Be Confident in Your Art
Ben Mezrich is delusional. He thinks every book he is writing will be his next big break. The crazy thing is he has often been right.
Mezrich is the author of Accidental Billionaires, which became the hit movie The Social Network. He wrote Bringing Down the House, which became the movie 21.
He was so naively confident in his work that after his first set of major book deals, he sent his personal life into a spiral of $2 million in debt. It didn’t phase him that the novels he was writing weren’t getting read by many people. He thought he could always get out of debt by selling another book despite sales and reviews.
So, when he met a group of MIT students who shared a story about how they earned millions of dollars playing blackjack, he knew he had a bestselling book to write.
Sure enough, it did. He wrote an article in Gawker that Kevin Spacey read. Spacey contacted Mezrich and one thing let to another until both a book and a movie were big hits.
Delusional Confidence
A successful artist must have naive confidence in her work. Without that confidence, you can easily avoid attempting the next big project. You can look down on yourself and never even begin the next project out of fear that the one you just released will be a failure.
Mezrich is always on to the next book before the current one is released. He loves writing and works diligently to see his stories turned into books and movies.
While many writers might sit in a room convinced that everything he writes is bad, Mezrich thinks everything he writes is fantastic. He’s delusional and that is why he succeeds.
When he first started out as a writer, he received 190 rejection letters. He posted them on his wall in his office convinced that they were wrong. It added fuel to the fire of his motivation and he set out to write the next big project. He kept working and working until he found his success.
Everything you create won’t be the best, but if you let your lack of confidence hold you back from making it better or creating something new, then you will fail.
If you want to succeed in any form of art, have a delusional confidence in your work. Always have the belief that your work will be your next big break. Eventually, you will be right.
Inspired by Ben Mezrich’s interview on the James Altucher Show. Listen here.
