Tag / Jeff goins

by Nathan Coumbe

Perfection is the problem

If you are an artist – a person who seeks to create beneficial change in the world – you are probably a perfectionist.

This is why you never hit “publish” on your blog, why you don’t post your photos on Instagram, or why your songs aren’t on YouTube and SoundCloud. It isn’t because the work you did is bad: it’s because you think if you do just a little bit more to it, it will be perfect.

You’ll never get there.

“An artist’s job is not to be perfect, but to [always] be creating.” – Jeff Goins

The more you create, the more practice you get. You’ll hit that 10,000 hour mark we’ve all heard about. The more practice you get, the better your work will be.

Create something today.

Ship it – today.

Repeat tomorrow.

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by Nathan Coumbe

The right place?

I’ve had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind for years now – a feeling that I have settled in the wrong place for what it is that I want to do. After reading through part of Jeff Goins’ Real Artists Don’t Starve, I voiced those frustrations earlier today to my peer group (check them out here). Upon further reading, and some insight from my peers, I’ve had something of a revelation.

“If you want to be creative, go where your questions lead you.”

Louis L’Amour

Most of the questions and ideas that I want to follow can be started right where I am. It is not a question of physical location; it’s a question of people.

An issue that myself and other Creatives seem to experience often is that we isolate ourselves. It isn’t that there are no creative areas or places around; it’s the fact that we don’t go to these places. We don’t automatically surround ourselves with other creative and artistic problem-solvers. We simply try to do things on our own.

The “right place”, then, maybe isn’t a new location…

Perhaps it is just finding the right group of people.

So for all of us Creatives out there, let’s start going to the places where things are happening. If nothing is happening, then make something happen.

Go start something, somewhere, with someone.

Find someone who wants to start reading the Great Books with you. Go old-school and have a pen-pal correspondence relationship with this person so that your brilliant insights are captured for posterity.

Start a band, even if all you do is practice some different ideas together. You may never play a show or go on tour, but that’s not the point. Music is meant to be made with other people, and we need to be surrounded by other people.

Get a few friends together every week at a coffee shop or library, and discuss projects that you are working on, ideas you have had, things you have written, or art you have created.

My problem is not where I live – it is that I have isolated myself from the others who are already doing the work. I need to find the tribes of which I want to be a part and engage with them.

I suggest you do the same.

*Disclaimer: some of the links above are affiliate links which means I get a small payment if you purchase something through them. Just gotta say it.

by Nathan Coumbe

It’s never too early…

It’s never too early to declare to the world who you are.

If you are writing and want to be a writer, go tell people you are a writer. Put it in your bio; put it in your social media description. The same goes if you play music and want to be a musician, or if you draw and want to be an artist.

“What we believe about ourselves has a way of coming true…”

Jeff Goins, Real Artists Don’t Starve

The narrative that we tell ourselves, if said often enough and with enough emphasis, is more likely to become true. In Jeff Goins’ book, he retells a conversation that he had with author Steven Pressfield. He asked Pressfield, “When does a writer get to call himself a writer?” Pressfield answered, “You are [a writer] when you say you are.”

Tell yourself what you want to be. Then go tell others.

Decide.

Then, if you later find that you no longer want to be what you say you are, decide to be something else.

After that, declare it to the world.

It’s never too early to tell the world who you are.