Devotion or Discipline

Cultivate a love for what you do, not guilt for what you don’t

I was reading Jeffrey Davis’ book Write to Lead yesterday, and this quote struck me:

Pavarotti said that people thought his discipline was the secret to his success. “It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference”.

So I began to question what the difference was. I rarely hear the word devotion used about creativity and yet often hear creative pursuits described as disciplines. The more I looked into the meaning of each word and the etymology, it occurred to me that Pavarotti was making a significant distinction.

The word devotion implies a feeling of strong love to the point of fervor or worship. It also means fidelity, allegiance, loyalty, and faithfulness. Devotion indicates an act of giving of oneself, to act on a vow or promise. I would previously have ascribed the word devotion to a religious pursuit or perhaps a family dog’s loyalty, but I can see merit now in describing a creative pursuit as a devotion.

The word discipline, on the other hand, takes its root from the Latin word for pupil and implies a training that corrects using chastisement or punishment. In this day and age, a disciplined pursuit is considered worthy, yet I question how useful this word is for a creative person when it’s describing “training that relies on obedience” and a willingness to obey rules and order.

Since clarifying the distinct difference between the two words, I intend to cultivate a devotion towards my creative practice and give up all hope of maintaining a disciplined pursuit of success.

How would it feel to create a life from a place of love and loyalty to our creativity, instead of obedience to our responsibilities and to-do lists?

Is it possible to craft an allegiance to a creative vow rather than beating ourselves up for not getting enough done?