the time you wouldn’t even consider it to be work at all.
You’re doing what you feel “called” to do, even if the call was purely imaginary.
In creative arts such as writing, if you’re struggling, then you’re working too hard; you’re unaware of the underlying secrets involved. You might even be denying that there are any secrets.
Last week I wrote the first 1,006 words for my monthly newsletter, Theatre of the Mind Masters. And as soon as the writing process started to feel difficult, I stopped.
After I stopped I told myself, “I’ll let my subconscious work on it and tomorrow I will get rolling again.”
The next day I effortlessly banged out over 3,000 words. All the words that weren’t coming to me the day before were now flowing. I could have continued going, but I was done for the day.
“I will finish tomorrow,” I told myself. “I’m sure some more great ideas will come to me by then.”
On the third day I wrote another 2,500 words. These words came even easier than the previous days.
Yes, I could have trudged along on the first day, but to do so would not be taking advantage of the Creative Mechanism within that all of us have.
Turning matters over to your subconscious mind is a far better use of your time. The answers that come to you when you’re resting and relaxing are usually far better than those that come to you while toiling in turmoil.
When you use your subconscious mind to lead the way, a clear path opens up to you. And as you proceed, you realize that none of this is “hard, hard work.”
Unless, of course, you want it to be that way.
Matt Furey
By the way, if you want to find out how to subscribe to Theatre of the Mind Masters, send an email to mattfurey@mac.com
P.S. This email was written without correction or editing of any sort. I loved editing, but today I have other things to do, all of which I enjoy, all of which are not manual labor.
