Understanding you

I know you look out ahead of your career and think about all the things you need to do to be successful. To live the life you want as a creative and artist.

You think about all the work you will make over your lifetime.
You think about the connections you will make.
You think about what city you might move to, what circles you want to be in, what your days will look like when this all “works” out. 

All of this is very important. We think those are THE things that will ensure we have a successful career. All those things do matter of course, and they will be the driving force to ensure you succeed. Oddly, there is usually something else that causes you to fail.

One of the biggest reasons artists stop isn’t because of a lack of talent, nor lack of opportunity, but the quiet decision to walk away. It’s because they have so much fear and so much doubt that it feels easier to quit than to keep going.

So we’re going to look at three big flavors of fear, how they show up, and how you can respond as a hungry artist instead of a starving one.

Three flavors of fear

There are three main fears I see over and over in creatives:

1. The fear of not being good enough
   

2. The fear of being judged
   

3. The fear of wasting time and money
   

The fear of not being good enough

This one usually shows up when you start to take your work seriously.

When you first do something creative, you do it for fun. It’s like playing a sport when you’re a kid. You draw, you make little videos, you play guitar, you write poems. You’re not thinking in terms of a career. You’re just doing the thing because it feels good.

You’re not sitting there at twelve years old thinking, “I’m afraid I’m not a good enough sculptor.” You’re just happy that the thing you made looks like anything at all.

The fear creeps in when you start to wonder, “Could I actually do this as my life?”

You start paying attention to people who are really good.
You see the gap between where you are and where they are.
You hear voices from earlier in your life. “You will end up a starving artist.”

Now the story becomes, “I will never be good enough. I started too late. I’m too far behind.”

The starving artist reaction is to take that feeling as a verdict.
 “I’m not good enough, so this proves everyone was right. I should stop.”

The hungry artist reaction is different.
 “I’m not good enough yet, which is exactly why I’m going to keep making more work.”

The fear of being judged

We want to create, but we hate the idea of people seeing the work and thinking, “This sucks.”

In undergrad, my university had a yearly short film competition with a few other colleges. The first year I entered with some classmates, we made a genuinely good short film. It was the first time I had made something that felt like a real film, a real story. We won all the big awards. My ego shot up. I felt incredible.

The next year, we competed again. The film was pretty bad.
Around the same time, I competed in a 48 Hour Film Project. The film we made there was also bad.

Suddenly I was the guy who had made two weak films in a row. I hated that feeling. It

That is the fear of being judged.
 “If I put this out there, people will see I’m not as good as they thought. Or worse, they’ll see I’m not as good as I hoped I was.”

Did that fear stop me? No. But it definitely slowed me down and made me doubt.

What I eventually learned was this. In those bad films, I didn’t try as hard. I didn’t have as much passion. I coasted on the feeling of, “I’m awesome now.” The judgment woke me up. It showed me in a painful way where I’d gotten lazy.

You’ll get feedback that’s genuinely useful, and you’ll get feedback that is just mean or careless. The skill is learning to tell the difference.

Some people are not your audience. Some people project their own fears onto you. Their opinions don’t matter.

But hiding your work completely so no one can judge it will keep you stuck. Often, hearing how your work lands is exactly what helps you make the next piece better.

The starving artist reaction to judgment is, “They didn’t like it, so I should stop.”

The hungry artist reaction is, “They did not like it, so what can I learn, and what do I want to do next anyway?”

The fear of wasting time and money

At some point, you’ll pour a lot of effort into something, and the rewards will feel very far away. Maybe you’re not making enough money yet. Maybe the project is dragging on for months with no clear ending. Maybe you’ve spent money on gear, education, or materials and the income isn’t matching it.

You’ll ask yourself the question almost every creative asks at some point.

“Am I wasting my time? Am I wasting my money?”

This is a valid fear. You only have so much energy. You still have to pay rent, buy food, take care of yourself and maybe other people.

I won’t lie to you and say, “It always works out if you just believe.” Sometimes it doesn’t work out, at least not in the way you pictured.

When this fear shows up, it’s your cue to step back and look clearly at:

• what you are working on right now
  

• how you are making money now
  

• how you hope to make money in the next year or two
  

• what path you are actually on
  

You don’t need all the answers, but you do need to look. You may decide you want to keep going exactly as you are for now, even if it’s hard, because you believe in the direction. You may decide to adjust your plan, take on different paid work for a season, or change your goals for a specific project.

The starving artist reaction is to ignore the fear and hope it magically resolves.
The hungry artist reaction is to honor the fear and respond with a clearer plan.

The Hungry Artist Cohort sign-ups are open with a limited number of spots. We’ll work together as a group and community of artists to tackle the emotional struggles we get as artists, like handling our fears. Also, you’ll see practical ways to earn money from your art and how to build a sustainable career as an artist.

• P.S. Here are the three best ways I can help you right now:

1. One-on-one coaching: Want help building your creative career? Work with me privately. (link)

2. Hungry Artist Cohort: Join other creatives and build your sustainable career together using the Four Core areas.

3. YouTube: I share deeper, practical training on my YouTube channel.