Wednesday morning. I woke up, grabbing my phone to turn off the alarm. But instead of putting it down, I check Twitter. After looking at my notifications and scrolling for a bit, the app closes by itself. I remember I have “focus mode” enabled, and after turning it off I go to BlueSky to check my notifications there too. Then I switch to Spotify, put on a podcast, and finally get up.
I sit down at my desk and open Photoshop. Currently I’m working on shading my latest piece, a big illustration. But instead of enthusiasm I feel dread. An urge to close the program and do something else instead overwhelms me. I click away to watch a YouTube video.
It’s a video by Mt Kanjon. He announces the opening of submissions for the next Q&A. I immediately go to the link and fill out the form. In my question I express my frustration with my lack of motivation to finish that piece that I’m supposed to be working on right now. I send it, hoping he could give me the answer I can’t find myself.
But as I close the tab, I realize I’m looking for a shortcut. I don’t need a YouTuber to tell me why I’m stuck. I should face the discomfort I’ve been running from all morning.
The cost of comfort
The first thing that came to mind was Resistance, a term coined by Steven Pressfield in “The War of Art”. It targets your most important work, the work that has the potential to change your life. Because it matters, it inflicts discomfort. And humans are wired to seek comfort.
The more meaningful your work is, the smarter Resistance gets. It tricks you into seeking comfort in “productive” distractions. It tells you that checking notifications, listening to podcasts, or watching art advice is part of the process. But it’s actually a retreat into safety. When you choose that safety, you are leaving your best work to be forgotten in a folder because the process of making it feels too risky.
I wrote in 4 systems that saved my 30-hour commission that the key to success is systems. I still partially believe that, but systems only work when the goal is clear. I was motivated to finish this commission because I owed it to the client. The stakes were external, but now I’m working on a personal project and my brain is trying to protect me from failure. By managing your calendar, setting alarms and enabling “focus mode” on your phone, you’re just treating the symptom.
The actual cause is a lack of defined stakes. Comfort feels good because it’s safe. Working on this illustration is dangerous because it is a reflection of myself. It symbolizes the divide between the part of me that wants to be creative and free, and the part that’s forced to go through the standard career system. It is the result of all the anatomy and rendering studies I did during the 5 months I wasn’t working on full illustrations.
If I fail at this, I fail at validating those 5 months of work. That is terrifying. Resistance works by making you forget these stakes so you can stay comfortable. You have to make the stakes impossible to ignore.
Define the stakes
If you’ve been meaning to start or are in the process of working on a project right now, and you feel like you’re not that motivated to do it, answer these questions in your journal:
If I finish this project, how does my life change in one year?
For me, if I finish it, I will be able to open my commissions confidently and charge more because I proved I can make high-quality work. I’ll finally create a piece that has deep personal meaning instead of the shallow, cool-looking ones I made before.
If I scrap the project and quit, what do I lose?
The cost of not finishing is having to delay opening my commissions. I’ll be forced to admit that I’m not ready for big projects yet. I’ll start questioning what I’m doing wrong with my studies, why I’m not making progress.
The way I finally understood this was by writing this newsletter. These 2 questions finally gave me the clarity I was looking for.
Comfort convinces you that it doesn’t matter if you work today or not. This exercise shows you the truth. Motivation is when the fear of never realizing your idea becomes bigger than the fear of messing it up.
