“Failure is not an option.”
We hear it all the time. People have even made T-shirts with that motto. And by saying it’s not an option, we associate failure as a negative thing.
But what if it were an option?
Are you ready to answer the question? It’s a simple one. It’s the question that will reveal once and for all whether you’re an artist or not.
Are you afraid?
Note: This is a guest post by Claire De Boer, she is a certified Journal Instructor and teaches online workshops at www.thegiftofwriting.com. Download her free eBook, “Soul Writing,” and follow her on Twitter @ClaireJDeBoer. Claire’s passion is to help writers come to a new place of awareness and personal growth through writing their own stories.
These days everyone’s talking about writing your story. Not just any old story, but the story of your life, the road map that got you to where you are today. For most of us that’s a pretty daunting thought. I mean, why would anyone be interested in hearing our story anyway?
When I was in my early twenties and an up and coming pool player I thought in order to be the best, I needed to know everything about billiards. I thought I needed to know how the tables were made, what the balls were made of, and even the ins and outs of cue design.
Then, one day, while in the pool room sitting in a lounge chair “reading” a book on how to make billiard tables, my mentor tapped me on the shoulder and snapped me out of a daydream. Truth was, I had drifted off because the book was boring and I wasn’t really interested in building tables. “Why are you reading that?” He asked, and I told him. What he said next was life-changing.
Note: This is a post by Joel Key. Joel is a writer and physiotherapist who inspires his community to make positive changes in their lives. He has just created a new campaign called ‘Write for Life’, which raises awareness of worldwide illiteracy. To learn more, visit his site at www.joelkey.com.
Writers can sometimes run out of new material. There’s no shame in admitting it. Creativity is not a bottomless well. All writers at some point, struggle to find the next headline. You may feel your writing has gone stale.
Yesterday I watched one of the weirdest, most unprofessional, and perhaps the dumbest Youtube videos ever. Then I looked at the number of views and it has to date over 28 million views. Okay, I’ve changed my mind, it’s brilliant.
Most of the highest grossing movies of the year will be panned by critics, much less considered for an award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and yet, they will earn more money than you and I could earn in ten lifetimes. And they’ll likely earn far more than the actual winners of academy awards.
Who is fooling who? It’s a travesty! Isn’t it? Maybe not.
Have you ever wanted to start a project and couldn’t? Have you ever waited in vain for inspiration to strike and it didn’t? Have you ever looked at the clock to check the time and realized you wasted yet another day (or week or month) and wondered how that happened (again)?
If you’ve wondered about any of those things, you’re not alone. I’ve done all of them and more. Isn’t it depressing? Darn right it is.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve discovered a few ways to motivate myself that actually work. Maybe they’ll work for you too.
If you’re waiting for the universe to provide for you, I’ve got a feeling you’re going to wait a long time. If you know what you want then my advice is to confidently take the necessary steps and go get it.
Disclaimer: This post is about me and what I learned in over the last year. It’s not about you. Then again, maybe it could be – if you want it to be, but that’s up to you…
If you’re a writer (or any kind of artist), the odds are you’ve struggled with doubt and I bet there have been days when it has been downright overwhelming, perhaps even enough to make you want to give in and give up.
Fear not, doubting one’s self is human nature, but (and this is a big BUT) it’s also part of human nature to overcome and triumph over one’s doubts.
YOU can do it! Yes, you can!
Today I am happy to announce the winner of the “Happy Every Day” Caption on an Image Contest, Jessica Peterson.
Jessica is an exciting young artist who aspires to make a living creating art. In the interview below Jessica shares with us her success using crowd funding via Kickstarter, how she’s overcoming her doubts and her plans for the future, plus much more.
I hope you enjoy the interview, and join me in congratulating Jessica! And thank you to all who entered the contest, you can view the entries on Pinterest.