https://austinkleon.com/2023/06/21/you-dont-need-a-vision/

Austin Kleon

  * Blog
  * Books
  * Newsletter
  * Speaking
  * About
  * Contact
  *   

You are here: Blog / Miscellany / You don't need a vision

You don't need a vision

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

[ccae2c3d-b737-4a8a-88b6-a266e7305eea_802x702-600x525]

Yesterday's newsletter was called "You don't need a vision," and
seemed to be a big hit with some folks. (A few people told me this
was their favorite letter.) Took me a few hours to read and respond
to all the comments.

In the letter, I suggest that instead of worrying about some grand
vision for your life, you focus on practice:

    Establish a daily practice and use it as a way of getting through
    your days. Sometimes creative work really is just going through
    the motions. You don't necessarily need a vision. Stick to your
    practice, and things will appear.

    There's a Sex Pistols song with the lyric, "Don't know what I
    want, but I know how to get it."

    That's where I am. I don't have a grand vision for the future...
    but I have a practice, and I am curious to see what turns up, and
    that's why I get up in the morning.

[c6f4f0a8-30fb-42e7-a667-3124452180cb_3024x3780-scaled-e1687365660928-600x750]

I've had fun lately posting "rough drafts" -- little mind maps -- of
the newsletter online as a kind of #showyourwork style tease.

On a micro level, I rarely have a "vision" for the Tuesday newsletter
-- I think about it often throughout the week, and I keep a list of
potential topics, but I wait for Monday morning to wake up, do some
kind of exercise, and then work on it most of the day. (I block off
all of Monday on my calendar to write.)

Read the newsletter here.

Filed Under: Miscellany Tagged: newsletter, practice, vision

[                    ][Search]
About the author

Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon is a writer who draws. He's the bestselling author of
Steal Like An Artist and other books. Read more-

  *  
  *  
  *  
  *  
  *  

Subscribe to my newsletter

Join the 150,000+ readers who get it delivered free to their inboxes
every week:

On This Date

  * 2019: It's hard to forgive yourself if you've done nothing wrong
  * 2018: First night with a new telescope

Get the 10th anniversary gift edition

Steal Like an Artist 10th Anniversary gift edition

Listen to the audiobook trilogy

The Steal Like An Artist Audio Trilogy

Read my books

Keep Going Show Your Work Steal Like An Artist The Steal Like An
Artist Journal Newspaper Blackout

Order t-shirts on demand

t-shirts

Recent posts

  * You don't need a vision
  * Portrait of the artist at forty
  * Messages from the compost heap
  * Books are made out of books
  * Do you have a nemesis?

More about me

  * Books I've written
  * My newsletter
  * Books I've read
  * Twitter
  * Instagram
  * Tumblr

Search this site

[                    ][Search]
Follow me elsewhere

  *  
  *  
  *  
  *  
  *  

(c) Austin Kleon 2001-2023

  * Blog
  * Books
  * Newsletter
  * Speaking
  * About
  * Contact

This site participates in the Amazon Affiliates program, the proceeds
of which keep it free for anyone to read.