The magic lies not just in the effort itself but in how it is directed. Teller’s months of work burying boxes weren’t random. Sustaining long-term effort toward an uncertain payoff requires more than discipline—it demands resilience and a reimagining of gratification. The real magic, perhaps, lies not in the final trick, but in cultivating a mindset where the process itself becomes fulfilling, where the act of burying boxes is embraced as a craft, not just a means to an end.

It's like being on the winning upward spiral is not hard. What is hard is turning around downward spiral into upward one in context of uncertain outcome.

Though, would the burrying have any meaning without the reveal? Its only purpose was to be used in the end. I have a hard time seeing the meaning of the burrying itself.

Art gratis art.

Some get their rocks off interfacing with the relationship between their art and those who engage with it. Others are entirely satisfied with the process of making art itself. The former is an externalized process, the latter is internalized.

Different strokes for different folks, but you can put me in a box with no human interaction and a keyboard, and I will find no end of entertainment through self-exploration via the artistic process.

Having burried a bunch of boxes with cards inside is art?

I can see the artistic value of the full magic act, but does that make a tool used in the act to itself be art on its own?

Is the bow used by a violin player in itself a piece of art? Perhaps it could be. But if it's burried?

It's art if the artist decides it is. You don't have to agree with them, but art is not some objective form you can define, it's entirely subjective.

> Is the bow used by a violin player in itself a piece of art

A pencil is a work of art.

It's art if the viewer decides it is

What the artist thinks or desires is often irrelevant. (Edited)

And what committee decided this? Who gave them the authority to decide how an artist should feel about their own work?

The end goal is still the organizing principle. The target to relentlessly pursue.

But discovering the path to the goal also has meaning.

Every little step down the path, the surprising things that are easy, the unexpected things that are hard, is worth celebrating. They are all taking us where we want to go! The ups and downs are the path.

And the path is a teacher.

It is like any goal attainment. Like when you call you broadband provider to connect you, which has little meaning until you get to work from home.

Steve Martin has said similar things about making creating and delivering his work his goal rather than getting laughs. Interesting to think about.

And also being able to eat, sleep, and socialize adequately in the meantime.

FWIW, my company, TrueFire, is one of the industry leaders in music education. We were bootstrapped, focused on a niche of the market first (intermediate to advanced video lessons for blues, jazz, etc = older men with expendable income), and have grown steadily since then. We were just acquired by a private equity firm and merged with another big competitor in the space (JamPlay) to form a new company dedicated to dominating this space. So... it is possible to not go the VC route and be (very) successful, albeit not $Bs.

your music apps are great. wondering if you'd be interested in putting them in front of hundreds of thousands of musicians from around the world via the online leader in guitar instruction (TrueFire, my company) - let me know if you want to learn more - zach at truefire dot com - great work!

This is the most important question.

Very cool! I'm the CXO of TrueFire (leading music education software company with the largest library of online guitar lessons in the world) and would love to find a way to work together to get your notebooks in the hands of our 1+ million students :-) Let's jam on some ideas!

Would love that! Lots of folks have been asking for a guitar tab version, so if you think there's opportunity then I have a few ideas myself. What's the best way to reach you? jay@themusiciansnotebook.com

"An Apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Guitar lessons - all the TrueFire instructors - https://youtube.com/truefiretv

Thank you for this. Absolutely great read. Bookmarked!