Do you rely on inspiration or discipline to make 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.

Recorded Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D. 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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Mellody Hobson Co-chief executive and president of Ariel Investments
That moving a lot really committed me to stability and committed me to ... being in control of my destiny. That was something that was very important to me. And it also made me very conservative about money.
Recorded Farai Chideya, News & Notes, Leading Ladies series, NPR, 22 March 2007 source ↗
László Krasznahorkai Novelist; Nobel laureate in literature
The bitterness. I am very sad if I think of the status of the world now. This is my deepest inspiration. This could be also an inspiration for the next generation or generations in literature. Inspiration to give something for the next generation, somehow to survive this time because these are very, very dark times and we need much more power in us to survive this time than before.
Recorded Nobel Prize telephone interview with Jenny Rydén, published by Nobel Prize Outreach, The Nobel Prize, 9 October 2025 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 ↗
Richard Feynman Theoretical physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics, 1965
So I got this new attitude.  Now that I am burned out and I’ll never accomplish anything, I’ve got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I’m going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever.
Recorded Excerpt from “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman”, Engineering and Science / Caltech Magazine, 1985 source ↗

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

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