The Unfortunate Beliefs You Have About Your Art
And How to Start Unlearning Them
Musings on the unhelpful life lessons you and I have both picked up, how they sabotage our efforts. Most importantly, how you can start to trade them in for a better outlook in 4 steps using a snazzy technique called reframing.
We’ve all tried to make ourselves do things that really just aren’t important to us.
But what’s up with the times when there’s something you want more than anything and you’re just not doing anything to make it happen? Must mean you’re a lazy sack o’ turd, right?
Actually, no. You probably could just use some new ways of looking at things.
When I was little, my best friend and I used to sit at the table for hours, writing and illustrating stories. We’d make little booklets out of copier paper and fill them up with heroic (even if not well written) tales. Once full, we’d make more booklets and keep going. I made up all kinds of characters during those years, mostly inspired by video games and other media that I liked, and I wrote stories about all of them. We spent a lot of time, especially during the summer, creating worlds we’d love to visit if only they were real. We loved to do it and never had any issue coaxing ourselves to get writing and drawing time in. It was never about “chasing the dream,” “hustling hard,” or “getting things done.” It was simple, just drawing and writing because it’s what we wanted to do at the time.
At the end of it all we both had a pretty respectable stack of little books full of our own creations. It was this period of my life that I credit with pushing me into my current profession in the creative field (I’m a graphic designer during the 9–5.)
Unfortunately, things changed as I got older.
Unfortunate Life Lessons
One day I decided to bring a bunch of these little books I had written to show some friends. In my naive young mind I figured that my stories were freakin’ awesome, and that as such everyone would of course love them.
Let’s just say they were not met with the critical acclaim I was expecting. I got laughed at and told that basically what I had written was “a ripoff of Zelda” (looking back at it, they really weren’t all that wrong to be honest.) This criticism from my peers caught me completely off guard and I was humiliated.
Unfortunate lesson learned: sharing what you made hurts, and people aren’t going to care about your stuff anyway.
As a teenager I discovered digital art tools, including Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash. I had wanted to animate for years but it had always seemed so out of reach. I saw Flash as my golden ticket to finally being able to bring my stories to life.
As it turns out, animation takes a lot of time, even with easy to use digital tools. Coincidentally, it also turns out that patience is not something I was naturally blessed with at birth. I spent a lot of time practicing and honing my skills during this time, but despite the time investment and the improvement I saw, I finished very few animations. Countless others were started but never completed.
Unfortunate lesson learned: I’m not good at finishing things. Creating something cool takes too much time, and time isn’t something I have enough of.
In college, while pursuing a graphic design degree, I worked a full-time production grunt design job to pay my way through. I know, full-time work on top of full-time school sounds crazy, but somehow I made it work. My job employed a handful of design students and graciously gave us the ability to set our own weird schedules. My life almost completely revolved around art or design of one kind or another. The hours were long and late nights were common. I learned a lot during this time and my skills grew rapidly, but I’d be lying if I said I’d ever want to go back to that kind of schedule.
Unfortunate lesson learned: Creativity isn’t “fun,” it’s hard work.
By the time I was out of college, I was finding it almost impossible to get myself to do much of anything outside of work. I spent a lot of time thinking, daydreaming even, of things I’d like to do. The ideas I dreamed about very rarely showed up in physical form, though. I was able to populate an entire project graveyard with the ideas I had gotten attached to, and then casually dismissed for whatever the day’s reasons were. These projects’ “graves” were never closed and they still haunt my documents folder begging for a chance to shine.
“Wish I wasn’t so lazy” became something of a mantra for me. I really wished I had something to show for my time, effort and ideas, but there I was, mostly empty handed. Sure, I had my graphic design portfolio from school, but that was different. I had teachers and deadlines to keep me motivated, and without that outside pressure, I couldn’t bring myself to do much.
If you currently find yourself in a similar rut, know this: I wasn’t lazy, and neither are you.
The problem with laziness
People seem to really love to tell themselves they’re lazy. The lazy label is worn almost like a shiny badge or a gold star sometimes.
“I could totally do really well at that if I felt like it, but I’m just sooooo lazy!”
We all know someone that says stuff like this. I’ve even seen people wear t-shirts proclaiming their own laziness. I made a habit of this for a while (although sadly I never had a sweet shirt that had “JUST DO IT LATER” in bold print, nike-style.)
Quit calling yourself lazy, right now. If you’ve got ambitions that are important to you, you are absolutely sabotaging yourself by doing this, and you deserve better than that.
When you give yourself these labels, you reinforce behaviors you don’t even like by making them a part of your identity. It’s far better to understand what’s causing you to not follow through and do what you can to work through it.
Of course there are people who are genuinely lazy. However, if there are things you really want to spend your life acheiving, you’re not one of those people.
What you are instead, friend, is scared out of your freakin’ mind.
Paralyzed by Fear
In my struggle to get myself to step up to the plate of my own ambition, I blamed laziness. The real culprits, though, were the unfortunate life lessons I had absorbed along the way to where I was.
Whenever I’d think of a cool idea, my brain would step in with its two cents.
“You know, nobody’s going to care about that. You don’t have the skills to do that well. It’s going to take a ton of time and you’re probably not going to finish it anyway.”
Whenever I’d consider working on anything of my own, my brain would offer its “sage” insight.
“Yeah, see, that’s work, and you just spent 8 hours doing that stuff. Plus, it’s not like anyone’s going to notice that if you made it anyway. Let’s do something that’s actually fun instead.”
These mindsets, the brain’s “helpful” little nudges to save you from failure, are often manifestations of fear.
Fear paralyzes. Many of us are living our lives in fear, and, like a deer in headlights, we may end up standing in one place until it is too late.
Unlearning Life’s Unfortunate Lessons
If you’ve found yourself in the position I was in after college– where you really want to make and do amazing things but are finding it difficult to get yourself to actually engage– then it’s time to start unlearning some of your own unfortunate life lessons. It’s time to begin to internalize new, more healthy mindsets that are conducive to creativity and productivity.
I discovered a technique called reframing, and it has made all the difference. Reframing is where you take the way you see yourself and the world around you and shift to a new perspective; one that is productive and that enables you to succeed where you’ve previously sabotaged yourself.
Step 1: Identify
Take time to identify some of your negative thought processes and write them down. When you consider working on that awesome new idea of yours, what kinds of thoughts come rushing in to talk you out of taking the plunge?
Step 2: Challenge
Take a minute to reflect on these ways of thinking. Are they one of many common cognitive distortions? Objectively, are any of them even true or are they exaggerations? Do some of them take an abusive tone? Let yourself realize that they are not fair and not helpful.
Step 3: Rewrite
Now, make a new list. Write down more suitable truths that address and counteract each item on your previous list. Make these new mindsets not only encouraging, but realistic. Remember, if they’re blindly optimistic or unbelievable, it will be harder for your brain to accept them and benefit from them.
Step 4: Replace
Keep the things you’ve written somewhere you can see and reflect on them often. It takes consistent practice to make the switch from your old, limiting patterns of thought to your new, fresh outlook. Think of it like strengthening muscles that have atrophied — It takes time.
Having a list written out that I could review often helped me to more readily recognize negative and limiting mindsets when they arose. It also gave me a clear idea of how to challenge my own thoughts and what to then shift my mind to. Being able to review my lists on a regular basis made it easier to not passively accept my negative internal dialogue as truth.
The Result
With repetition and practice, I was able to realize that while there will be many who may not notice or care about my work, there will also be many that will. There are other people out there that have similar interests and experiences to mine who will eat this stuff up. The very fact that you’re here reading this is proof!
I was able to embrace the fact that I can be good at sticking with projects and even finishing them. There’s a power in working on something just a little every day. It adds up. Besides, the ability to persevere and finish is a skill that can be learned through practice. It takes more than one practice session to prepare for a marathon.
I was able to remember that while animating or writing may be a form of work, they are still fun and rewarding. There’s a reason I loved this stuff so much as a kid… it’s in my blood. Besides, there’s something quite different about working on your own thing because you want to. It’s a breath of fresh air after working all day on things someone else wants. I’d recommend doing a little creative work after hours to anyone.
I was able to believe that I’m not lazy. That was just a little lie I told myself to stay sheltered from failure.
What’s holding you back?
What are the unfortunate lessons you’ve learned that make you afraid? What are the lies you tell yourself that hold you back?
Whatever they are, if I can shed some of mine, you can do the same. You can begin to gain more momentum in your own ambitions than you’ve seen in a long time.
Stop telling yourself and others that you’re lazy. You’re not. You’re just scared.
Stop prefacing your art, writing, or anything else with “it’s not very good, but…”
Stop fishing for compliments by putting yourself down.
Accept the fact that things can be great without being perfect. Nothing humans love and resonate with is perfect.
And then, go make something great, flaws and all. You’ll be glad you did.
