The Dark Side of Inspiration - 2 of 2
There’s an ailment that befalls many creators when they begin searching for inspiration: They feel like they aren’t good enough. Inspiration can either serve as a motivational launching pad, or a soul-crushing bench press bar that’s too heavy to get out from under. It all depends on how you look at things.
I have three strong concepts to encourage you to create, even under this weight. Two are curated, one is original. Here they are.
The first comes from radio host Ira Glass. He encourages us to keep creating even when our work isn’t good enough, because that’s the only way it gets good enough.
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.”
The second comes from Austin Kleon. If you haven’t read his book Steal Like An Artist, it’s required reading. Order it here right now. (Did you order it? It holds the key to genuine artistry for decades to come.) Kleon makes the case that all creative work steals aspects from other work. We lie to ourselves by chasing a truly original idea. Instead, Kleon says that we need to steal bits and pieces from all our favorite artists to create an original work. When we try to imitate just one artist by being the next “James Dean” we’ll fall short, or at best be criticized for being derivative. But when we steal from James Dean, Meryl Streep, Clint Eastwood, and Christian Bale, people will see us as completely original. Take the best from all your inspirations to create something really unique.
Finally, the last bit of encouragement comes from me. Stop comparing yourself to Grammy, Emmy, Pulitzer, Tony, or Oscar award winners. Looking at the statistics, it’s unlikely you’ll win those awards too. But that doesn’t mean your work isn’t meaningful. Work done in a meaningful way changes the world regardless of the awards. Work done for a local audience gives your community the most meaningful, memorable experiences of their lives.
Push that weight off of you. Create because you love it. Success may come, or it may not. But if you create for the love of it and for the people you love, it doesn’t matter.
P.S. Order Steal Like An Artist. Do it.
