Great work requires solitude.

Masters of their craft receive praise in public for what they strenuously cultivated for years in solitude. The audience doesn’t take part in the grind. They only witness the final product — the closing achievement that demanded unperceived amounts of struggle, focus, discipline and doubt.

Creative rituals are all over the place. Famous writers swear by the nightly hours while others insist on waking up before dawn. There is no general clock we should all adhere too. Every artist has their prime time.

The two recurring factors are deep focus and hard work, both happening behind closed doors in solitude. Creating meaningful art, consistently, requires you to inform the world during which periods you’re unavailable.

A pro anticipates the joy his/her work might bring to fans in the real world, but their true love exists in the moments of creation — which is their domain.