“I really try to put myself in uncomfortable situations. Complacency is my enemy.”
Trent Reznor
Complacency can creep up on you at any stage of your journey. Beginning, middle, and end.
When you think you have nothing and feel hopeless—you can become complacent to the life you dislike but tolerate.
When you are finally starting to make progress—but then you let the fear of failure (or success) lead you to procrastinate and avoid what you need/want to do.
When you’ve succeeded beyond your wildest dreams (or your family has succeeded before you, and has accrued wealth and/or status) — you can become complacent to a life of luxury. Your immediate needs are fulfilled, but you can’t help but wonder, “Is this all there is?”
Complacency also lives somewhere in the middle of not failure and success. A not-not world. A negative space. That pesky in-between state where nothing seems to be happening to us. We are working harder than we ever have, but we’re not making progress towards our goals. Or we aren’t trying hard enough to tip over into something better, but we aren’t getting worse either.
The word ‘struggle’ gets a bad rap, but it’s through the continuous drive to learn and improve, and the love of the craft that we can find meaning within our lives.
There’s a paradox here though— momentum creates both meaning and struggle. In fact, the struggle to be someone, or the struggle to create something worthwhile gives us the energy to stand out and make an impact.
Joy is found in motion. Work. Rest. Work Rest. Forward. Change. Towards somethings. Without that things can feel lost and distant. Luckily, there’s purpose waiting around every corner, you just have to put one foot in front of the other to see it.
The struggle isn’t the problem. The struggle is the solution. Let go of trying to rid yourself of struggle and embrace what comes, no matter if you like it or not.
‘What if I invest all this time into my idea that I’m really excited about, but it doesn’t get the feedback or engagement I would like?’
‘Would all my time invested matter?’
‘And if people actually like my stuff, how will I keep up with all the engagement and orders?’
Dear hesitant Creative Like Me,
I hope this letter finds you well.
I completely understand how you feel.
I was running through the same thoughts when I started my clothing company boldsheep.com (@boldsheep) and when I started this very site.
‘What if no one buys anything from me?’
‘What if nobody reads or comments on my blog?’
And you know what?
Nobody did.
Nobody bought any shirts, nobody read my posts. Nobody was listening.
(And mom’s don’t count)
Even though I implicitly told myself I wouldn’t, I made every mistake in the book.
Fffffff…
But here’s the thing: It was worth it.
Every mistake, every problem, every failure has made me a better and more capable person.
What if it doesn’t work? It probably won’t. Do it anyway.
Ask yourself, ‘would I rather try and fail or would I rather not try and be exactly where I am now?’
Failure is not an end-point, rather a turning point. It’s Life telling you that your idea needs some reworking and tuning.
What about this worked and what didn’t? What can I change to earn more engagement? How can I do this better next time? Okay that sucked. What went wrong, and how can I avoid it?
The biggest lesson I can give you about starting something isits okay to fail.
If your idea doesn’t work. Keep going. Keep pursuing your dream.
Every good endeavor needs to be honed and crafted.
Do whatever you have to make your idea and yourself better.
And if you must start over with a new idea, take what you learned on your last project and use it to your advantage on your next one.
When it comes to building an audience, focus on helping one person. Focus your efforts on impacting just one person who’s your ideal customer / client.
Because each additional follower count you gain is a person on the other end. Someone you might be able to impact.
‘And if people actually like my stuff, how will I keep up with all the engagement and orders?’
That’s a good problem to have. It means what you’re doing is working and having an impact.
Stay honest. Ask for help. Let your audience know. Remember, Vulnerability is Relatability.
Things to note and live by:
Every single person who made something wonderful started where you are — at the beginning.
On the ground. figuring out things. failing forward. stepping out of their comfort zones.
