I realize lately I’ve been writing more and more about the struggles of being an artist rather than just giving advice about being a successful artist.
Many people are heavily invested in being perceived as totally “successful” and “infallible”. Well, actually so am I. I’m not happy about the times I’ve screwed up, and I don’t like to brag about my failures. I like when people think I have all the answers. And I absolutely love telling people what they should do. It’s much more fun than having other people tell ME what to do.
But if my words are to have authenticity, then sometimes I must let you peek behind the curtain, let you have a look at the person I used to be. A person who couldn’t even imagine having the live I live now.
Most of my life, I felt that my self-doubts were unique to me. I thought a life as an artist simply wasn’t meant to be, for many reasons: I wasn’t good enough, I didn’t know the right stuff, I didn’t get the right information.
Things began to change when I realized I had constructed my own obstacles.
It isn’t about doing things perfectly. It’s about doing things regularly. It isn’t about doing all the right things. It’s about doing enough things so that some of them turn out to be the right things for YOU. It isn’t about recognizing shortcomings. It’s about persevering in spite of them.
And it’s a journey, not a destination. You never get “there”. You are simply always on your way there.
I want you to realize this entire process, this outlook, is in your head. It is your chosen reality. And if someone like me can do this, YOU can do this, too.
In my heart I know it’s just as important to simply share what I’ve learned has worked for ME. And to be a living, breathing, fallible example of what you can achieve if you simply allow yourself to believe you can do it, too.
And then do the work.
