It doesn’t happen. At least, not in the ways or amounts we want it to.
People don’t want to have to think for a living. They want to make money for easy work…
And thinking, making decisions, being creative—none of that is easy.
But those are precisely the things that people get paid the most for. They’re the only things that’ll help us survive in the modern economy.
The easy work is disappearing… We must embrace the hard work—the work that isn’t easy to measure.
Perhaps that’s what’s got you stuck… For humans are born for tension.
It’s only by overcoming strife and difficulty that we figure out who we are.
“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal…”
—Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, p. 105
The tension in our lives gives us something to pull or push against. And thereby a way to become who we’re capable of being.
Perhaps that is who we are meant to be.
A great question I learned from Seth Godin is asking: what’s it for?
The book you’re buying—what’s it for?
That certification you’re trying to earn—what’s it for?
Is it the credibility that goes with having read this or obtained that? If so, that’s just a signaling strategy—though possibly a necessary one.
What about going to medical school and getting an MD—what’s that for?
Is it to get the credibility and authority that goes with the letters after your name? Is it to keep the generational legacy going…even though you’d rather be teaching?
Or is it to actually learn how to help people lead healthier lives?
Back to buying a book—what’s it for? What am I hoping to get out of it? An answer to what I’m supposed to do with my life? Knowledge that I can use to help myself or other people?
Or that certification I’m thinking about. Am I doing it because it actually helps me get where I want to go? Or am I doing it because it’ll look good on a resume?
Begin with the end in mind. That’s where this question leads you.
Begin with the end in mind.
If you don’t know what you want or where you’re going, how will you know what that “thing” is for?
There is one particular Buddhist philosophy I’m particularly fond of:
Define success as what you already have right now.
So what do you already have that makes life worthwhile?
A loving spouse or partner?
Healthy relationships?
A car that runs?
A roof over your head?
A job that keeps you fed?
It’s even possible for those that have little or nothing. Because as the Stoics would say, you still have your mind—the one thing that cannot be harmed…
That thing that lets you make choices… Or take action.
Some of us—living in war zones or on the street—have lost everything. Even a sense of hope or safety. That cannot, and should not, be minimized.
But where there’s a mind, there’s a spark of potential.
Every day that you’re still “playing the game“ is a day you’re moving closer to achieving your goals.
If you’re still in the game (whatever that game is to you), you’re succeeding.
You might not be moving forward quickly. In fact, you might be standing still.
Sometimes, literally surviving—keeping your head above the water—is all you’re capable of doing. And that’s enough.
Because until you quit, there’s still the possibility of winning.
Staying in the game the first, and most important, part of playing the game.
But once you’re out, there’s no longer any possibility of winning.
Creators will be judged no matter what they do.
Writers…
Musicians…
Entrepreneurs…
Anyone who creates anything for a living faces judgement. And usually criticism.
But you’ll also get judged for doing nothing.
“If you could have, why didn’t you?” is the other question we all face.
You’ll get judged for doing nothing. You’ll get judged for doing something.
So you might as well do SOMETHING.
There isn’t one…
“There are no shortcuts to the creative process…the very impatience that drives you to desire shortcuts makes you unsuited for mastery.”
—Robert Greene, The Daily Laws p. 84
Do the work. Trust the process. It will be tough to master anything.
But it’s so worth it.
Julia Cameron writes that every critic she’s ever met was, in reality, a blocked artist who couldn’t bring him- or herself to create art of their own…
So they tear down other people’s work because that’s what’s easier.
I remind you of that to say this: absolutely, let’s hear it for all the amazing and brave creators…
But also have mercy on the critics and encourage them to create something of their own.
(Also, make sure you go through The Artist’s Way at least once in your life… It’s truly life-changing for creators of all sorts).
One of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes of all time…
“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing… poorly!”
You will never be great when you’re learning something new. Take the time to suck at it on your way to getting better.
We kill most of our great, wonderful, creative ideas before they’re ever born.
We write them off, dismiss them out of hand, smother them…
But we can’t know if our ideas are good—if they’ll work or cause the change we seek to make in the world—until we publish them.
Only by letting our ideas engage with the market, the world, or our audience can we know if it’s good.
If you judge every idea before you try it out, you’ll never be creative.
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