Letting the skills stay new

People think the tools keep changing yet the skills you use with them stay the same.

But I love when the opposite is true.

When the tools grow old, and the skills stay new.

In art, you get used to a certain pencil from a certain store… a certain notebook in a certain size, certain paper, certain cover… yet the act of creating art is forever new. There’s always more to learn, more to practice, more to master.

In writing, you get used to a certain keyboard from a certain manufacturer… a certain writing application, certain ritual, certain process… yet the act of writing is forever new. There are always more styles, topics, and mediums to explore and master.

Messing with your tools is a distraction, unless its to benefit the skill. Watercolor needing thicker gsm paper, for instance. But new apps for the sake of new apps, new tools just because they’re trendy, that’s all a distraction from what matters: letting the skills stay new.

That is, if your goal is to continue to grow in the things that matter most in your craft.