Last night I watched an interview with celebrated British artist Tracey Emin. She shared her philosophy, spoke of her artistry and then mentioned how often she paints over pictures that she doesn’t like.
Her suggestion was that success is a numbers game.
And to produce great art, one must create a lot of less than perfect art.
May I humbly suggest that this is an absolutely wise observation for us, who are dedicated to creating, devoted to producing and in the game of longing to make masterwork.
To make magic demands that we must generate a lot of mediocrity. [Please read that twice].
Yes, to arrive at a Sistine Chapel ceiling or a Taj Mahal or a Moonlight Sonata, you and I must exercise the bravery to risk. And dare. And get things (very) wrong (as we explore uncharted lands). Until we get things right.
We need to be willing to fail. We need to keep going when quitting seems best. We need to ignore the critics and silence the inner cynic (oh how loudly it chatters!). And continue to produce work that seems bad in the hot chase of work that will become amazing.
This makes me think of my writing process for my latest book, The Wealth Money Can’t Buy. After teaching The 8 Forms of Wealth Model that lives at the foundation of the book to the clients I mentor with super strong results for over 20 years, I decided to share the transformational model in a book.
And so I started and wrote and rewrote and discarded and iterated and struggled and stretched and optimized and refined for month after month after month after month.
Until all the bad work became what I hope you’ll find to be my best work. [Get the book here if you’re really ready to lead your richest life].
Remember: Picasso did a ton of paintings and not every one is a miracle.
Kobe made some bad shots en route to becoming extraordinary at making beautiful ones.
Hedy Lamarr, one of the world’s greatest inventors, made a ton of mistakes before discovering the “signal hopping” feature that yielded today’s WI-FI and GPS protocols.
Yes, I’m encouraging you to be bad. To become good. Really, really, really good (in an era where mediocrity is normal and exceptional is rare).
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Ok. Hope this message helps. Stand strong. Keep moving forward. Believe in yourself. And remain kind.
Love + respect,
Robin