One of the most important mindset shifts in the career of any professional artist is a shift in focus from performance to practice.

Our culture has a very bad habit of promoting performance while obfuscating the practice behind it.

This habit skews expectations, scatters attention and stifles patience.

So this is the first of a three-part lesson for artists who are ready to develop effective professional practices upon which they can depend for efficiency, consistency and quality in their work.

Today, we’ll begin by busting six common myths about practice.

…myths that, if left UNbusted, can lead to physical injury, damage to our mental health, wasted time and energy, burnout or rage quitting.

 

NEXT, IN PART TWO ::

We’ll rethink a classical practice for improving your art and, in part three, we’ll explore the relationship between practice and projects.