Dedication and great work
living and breathing your craft
This week, I'm exploring ideas related to craft, dedication, and doing great work.
I had a revelation about whether I actually want the things I tell myself I want. I say I want to write more, to become a better writer, to grow my audience, and to make writing a bigger part of my life. But if I look at how I spend my time, I dedicate a few minutes every day, and an hour or two over the weekend, to writing.
The time I spend writing isn't intentional either. I almost never dedicate time to improving my craft. I've been operating under the (lazy) assumption that just writing and reading will make me a better writer.
This might be true, but it's not the approach of someone truly dedicated to a goal. If you want to make the NBA, or were simply serious about getting better at basketball, you would do much more than shoot around casually a few times a week.
So what does it mean to be dedicated? To live a dedicated life?
I spend a lot of time reading books and listening to podcasts about people who've achieved great things. Every single one lived and breathed their craft.
Mike Tyson: "[fighting is] all I did because that's all I wanted to be... anything you asked me about fighting I could tell you"
Paul Graham: "Great work usually entails spending what would seem to most people an unreasonable amount of time on a problem"
David Goggins: "Be more than motivated, be more than driven, become literally obsessed to the point where people think you're fucking nuts"
Not just in their mindset, but their habits and behaviors:
Cristóbal Balenciaga: sewed every day for over 70 years straight
Michael Phelps: didn't miss a day of training for 5 years
Kobe Bryant: would practice shooting and dribbling, even when he didn't have a ball
When I originally wrote about shifting scales, the core idea was compounding benefits. But in the context of dedication, shifting scales takes on a new meaning. I'm learning to shift my scale for what a dedicated life looks like.
Paul Graham says you need to be spending unreasonable amounts of time on what you're working on. That means it should feel excessive and make you question whether you're doing the right thing.
I believe I know what dedication feels like. In high school, I was truly dedicated to becoming the best debater in the country. Back then, I would spend my nights and weekends doing research. Even after winning a round, I would re-give my speech hundreds of times, trying to get it as close to perfect as possible. I remember locking myself in the basement for hours saying the same words over and over again.
With writing, I've never thought too deeply about how to get better. My mindset has been focus on consistently producing rather than optimizing individual pieces.
This makes sense if you're a hobbyist writer who spends 2 hours a week on writing. It's easier and more fun to write without worrying about editing, cutting, and the quality of your work. It also does make you a better writer over time, but the pace of progress isn't the pace of greatness.
With a hobby, you'll do it as often and as intensely as you can, while still having fun. But when you pursue greatness, you'll do it as often and as intensely as humanly possible, in order to become the best you can be. Hobbies turn into dedications when you become willing to tolerate pain.
To answer a question I asked in "successful people," dedication is one explanation for why success feels inevitable for certain people.
For example, Kobe Bryant, even from a very young age, was far more dedicated and obsessed than his peers. In high school, while other kids celebrated a canceled practice, Kobe was furious that he wouldn't get to work on his craft1.
How could someone like that not become great?
On the other end, can you imagine someone who writes 2 hours a week becoming a great writer? Maybe, but it feels more like wishful thinking than a sure thing.
Updates & links
Released a podcast episode last week, listen here.
Marathon training is ramping up—working my way into double digit mile runs this week.
I’m going to be in Italy from Sep 24-29. Send me your favorite spots in Rome, Florence, and Venice! Follow along on my Corner.
Enjoyed this essay on passions by Heather Havrilesky
If you’re in NYC, you should join the Olive Tree Writing Club—I’ve had only good experiences meeting new people and getting new ideas..