Don't wait to get better - Guidelines for making things the zen way

Art - a mountain without summit

1. First, realize that you already have all that you need now. You can produce great stuff right this moment.  The only thing that's holding you back are your impossible standards and fear. Always remember that when the muse sees your butt in the chair, she will deliver.

2. The second thing is that simplicity is important, but simplicity is also relative. Simplicity is key in all things. Eliminate the unnecessary to highlight what's important. On the other hand, we must realize that what's complicated and hard to you now could be relatively simple to a master.

3. That brings us to the third point. Improving your skills is essential, but do it along the way. You'll never be ready -  improving artistically is a mountain with no summit.

4. The style should serve the material, not the other way around. This is bigger than yourself, more than a style, it is about an idea that needs to be communicated. As artists, we have to be humble enough to let the material itself guide our choices.

So in short, do the thing that you want to do right now, don’t wait to be ‘better.’ You’ll always want to be better. No idea you have is so grand that it’s worth wasting your life over until you’re ‘ready.’ Do the damn thing right now and try to just keep improving as an artist as you go along. Finally, be humble to recognize that we are but humble vessels of ideas, thus, our decisions have to be guided by what's best for the material.