Octavia E. Butler

Why Habits Outlast Inspiration in Creative Work

In the end, Butler’s advice asks us to trade the myth of the muse for the ethic of craft. Flaubert reputedly urged, “Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work” (c. 1852); the sentiment rhymes with Butler’s. Athletes, scientists, and coders alike ship results by showing up on schedule, not by awaiting a mood. Habit, then, is creative insurance: it carries you through weather. And once you’re moving, inspiration—capricious as it is—often remembers where to find you. [...]

All We Touch: Earthseed’s Truth of Change

Finally, living Earthseed means rehearsing adaptability. Scenario planning—popularized by Royal Dutch Shell in the 1970s—treats multiple futures as prototypes to practice against, turning surprise into preparedness. Iterative design cycles translate the same idea to daily life: act in small, learn, iterate. Mutual aid networks, as Butler’s communities model, distribute capacity so that no single failure dooms the whole. Even personal habits can align: journaling like Olamina, running postmortems after projects, and cultivating skills that travel across contexts. By ritualizing feedback and learning, we do more than endure change—we co-author it, accepting that in shaping tomorrow we are, unavoidably, shaping ourselves. [...]

The Reciprocity of Change in Every Touch

Finally, our digital tools literalize Butler’s reciprocity. Recommender systems evolve from our clicks; in turn, they refashion our tastes and politics. Melvin Kranzberg’s first law (1986)—“Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral”—fits here because each design choice touches, and so changes, users. Goodhart’s Law (1975) adds a caution: when a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure—meaning our touch warps the metrics that then warp us. Consequently, ethics becomes practical craft. Set defaults that protect attention; audit algorithms; cultivate frictions that slow harmful touches. In Butler’s Earthseed spirit, we can choose changes that will make us the kinds of people we mean to become. [...]

Bold Pursuit: Turning Dreams Into Reality

Ultimately, sustaining one’s dreams requires continual, spirited pursuit. Butler’s observation reminds us that the energy invested in chasing our ambitions keeps those dreams vibrant and attainable over time. As evidenced by long-term innovators like Elon Musk, who tenaciously advances ambitious goals, it is the steady breath of bold action that turns fleeting hopes into lasting realities. [...]