Making exceptions.

In the War of Art, Steven Pressfield tells his friend Paul Rink that he finally finished his first novel.

“Start the next one, tomorrow”, he replies.

Creative pursuit is akin to Sisyphus’s struggle.

First, to look at the boulder, then to go beside it, then to put the effort and then not see it budge.

Then, it moves slightly. Then more, then you gain a momentum.

Now, this momentum is what gets the job done.

But when we make an exception, when we break our practice, then we start losing the momentum.

The boulder starts losing speed, and worse starts rolling back.

It’s almost impossible to get back on track.

It may make sense to delay the exceptions until we have completed the job.