The Art of Procrastination

SA Episode #5

Friends,

GM from Madrid 🇪🇸

And welcome to Episode #5 of The Sovereign Artist series, where I share with you 3 aphorisms, how I structure my internet business, 1 essay, and 3 questions to reflect on.

Let’s get started.

3 Aphorisms

I.

Those who argue to win arguments always lose them; even when they win them.

II.

You’re free if and only if you seldom think about work during the hours not officially spent working—and when you do, your thoughts stir excitement, not anxiety.

III.

Good marriages are bittersweet.

They need both kindness and honesty; privacy and intimacy; adventure and pragmatism; forgiveness and respect; arguments and empathy.

The Sovereign Artist Checklist

Scythian Messengers Meet the Persian King Darius I by Franciszek Smuglewicz

WHEN I GRADUATED from law school, I made a promise to myself: “If you ever get employed, make sure it’s only temporary—once you get too comfortable, you’ll get trapped like a fly on a spiderweb.” Luckily, I never got employed. Not even for one single day. I consider this the greatest success of my career so far.

I don’t come from “rich” parents—although I’m immensely grateful for the rich education they gave me. I don’t have any extraordinary talents. And I never took any dumb risk to start some sort of overambitious business. I built everything organically, from the bottom up, in a world—the Information Age—that allows me to take plenty of small risks, place wise bets, and tinker or experiment with many different projects. I enjoy the freedom to make mistakes without being harmed by them.

To figure out what I wanted, I didn’t dream about building the “perfect” career. I started by defining my worst career nightmare. The first step toward learning what you want is being very specific about what you hate. And my worst career nightmare either means working in a corporate setting or becoming an overworked entrepreneur.

Nietzsche famously wrote that precisely when young people are ready to be sent out into the wild, they’re instead put into “safe” jobs and positions.

I used to get anxious whenever I visualized myself working for a corporation. This is why I decided to do something about my future. If you experience similar feelings—that’s strong feedback. It’s a signal to change something about your life.

[Here’s a great article by

Amie McNee

based on the same theme]

In my first year of university, I started figuring out how I could build a service on the Internet revolving around my skills and interests. When I graduated from law school, I already had a few clients I was working with and a few projects or gigs that were profitable enough so that I could pay my rent and spend my time on my own terms. I wasn’t earning a lot; but I was free.

I was self-sufficient. Plenty of my former colleagues were earning much, much more than I was. Being free is not always sunshine and roses—but you’re free.

My only definition of success:

You’re able to look in the mirror every evening and realize—with deep certainty and joy—that you haven’t disappointed the child you were at 7 years old. Let him or her be the only judge. [H/T Nassim Taleb]

He’s my only judge. So far, he’s very proud of me.

Any other versions of success are profane constructs, default ideals, and prepackaged narratives designed by Hollywood, corporate advertising, or intensive social media sessions.

Sovereign Artist (SA) = someone who enjoys being a creator, freelancer, and minimalist entrepreneur at the same time while identifying with none of these terms in particular.

Someone who combines art and business. Someone who works with others but never for others. Someone who has both scalable and non-scalable sources of income. Someone who can take a walk or a nap on random Tuesday at noon without asking for permission.

The SA Internet Business Structure

Calendar Sovereignty: Ability to grab coffee with friends whenever I want, play basketball on Tuesday, and work when most people travel or travel when most people work. The goal is to take 180+ days off/year.

Audience Sovereignty: Loyal (largely digital) community that financially and critically supports my craft (hi there)—let’s say that the magic number is 1000 members, but 100 people who care about your work is already impressive.

The Power of Self-employment: You want to be neither the boss nor the employee. Neither the slave nor the master. Freedom at all costs.

Optionality: I have both scalable and non-scalable sources of income. This gives me security and opportunity at the same time but also the capacity to set my prices according to the value that I deserve. I work largely online and mostly asynchronously with 3-7 clients that pay me predictably every month or so. In return, with the help of a few freelancers, they receive my services: think of digital branding packages. These are my non-scalable projects, and it takes me roughly two weeks every month to take care of them. This gives me the peace to tinker with my scalable (and rather artistic) projects, such as my upcoming book or retreats about wine and philosophy in Transylvania and beyond.

Energy Sovereignty: Ability to reject projects that would make me “rich” but drain me spiritually or morally. This is the hardest part. And it requires plenty of discipline, introspection, and wisdom.

Redefine work as a collection of projects, income streams, and experiments rather than one “safe” 9-5 contract or overambitious business.

H/T

Paul Millerd

The Art of Procrastination

The Travelling Companions, 1862. Artist: Augustus Leopold Egg

In Antifragile, Nassim Taleb makes the confession that he uses procrastination as a filter for his writing. If he feels strong resistance to writing a certain section, he leaves it out as a service to his readers: “Why should they read something that I myself didn’t want to write?”

It took John Ronald Tolkien over 12 years to finish The Lord of the Rings. Since its publication, the book has gone on to sell around 150 million copies. It’s now ranked as one of the best-selling books of all time. Could you even imagine working on a project for 12 years? What about 22?

Michel de Montaigne reportedly worked on polishing his famous book, The Complete Essays, from 1570 until 1592. He was quick to start—but very slow to finish. His French comrade, Louis de Bonald, coined a catchy maxim: “All that is to last is slow to grow.”

Bill Gates, it seems, is also a “terrible” procrastinator. He often found himself putting off his university assignments to work on his business. That’s how Microsoft was allegedly brought to life. He stopped completing his unnatural duties to work on more meaningful projects.

In Mastery, Robert Greene talks about the power of embracing slowness and procrastination:

When it comes to creative endeavors, time is always relative. Whether your project takes months or years to complete, you will always experience a sense of impatience and a desire to get to the end. The single greatest action you can take for acquiring creative power is to reverse this natural impatience. You thus come to enjoy the slow cooking of your project, the organic growth that naturally takes place. The longer you can allow your projects to absorb your mental energies, the richer they will become.

Instead of fighting procrastination as though it were an illness, maybe we should learn to understand its utility.

What we often call “procrastination” is far from a vice; this is a misconception that spoils creative thinking and intellectual serendipity. Procrastination is not a wicked phenomenon but a source of wisdom.

3 Questions to Reflect on

i. What am I thinking that no one is saying?

ii. What’s my favorite way to fail? What am I willing to struggle for?

iii. What’s true about my life today that would make my 18-year-old self disappointed?

Wrapping up...

Hope you liked this episode!

Any feedback, suggestion, or criticism is welcome.

Thank you for your time,

Vizi Andrei

Creator of KronArête