Why do I think I need to be prolific? Why does that matter to me?

I think/feel that if I become prolific, my life will improve across multiple dimensions. The times when I have even had something approaching consistency in writing and making art, I’ve just felt better. So that’s great; off to a good start. But of course there are plenty of ways to “feel good”; that alone probably isn’t enough to justify prolificness. Or rather, it’s enough to justify it, but it’s not enough to animate my inner being to become someone who is prolific in and of itself; there are too many competing ways to “feel good”.

So, for me, being prolific needs to carry more promise (and result) than just feeling good. What else does it do for me? Or rather, what does it do to me?

My sense, deep inside myself, is that being prolific is in some sense my destiny. What a vague word, though! So many use “destiny” to mean so many things, and it kinda carries a false importance along with it, in my mind.

So instead of destiny, let’s explore: I feel that being prolific will in many ways lead me to become who I am meant to be – to more fully realize my inner self, and to more fully realize my potential for impact on the world, on other people, in a wonderfully positive and beneficial way. I believe that my ideas, my thoughts, my caring, my essence, are all good things that matter and have a place outside of myself – almost a duty to share.

Happily, even if all of that is bonkers and completely wrong or delusional, being prolific will, I believe, lead me to more fully develop my ideas, my aesthetic sensibilities, my taste – and if nothing else, I am worth that growth and development, regardless of any impact on or sharing to the outside world.

What does being prolific actually look like in practice, for me?

I think there are two main components, for now: writing and art.

Writing means, I suspect, private journaling and public essays.

Art means sculpture along with, I suspect, plenty of exploration of other mediums thrown in. Some life circumstances make that a little bit challenging right now (having a workspace/house disruption), but that’s probably mostly an excuse of sorts. At the very least I can still explore other mediums that I’m less comfortable with or enthusiastic about.

Being prolific in my writing is happily much more straightforward; there are clear paths to do this consistently. I’ve somewhat leaned toward embracing a “when the muse shows up” approach to writing in the past, but I’m moving more towards embracing a “show up often and give the muse a place to be” strategy. Which, in practice, I’m sure means regularly scheduled time to write, as well as obsessively seizing any spare opportunity to further develop my thoughts and put them to paper.

I don’t care much for new year’s resolutions for the sake of resolutions, and this is something I’ve been moving towards for a while, but the timing does happen to line up, so perhaps this is my resolution:

In 2026, I will become prolific.