God, I hate Nike for the simplicity and genius of their Just Do It campaign. Hate it because it’s so freaking simple and obvious and annoyingly accurate and…now that I articulate it, it’s the exact same reasons I love it. It works. It’s true. Just do it. As a small business owner, artist, writer, painter, communicator, box packer, creative director, ball juggler, I wake up with a million ideas, energy for about 10 and the stamina and stick-to-it-ice-ness for about one. Sometimes two if they are related but seriously, creativity is not for the faint of heart. And worse? The kicker of it all? When you do have the surge, the energy and chutzpah to show up, the results often do not reveal itself how you envisioned in your head. It has taken me years to grapple with this and until I read this Ira Glass quote, I actually thought I was alone in my crazy thinking. But I’m not and this is probably one of the most reassuring messages I could have ever read. Here it is:
“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. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” Ira Glass
Lord have my mercy for our patience to keep showing up, to tolerate our messes as we go and the faith, I need to capitalize that baby, FAITH, that one more step, one more jar of paint brushes, one more of whatever we make, bake, paint or write, that it’s tiny contribution, that feels so enormous while you’re doing it, is really just a tiny piece of your creative pie. I write this as a reminder to myself and a not so subtle nudge of encouragement because I have a very strong calling to paint portraits and my experience has been Ira Glass’s message to the T. My taste far exceeds my results and because of that, I put the brush down and stop. Yup, not the upbeat words of go girl you expected, right? Nope, I totally stop, change gears, paint something in my comfort zone, which is good, has merits but woah nelly, I know better than to not get back on that horse. I am revisiting this quote. I am going to try again. I am not promising that I will post my results but I do promise to update you on how it went. xo
“Paint Brushes”, 8×10″ framed, available at ElizabethW, Carmel 831.626.3892
