Musings on “The Gap” — plus Novak Djokovic & “Killer Taste”
I send this video to any creative I know who hasn’t yet seen it.
I talk about this video with any creative I know who has seen it.
… Have you seen it?
Go watch it. Or watch it again.
Ira Glass articulates so well what many
(both aspiring and successful)
creatives are always feeling.
We have “killer taste”
and an eye for brilliance,
yet find ourselves falling short of the mark.
We find ourselves not living up to our own creative standards.
If you write a blog on “noticing stuff”
you might feel dejected
comparing yourself to Seth Godin.
If you’re building a company
you might feel dejected
comparing yourself to Jobs or Musk (or Ev Williams).
If you’re making music
you might feel dejected
comparing yourself to John Lennon or Miles Davis or Gustav Mahler.
If you’re painting
you might feel dejected
comparing yourself to van Gogh or Picasso or Dali.
Whatever the fuck you’re doing,
someone’s doing it better than you.
And it’s always been this way.
When Alexander was amassing his empire,
when he was learning from Aristotle himself,
he was surely comparing himself to Cyrus The Great,
and legends of Homer and others’ folklore.
The year before Novak Djokovic became the #1 tennis player in the world
I was watching him practice at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Palm Springs.
… a special interaction took place: after a series of rallies with his trainer, Djokovic saw Pete Sampras in the stands and went over to talk to him.
“Pete, I just read your book (A Champion’s Mind, note: I have not read it).
You’re a true inspiration” (I may be paraphrasing a bit).
It was a five minute interaction,
and the first time these two legends had apparently ever met.
And two things were clear:
Djokovic was learning from Pete,
and Djokovic wanted to be better than Pete
(not better than Pete mano e mano —
more like the best “Djokovic” Djokovic could be, which entails (he surely hopes) the process of winning more championships than the serve & volley master himself).
All athletes are creatives,
and all creatives must be athletic in their craft.
Agile and always learning,
honing technique,
cultivating mastery
… this is the process
& part of the process — somewhere along the way, in our own unique way —
we hit
“The Gap”
Where it becomes blatantly obvious we’re not as good as we want to be.
While The Gap is frustrating, sometimes self-deprecating,
possibly even humiliating,
it’s also the first true sign you’re an artist.
Because it means you have taste.
It means you know what’s good.
As Pirsig talks about in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
you’re tuned into “Quality” as it’s manifested in craft,
in medium,
in sport.
Personally I’m still in The Gap,
so I can’t talk about
alchemizing the void of artistic longing into the manifestation of artistic calling; through creative fulfillment, marbling marvels of experiences into mood-made mediums of expression.
I can, however,
tell you why Thomas Mann or James Joyce is such a great novelist.
Or why Fellini’s 8½ is such a terrifically nuanced portrait of the unconscious.
Or that all the world’s secrets are expressed in Rumi’s poetry
(and I tell you this without even being able to fully articulate those secrets).
When you hit The Gap, I think, you have to ask yourself why am I here?
If your response doesn’t include something about love or passion
you might need to pivot,
or rethink your priorities.
Chances are we won’t outmatch our heroes
like Djokovic over Sampras,
… but that’s okay.
External validation doesn’t matter as much
if what we’re doing is something we love doing.
If we find joy in the process,
engagement in the learning,
and gratitude for both the ebb and flow of the creative life
(for without resistance, where would we cultivate strength?).
…so,
I say hit The Gap hard.
Own it.
Fuck up,
look like a fool,
and have zero qualms about any of it.
If your intentions are pure,
and you’re living through your heart,
and you’re always, always
always learning,
then you’re going to do something worthwhile.
In fact, you’re already doing something worthwhile.
And if The Gap takes years, so be it.
… failure can be your greatest fuel,
like Jordan not making varsity as a sophomore,
or Nabokov nearly throwing away Lolita,
or Charlie Kaufman in all his movies.
Embrace The Gap for what it is:
a space for alchemy,
where you marinate in your own “special sauce”
of taste and aesthetics
through which
stuff ferments
and seeds root into the soil
and bloom.
In whatever kind of garden you’re cultivating
(using the garden as a metaphor for life,
which is apt,
and worth further explication at another time)
till the soil,
do the rain dance when the time calls for it,
and let nature work her magic.
Become what you are.
Even in the cloud of winter,
spring is just beyond the horizon.
….Where you are, and where you’re going, is where you’re meant to be.
Trust the process.
“What you seek is seeking you.”
