Writer Kurt Vonnegut seated in front of a typewriter with his hands clasped
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This 2-Word Quote From Writer Kurt Vonnegut Will Change the Way You Work

Jessica Stillman

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When it comes to insights about work, there are tweaks and there are game changers. Which isn’t to diminish tweaks. Sometimes, the perfect scheduling hack or productivity ritual can radically improve how much you get done.

But no hack or routine will change the fundamental way you view your work — how much satisfaction you get out of it, the way you see your work relating to the rest of your life, the terror you feel about your inadequacies. For that, only wisdom will do.

Helpfully, creativity site 99U recently dug out more than a half dozen gems of just this sort of wisdom, and what’s even better for the time pressed, one of the best of them is only two words long.

Practice becoming.

It comes from celebrated author Kurt Vonnegut, who penned this succinct nugget of professional wisdom in response to a high school student who was given the assignment of writing his favorite author. Vonnegut’s kind reply included these two powerful words: practice becoming.

If the phrase doesn’t immediately strike you like a thunderclap that’s because Vonnegut’s advice might require a little more explanation. He tells his correspondent:

Practice any art, music, singing, dancing

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