1) You’ve got to give yourself time. For some that means working a job they don’t love because it affords them a few hours at night they can work and not worry about paying the bills. For others this may mean living in an area that is cheap, quiet, far from distractions. It may mean a hiatus from family and friends or it might just mean waking up an extra hour earlier. Without time, you won’t be able to do work that matters.
2) Get funded in odd ways. You’re fortunate enough to be creating in an age where crowdfunding is a popular method of supporting your art, your project. But don’t neglect the opportunities that don’t require a healthy network of supporters. A simple grant here, a one-day-a-week job there can do the trick. And remember, you don’t need a mass of supporters, you only need a few people who already value your work, who are your core tribe.
3) Write out your story. If you have to force it to be interesting, then change your story. Go restart your pursuit in a way that is whole-heatedly interesting. You can own a motto and a personal statement, but keep it to yourself. Let it inspire you and only you. People want to hear your interesting story, not the four word motto that only breaths life for you or the promise you made yourself at the start of the new year.
4) Declutter. Destroy. Decrease your inventory. Purge your inbox, your Evernote, your journals. When going through your collections, either find a way to use what you’ve planned, written, drawn immediately or toss it. Don’t think of incomplete projects and musings you see as failures to launch, see them as ideas that never had life in them to begin with. It’s okay. Let them go. It will be weight off your shoulders now and save you time later.
5) You don’t need regular input and feedback when you’re in the creating phase. Create in privacy. Fail in privacy. Closing your door means you shut out criticism that cripples your momentum, it means shunning the naysayers that drain your motivation, it means giving nothing for others to judge you by.
6) This tip and what prompted me to write this list comes from Teresita Fernandez’s commencement address: when someone compliments your work, don’t believe them unless they can convince you why they believe it’s good. “If they can’t convince you (and most people can’t) dismiss it as superficial and recognize that most bad consensus is made by people simply repeating that they ‘like’ something.”
7) Other than bad habits, you don’t have to give up anything you love or want to do in life in order to create remarkable work. You can travel to all the countries you want, have as many babies as you want or go to school for five more degrees. You can create remarkable work all the while. You don’t have to forfeit your dreams to do work that matters.
8) Don’t believe you need a mass following to fuel your work. A few people who support you, who care about you, who believe in you is all you need. Don’t tell yourself otherwise.
9) Be nice to everyone. Be gracious. Be thankful. Be sincere. Be personal. Be human. Be likable rather than interesting.
10) When you face fear, troubles, setbacks in life–be it with your fitness, family, finances, faith, friends–fall back on your work, your art to hold you up, not drugs, not alcohol, not other miserable people. Remember that the work you create to help others, can also help you.
Stay Positive & Any Other Principles You Think Are Essential? Tweet at me: @thegarthbox
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