Here's another life lesson, relayed by a friend of a friend, that can apply to your life in business and in art.
A friend who dates was talking about her newest prospect with a guy she USED to date, but who is now a good friend. She was gushing about how sweet and kind this new guy is. Old boy friend asks how she knows that--what has the guy done. He hasn't done anything yet, he's too shy to return her phone calls, etc., but she knows from talking to him that he's a great guy. OBF says, "I HATE that!! Women do this ALL THE TIME!! They make up a story about what a guy is like. Then they only believe the stuff he does that proves the story, and make up excuses for the stuff he does that doesn't fit the story."
My friend asked what she should do, and OBF says, "Wait. Let him SHOW YOU who he is. And he WILL show you."
Wow.
So simple, yet how many times have we all tried to make someone be who we WANT them to be, and not see who they ARE.
Oprah said something like this years ago: "People show you who they are. BELIEVE THEM."
But I missed the fact that we are so willing to make stories--and excuses--when we aren't willing to believe them.
Apply the same mantra to situations, too.
The permutations are endless--the show that is no longer working out for you, the show promotor that says your handmade work has to be juried but there's buy-sell at the show, the store that always has an excuse why the check is late or how your consigned work got damaged, the customer who swears she would buy earrings from you if only you had clip-ons, the person who loves your work but then micro-manages the special order (or worse yet, won't commit to a deposit), the friend who swears they love your work but always has niggling little criticisms of it... All these situations are saying one thing and doing another.
Let them show you who they are.
And save the creativity you'd put into excusing them, into your art.
