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The question

Do you rely more on inspiration or discipline to make your work?

Originally asked

The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series

A repeated Creative Independent tension, asked as inspiration, muse, discipline, ritual, or the requirement to show up.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.

Palaeoanthropologist; discovered the Lucy skeleton in Ethiopia

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
I agree with him, essentially, 100 percent. One has to devote oneself to a particular pursuit. To be successful at anything, you have to make a total commitment to it. We so often see students who would love to play baseball like one of their heroes, or would love to be on the basketball court or the football field. They don’t see the 99 percent effort that went into practicing making baskets, or practicing hitting the baseball, or practicing catching a pass on the football field. It takes a tremendous amount of perspiration, a tremendous amount of hard work that you don’t always see or appreciate in the end result. You will find this over and over. Most achievers I know are people who have made a strong and deep dedication to pursuing a particular goal. That dedication took a tremendous amount of effort. That is certainly true in my case. It took a tremendous amount of work to get from point A to point B.

Academy of Achievement interview, Berkeley, California, 25 January 1991 source ↗

Others on this question

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John Updike Novelist, poet and critic; twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Right. It saves you from giving up. This present novel that will be out — Villages — I several times thought it might be a bad idea and kind of abandoned it. So, it was really the habit — the habit of writing that kept me at it in the end. It was like a bad marriage. I mean, whatever. This is the wife I’m married to here, and I’m going to finish this book. Finishing it becomes the only way to get rid of it. So yes, it’s good to have a certain doggedness to your technique.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Chicago, Illinois, 12 June 2004 source ↗
Denton Cooley Cardiothoracic surgeon; founder of the Texas Heart Institute
I think so. I really do. With your own effort, you can improve yourself, but people find they can’t improve beyond a certain point. I like to play golf, but I know that no matter how much I practice, I will never get above a certain level. I think that’s also true of surgery. Some people are born with the gifts and the mind for surgery, and they may go on to great heights. Others may try and try, only to reach a certain plateau.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Houston, Texas, 11 April 1991 source ↗
John Banville Novelist; winner of the Booker Prize, 2005
I keep office hours. I work from 9:30 to 6:00. It’s curious. In the morning, I could just about tie my shoelaces before noon, but I can write. It’s obviously a different part of my brain that’s working.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, London, England, 18 October 2017 source ↗
General Chuck Yeager, USAF United States Air Force test pilot; first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound
Yes. Because in the end, experience is what counts. The more experience you have, the better you are. And that’s true of anything you do in airplanes, dogfighting in combat, or anything like that. Your chances of coming out on top depend on your experience level. The more experience you can get, the better chance you have of surviving in a war, or in any situation where you are faced with an emergency.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Cedar Ridge, California, 1 February 1991 source ↗

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Charles H. Townes, Richard Feynman, General Chuck Yeager, USAF, Denton Cooley, Edward O. Wilson, Ph.D., Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.

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