Let Your Art Do The Talking
The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure. Dale Carnegie
What is your art? It can be anything be it writing, designing, a creative, an athlete, a sportsman, an artist or a painter. But your art can be anything.
Have you seen the art of the works of the great? The Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Picasso, Albert Einstein, Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Steve Jobs, Seth Godin, Kobe Bryant, Micheal Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Micheal Jackson, Elon Musk and the likes?
What does their art all have in common?
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” ? Edgar Degas
To be great, we need to put in the work and by putting in the work we must be consistent with our work. A lot of things will come along the way to derail us like fear and ego. The moment we can fight it and not give in to it, we will come out victorious.
A person who judges himself based on his own standards doesn’t crave the spotlight the same way as someone who lets applause dictates success says Ryan Holiday.
To answer the question above, what the great arts all have in common is that their art does the talking for them.
Can you say the same about yours?
The greats don’t need to advertise their art before we can see how great their art are. The greats listed above have put in the work day after day, week after week, years after years to make sure they keep improving their art, and the result shows.
Perseverance
I don’t have the formula to pass on. I always did it my own way. Even today, I hold my independence close. It’s what’s most precious to me. Passion. Risk. Tenacity. Consistency. This is my professional history. Giorgio Armani
Can we say the same about ourselves? We start a new project or business and once we put in the work for a short period without getting the result we give up.
It happens to me a lot of time and so do you as well. Why is it like that?
Our perseverance level is low. As simple as that. We can come up with all sorts of excuses to pat ourselves on the back but deep down, you know you didn’t put in enough work.
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. Newt Gingrich
Let us take a look at our university system for example. You can start on a poor grade and still come out with one of the best results after one four years course of study. How is that possible?
You were able to persevere. Studying your courses day in day out time after time without looking for excuses not to study. And it shows in the result.
That is the way it should be with our art too as well. We need to wake up and get to it, we can’t perfect our art in a day and that is why there is always a need to strive for improvement rather than perfection.
Perfectionism
Done is better than perfect.
Perfectionism rarely begets perfection, or satisfaction only disappointment. Ryan Holiday
Comparison and perfectionism is the killer of joy.
As beginners, we often compare our process to everyone else’s great work which is a way to set oneself up for failure.
Don’t compare and don’t try to perfect your art, but rather, strive for improvement in your art. Improvement leads to progress.
The pursuit of perfection often impedes Improvement.
Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence only in constant improvement and constant change. Tom Peters
All the great overtime strive for improvement in their art. We can see it with the likes of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Lionel Messi, Micheal Jordan and the rest.
They strive for improvement rather than perfection.
So should it be for ourselves as well in our art? Once we strive for improvement first, Only then can we able to learn from our failures.
In our search for perfection, many of us end up finding comfort, stagnancy, and mediocrity says Thomas Oppong.
The great do all these things mentioned above can you say the same for your self when it comes to your art? It is up to you to answer.
Keep Moving
See much, study much, suffer much that is the path to wisdom says Ryan Holiday.
Albert Einstein was once asked; How to stay positive during tough times. His reply; To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
That is the way it should be with our art. When it is going bad or blurry, keep moving not through your ego. But rather on the source for more knowledge to strive for improvement.
Good things come to those who wait while striving for improvement.
Strive for growth and improvement in your art and let your art do the talking for you.
