THE INTENTIONAL ARTIST

This just in from Chris Davies.

The practice of the intentional artist.

So what does it look like to take small, intentional steps toward meaningful change in a world designed for instant gratification that never creates and sustains lasting transformation?

“It starts with the simple act of creating space for thought. Not meditation, necessarily, though that might help. Not elaborate planning systems or productivity apps. Just regular moments – daily, if possible – where you step away from the noise and ask yourself simple questions:

What am I trying to build?

What small step can I take today that moves me closer to that?

What am I doing that moves me further away from it?

These questions might sound too simple, but they require something our culture actively discourages: the willingness to be alone with your thoughts long enough to figure out what you actually think. Most of us have become so uncomfortable with silence, so addicted to external stimulation, that we’ve lost touch with our own internal compass.

But once you create even small pockets of space for reflection, once you start asking these simple questions regularly, something interesting begins to happen. You start to notice the difference between activities that move you toward what you want to create and activities that just fill time. You begin to see patterns in how you spend your attention and energy. You develop the capacity to choose response over reaction.

And then you can begin the real work: identifying the smallest possible step you can take today that shares DNA with the larger thing you want to build, and taking that step whether you feel like it or not.

Write one sentence if you want to write a book. Take one photograph if you want to build a body of work as a photographer. Have one meaningful conversation if you want to build deeper relationships. Save ten dollars if you want to build financial security. The action itself is less important than the momentum it establishes.

The quiet revolution:

We live in an age that mistakes noise for signal, reaction for engagement, consumption for creation. We’ve been trained to believe that meaningful change requires dramatic gestures, that important work must be urgent work, that if we’re not constantly responding to the latest crisis or opportunity, we’re somehow failing to keep up.

But the most important work – the work that actually changes lives, builds lasting value, and creates meaning – happens in the quiet spaces between the noise. It happens when someone chooses to step away from the endless scroll and ask what they’re actually trying to build. It happens when someone decides that their long-term trajectory matters more than their immediate comfort. It happens when someone has the courage to take small, consistent steps toward something that matters, even when those steps feel insignificant compared to the dramatic gestures happening all around them.

Your phone will keep buzzing. The news will keep breaking. The social media feeds will keep updating. The world will keep demanding your immediate reaction to its latest emergency.

But in the quiet space between the notifications, in the pause before you reach for your phone, in the moment when you choose intentional action over reactive consumption, that’s where your real work is waiting.

One small step at a time. One day at a time. One quiet choice at a time.

The marathon begins with a single mile. The book begins with a single sentence. The life you want to build begins with the step you’re willing to take today.

Ready to start your own quiet revolution?

Until next time,”

—Chris