A Quote by Oliver Burkeman

It is illuminating to note, here, how the daily rituals and working routines of prolific authors and artists - people who really do get a lot done - very rarely include techniques for 'getting motivated' or 'feeling inspired'. Quite the opposite: they tend to emphasise the mechanics of the working process, focusing not on generating the right mood, but on accomplishing certain physical actions, regardless of mood.
As you work, the mood grows on you. There are certain images which suddenly get hold of me and I really want to do them. But it's true to say that the excitement and possibilities are in the working and obviously can only come in the working.
I've always been a very sensitive person, and people tell me that if I'm in a certain mood, and I go into a room, my mood will permeate the room. It's not on purpose - I'd rather be invisible in those moments - but I'm really bad at faking how I feel.
We still have a lot of work to do as African artists to get more recognition in the U.K. and the U.S., but right now, definitely, we're getting the recognition. The thing is we have to earn it. Keep working. Stay working.
I argued that physical discomfort is important only when the mood is wrong. Then you fasten on to whatever thing is uncomfortable and call that the cause. But if the mood is right, then physical discomfort doesn't mean much.
My mood has changed now. And the sun has gone behind the clouds. I'm in this mood I feel occasionally... this mood where there's a very good friend nearby who I should be phoning. If only I could reach that friend and talk, then everything would be just fine. The dilemma is, of course, I just don't know who that friend is. But in my heart I know my mood is merely me feeling disconnected from my true inner self.
I have a constant kind of soundtrack going on at all times. I almost always have a song in my head. I'm very musically inclined. It feeds my soul. It definitely helps me get into a mood or get out of a mood. Or inspires a mood. Honestly, it is one of my therapists - cheaper and always available.
I have the good fortune of working with two brothers who are very accomplished, incredibly smart, and very capable. So thankfully there is not an issue in that regard where somebody isn't pulling their own weight. We collaborate all the time. We tend to take different paths, but we tend to reach very similar conclusions. It's actually great because it allows us to be much more creative in the process of getting things done.
My style is super versatile and doesn't pertain to any one category. It can be best compared to a mood ring. It is very dependent on the mood I am feeling for the day.
Conducting a creativity audit can be very illuminating because it can tell you how the process is working internally and against the competition.
The routines of almost all famous writers, from Charles Darwin to John Grisham, similarly emphasise specific starting times, or number of hours worked, or words written. Such rituals provide a structure to work in, whether or not the feeling of motivation or inspiration happens to be present. They let people work alongside negative or positive emotions, instead of getting distracted by the effort of cultivating only positive ones. ‘Inspiration is for amateurs,’ the artist Chuck Close once memorably observed. ‘The rest of us just show up and get to work.
Research, for me, it's trying to get a mood, a mood of a place and style of people and it's also trying to boost my confidence and get the adrenalin flowing. I go off on my trips to odd places and dark corners, feeling somewhat apprehensive and nervous.
When I get in a bad mood about anything, I realize, 'Hey, I'm still working. It could always be a lot worse.'
What I'm working on is for people to be able to say that Kippenberger had this really good mood
What I'm working on is for people to be able to say that Kippenberger had this really good mood.
I come out before the matches because it's important the fans see I am in a good mood. When I get to the club, my mood is always lifted. You can be in a terrible mood, but once you are at Fulham, you are happy.
If I waited to be in the mood to write, I'd barely have a chapbook of material to my name. Who would ever be in the mood to write? Do marathon runners get in the mood to run? Do teachers wake up with the urge to lecture? I don't know, but I doubt it. My guess is that it's the very act that is generative. The doing of the thing that makes possible the desire for it.
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