Practice Quickly, Practice Forever
I've spent every day of the last year working on music, studying Korean, and exercising. Recently I picked up drawing again after a hiatus of more than 10 years and I'm treating myself like a complete beginner even though I'd drawn my whole life up until then.
I noticed recently that every action I take in one of these practices informs the actions of another. That might be obvious, but it's different for me to see how this plays out in reality.
I spent the last few days of December and most of January writing lyrics every day, but without stopping to think about anything. This is so contrary to how I'm used to writing.
All I do is edit.
Here's a word. What's the inflection? Is there a hidden meaning? How does this collection of words relate to what I've experienced in real life?
And somehow prior to this month I had the nerve to wonder why I was so slow at writing.
My biggest takeaway was to get out all the bad lyrics quickly. Write so fast that you have no choice but to pull from your subconscious mind, then assess and edit later on. Finished beats perfect every time.
I hit a wall with my drawing practice and I had to tell myself to keep going quickly so that I didn't become discouraged. Get out all the bad gesture drawings. Butcher the conjugation of those verbs. Have your bad deadlifting form (but do correct that one quickly).
Practice is for getting the bad out of the way and making room for the good.
Practice quickly, practice forever.