The Power of Daily Practice: How Creative and Performing Artists (and Everyone Else) Can Finally Meet Their Goals

by Eric Maisel

Learn the #1 Secret of the Most Successful Daily Practice Eric Maisel knows from experience and observation that the single most crucial element of success for any endeavor is a regular, daily practice. Dr. Maisel, a preeminent creativity coach, therapist, and acclaimed author, shows how and why to implement a daily practice and addresses common challenges. His experience working with bestselling writers, entrepreneurs, musicians, actors, visual artists, recovering addicts, and rehabilitation patients shows as he outlines various ways to approach a daily practice and goes on to help you build a version of this important discipline that suits your life and goals. Real-world stories and practical examples will help you make measurable progress and build satisfaction in your most cherished pursuits.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Self Help

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2020

About the author

Eric Maisel, Ph.D., is the author of more than 40 books in the areas of creativity, coaching, mental health, and cultural trends. He is a psychotherapist and creativity coach, and writes for Psychology Today and Professional Artist Magazine and presents workshops internationally.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Eric Maisel and this book from a blog post on Jane Freidman's website:

https://www.janefriedman.com/a-succes...

It was one of the most emotionally intuitive things I've seen regarding what might be affecting my ability to write on a consistent basis. It felt like it was hitting on something I'd been missing all along.

I've tried writing coaches, setting up deadlines for myself, critique groups, NaNoWriMo etc. Anything I could think of to strong arm myself into meeting my writing goal: finish the novel.

Frustrated that my tactics weren't producing results, the article (which is a revised chapter from the book) and the Power of Daily Practice have turned my attention inward. Not looking for exterior things that work to force my personality type into strong habits and routines, but looking inside myself, my beliefs about writing and my practice to see what's going on.

Maisel's book is full of practical advice. It's not woo creativity/muse stuff, but it's also not prescriptive. It's somewhere in between and it's given me tools to carve my own path and a diagnostic test for figuring out what's getting in my way.

If you're a fan of Steven Pressfield's War of Art and the idea that Resistance is lurking in the shadows when you begin a life upgrade, whether it's a novel, a business, a workout program, then Maisel's Power of Daily practice might offer you a looking glass to examine practical, psychological and human nature-based reasons for that Resistance. Pressfield is all about fighting that Resistance and even though Maisel doesn't label it, I was thinking about Resistance the whole time I was reading this book, ticking off all the ways I could use it to fight.

I originally borrowed this book from my local library, but I will be purchasing a copy so I can complete the journaling prompts and have it as a resource in my inspiration library.

[Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book had some good ideas for someone trying to better manage their life and meet their goals. And I feel like it had some really, really questionable personal opinions of the author being thrown around as fact.

Let's start with the critical perspective. This book suffers from the same issues I've found in lots of self-help books - too much repetition; serves as marketing copy for the author to plug and promote themselves ad nauseum; and way too long for the subject matter contained therein. Most of the information in this book could be adequately transmitted in a series of blog posts - 4 or 5 at the most. It doesn't warrant an entire book except for the fact that the audience who reads self-help books may also not like blog posts. Because of that somewhat sparse data, the need to pad out the book to be of "book length" then becomes an issue - leading to the large amounts of repetition and filling out large sections of the book promoting other books, websites, and work the author has done.

On the good side, I think Daily Practices and the elaboration Maisel used in describing the 20 Elements of a Daily Practice were incredibly helpful. The first and second parts were the most helpful and if the above critical points were observed, would have been very good. Being bogged down by too much repetition and too many references to other works only helped to obscure the usefulness of the Daily Practice. This would be the only part of the book I would refer to or pull up again for my own use.

The third section maybe helpful for some people, so I reserve judgement on it on the whole, but I felt it was peppered with too much opinion being bandied about as fact. I feel Maisel's reputation with a P.h.D makes this especially egregious.

[Maegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there is some helpful information in this book, the author has some very harmful opinions about psychiatrists/psychiatric medicines. I wish I had known that prior to picking this book up at my local bookstore.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas about how to improve at my goals by implementing a daily practice. There is discussion of the challenges, and stories of how others met those challenges or did not met the challenges. The author is against pills used for psychiatry or psychology labels.

[LG · Rating 1 out of 5]

I keep thinking one of these self-help books will give me the nudge to up my practice. And then I read them and am pretty content with what I’ve been able to accomplish. Eric Maisel’s other book, The Creativity Book: A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance, sat on my bookshelf for 20 years. I finally gave it away because it wasn’t inspiring me.

Before starting this book, I read reviews that criticized the author for unsafe advice, but the reviews didn’t explain what they meant. The reviews simply stated that Maisel's framework was unprofessional. Okay, so here is the deal: Maisel falls into the camp that seems to think that if we don’t label mental health challenges, the patient can heal themselves through daily practice. It’s annoying because it condemns people who use medication while also acting like it’s an either or situation. A person is on medication or they are examining their health and taking care of themself. This is not true. A person facing a mental health struggle should take all options into consideration, which is likely to be more than one step, and then choose the path that’s best for them. What worked last year might not work this year. There should be no shame in making informed choices and reassessing those choices when they stop working, including taking, not taking, or switching medication.

This book was also not inspiring.

[Pedro Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soy un devoto de los libros de Eric Maisel e incluso me ha ayudado como coach personalmente en algún momento de mi escritura. El que ahora reseño es una versión destilada de muchos de sus consejos. Está enfocado en lo esencial de tener una práctica diaria. En la primera parte del libro Maisel habla de las características de una práctica diaria y da útiles consejos para empezar y mantener una. En la segunda parte habla de las prácticas mismas. En la tercera parte habla de los posibles obstáculos y de cómo resolverlos, incluso tratándose de prácticas no creativas. El epílogo es igualmente ilustrativo. Es un libro corto pero intenso, lleno de gemas para el pensamiento. Y da una serie de pistas de su filosofía vital, “kirismo” que está basada en reconocer que no tenemos como seres humanos una única prioridad o propósito y que si se reconocen los múltiples propósitos se encuentra un sentido transitorio a la vida, sobre todo si se pasa a la acción. En fin, muy recomendable.

[ALL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book teaches very manageable daily progress steps to reach goals based in a human's life values and presents alternative explanations for why it is difficult for people to follow this practice based in the human's biographical history and the personality's interaction with this history. It teaches the reader to look into themselves to really understand why they are procrastinating and provides support for resting in a daily practice of progress to reach these life purposes during this inner exploration.

It is also nice to read a book that is critical of the psychology industry and knows how easy it is to constrain people with the idea of a disorder, sometimes even a misdiagnosis, which limits their pursuit of goals that are important to them and lowers their quality of life. It is important to hear alternative opinions every now and then, especially when it concerns the care of our bodies.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The take away from this book hinges on the importance and potential impact of setting, and adhering to, a daily practice (for whatever it is you wish to embrace). While this is a well known and rather self evident concept, Maisel delves into (albeit ad nauseam) the elements and varieties of a daily practice, and 18 challenges to maintaining that practice. There is merit to the basic premise and many of the points he puts forth re: daily practice, and I finished ready to re-commit to establishing a daily practice of my own. That said, this book was "over-kill": the salient elements could have been established in a short essay format. I found Maisel uses much of this book to be self-promoting : he cites repeatedly references and referrals to many of the 56 books he has written (quantity vs. quality?), with continual invitations to explore Kirism, a new philosophy of life he has developed.

[Antonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Maisel, a retired family therapist, is also a prolific author and creativity coach. This book, The Power of Daily Practice is really for everyone, not just creative and performing artists. Or rather, it’s for anyone who wants to make consistent progress toward a goal in any area, be it writing, painting, music, business, relationships, health goals — in short, any personal project. Maisel discusses 20 elements of daily practice, such as regularity, seriousness, playfulness, self-direction, and joy, as well as 18 areas in which the principles of daily practice can profitably be applied. Lastly, he covers challenges to engaging in daily practice, such as mindset, restlessness, time and space, etc. A useful compendium. I especially liked the first section (elements of daily practice).

[Christine Thomas-O'Meally · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many good ideas in this book. My problem with it was the dismissiveness by the author of any kind of mental illness, including:

ADD/ADHD
Depression
PTSD

Had this come up earlier in the book, I might not have finished it. Once I read it, I had a hard time trusting the author's opinions on anything.

Are there people who make excuses for themselves by blaming conditions that they may or may not have? Yes, of course.

Are there people who seriously suffer from depression, ADHD, and PTSD? Yes.

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book IF you can overlook the author's own personal philosophy. While he seems to eschew most religions or philosophies he did creat his own. That's perfectly fine but I would rather have this book of insights just be about the practical application of daily practice and not an intro into his philosophy. In my mind as I read I just substituted the name of his philosophy for another phrase I was comfortable with and found the insights quite helpful.

[Madly Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book by Eric Maisel, not as good as Van Gogh Blues or Fearless Creating, but still relevant to the idea that art should be a habit and made with intent and meaning. And how to protect that goal. It does solidify the idea that if the artist does not protect their time, space, and meaning, they can run into trouble, devalue their humanity, and feel depression. Maisel, to be sure, cares about the artist and their mental health. Very inspiring in many ways.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a few attempts and an audiobook copy to get through this book. Many gems. You have to figure out which types of practice you are following or want to follow, then figure out which types of blocks you might have. He has created his own spiritual philosophy, Kirism, which he refers to frequently, and that got tedious.

[JDK1962 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have three daily practices going, and read this to see if it might have any new insight into why I can't seem to get my fourth going, but alas, nothing that hadn't already occurred to me. I'm definitely an advocate of daily practice though, so props to the author for advocating for them.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the entire book as an audiobook and a week later I can barely remember what the book was about. I found it extremely repetitive where each chapter had the same question and answer for each topic worded exactly the same way. Found absolutely nothing that I could practically use.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

His kooky views on mental health aside, it’s a book I’ll return to because it helped me think through my own practices. I found it inspiring, the discussion about aligning practices with life purposes, and I like the view that purposes can change as you go through life.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good examples from Maisel’s creativity coaching practice. However, there was a lot of overlap in the elements of a daily practice, and way too much marketing of Maisel’s other books.

[Alison Smallwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

thought provoking and useful

Helps with understanding the need for a daily practice and how to overcome obstacles that may prevent it from happening

[Lisa Mc Beach · Rating 5 out of 5]

practical.
borrowed it from the library twice.
bought my own copy.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maisel has excellent ideas about how writers and other creatives can create the proper mindset to help them practice daily and to do other things in life that they regard as important. He writes like a coach in a way that I find pleasing.