Friday, February 26, 2010

Deep Breath



10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 release. My brain has been on overload all week and to add to it, I'm not 100% on the new painting. I do plan to finish it this weekend and we'll let the crowds decide if it's worth it or not. I've been running the word FEAR over and over in my head because I'm catching more mistakes in my work than ever before, which I know is a good thing. Being human means that I'm subject to mistakes and closely following is the fear of failure. I know that for an artist fear of failure, rejection, and criticism are the most crippling feelings to have, but they must be overcome if you wish to succeed.

You must first come to the realization that when dedication and passion are applied to any task, you will not only make mistakes but the fear of failure will be amplified. The reason is that fear likes creeping in slowly as soon as we question any part of our passion for something. Fear is a natural side effect of being more passionate because being passionate means stepping outside of our comfort zone. We quickly start making excuses and before you know it, you have a really bad case of anxiety and that piece of art is sitting in a corner. 

Once you've acknowledge that fear, you need to confront it, take ACTION against it. Napoleon Hill author of Think and Grow Rich said, "The fear of criticism robs man of his initiative, destroys his power of imagination, limits his individuality, takes away his self-reliance, and does him damage in a hundred other ways." Those things are what make us artists, so we must take ACTION to protect them. You must pick up the brush, the pencil, the art book, the canvas and START. You will never finish that amazing piece of art, cartoon, or website if you don't START IT. 

I know you’re saying, "I always start things, but something always comes up." I tell you what comes up, FEAR. That's why persistence is so crucial. Persistence should NOT be doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, that's insanity according to Einstein. If you fail, be persistent and try it again, but try something different, until you get the expected results. I personally have a natural talent for color and light, but I suck at form and motion. That has been my failure and accordingly my FEAR, so I took it upon myself to study it. The more I study it the more mistakes I catch, but I also have more AHA moments. 

Finally, you must try your hardest to keep things in perspective by remembering that most major human development came from a failure or a mistake. Early humans didn't look at a fire for the first time and say "hey, that looks hot don't touch it." Don't take it personal when you think you failed, when someone doesn't like your work or when an art gallery rejects your art. If you take those failures and study them, you'll notice that each one has a lesson. This doesn't mean that everything happens for reason; it means you did something incorrect and you need to learn from it and try again and again and again. Fate will not sell your artwork, correct persistence will.

Terry Baggs of Peacemakers Training says that in today’s business environment we must learn to Fail Forward Fast. It basically means that the faster you fail and correct it the faster you learn. Next time you're painting and the word FEAR creeps into your head remember that failure is the natural progression to success. 

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