What does it take to be great?
Thoughts from a midnight flight from Charlotte. I had both sides of a whole row to myself. Six seats. Just enough oxygen to cook up a banger.
Want today’s post in video form? Click here.
It must be a universal truth that if you are creative, or if you are someone who wants to make art, or if you are someone who wants to help as many people as possible…
…then you are also tortured.
There is something deep inside of me that yearns to be a massive creator who helps thousands of people.
It feels like fire.
But that’s the problem.
Thinking about all of the things I want to do, shots I want to get, videos I want to create… makes me feel real warm.
I want it so bad.
But warm is comfortable, like a nice shower or a cozy blanket.
It’s putting the pen to paper, hitting the record button, and creating art for yourself, and only yourself…
That’s the fire.
But it burns to the touch.
And what I’m realizing now is… this is the tortured part.
You have to be willing to sit in the fire, to feel the burn for a long enough time, to do the creative work you’ve always been meant to do.
It stings because it’s always going to sting.
Creative people with good intentions are a tortured people. It’s on the job description.
Are you okay with that?
Recently for work I’ve been sent all across the country for different content projects.
I was in San Francisco, then Sacramento, then New York, then Charlotte, and then Naples.
It has forced me to pick up the camera and make really cool stuff — and I’m proud of it, all of it actually.
But it’s messing with the fire.
One side of the fire is getting doused with water. Each trip makes me more fulfilled and simultaneously more tired.
And the other side of the fire is growing at a rapid pace.
Like, we may need to call someone because there’s a forest nearby that is on the verge of catching the flame.
Every time I pick up the camera I do not want to put it down.
I want to make beautiful videos
I want to try photography.
I want to get better at color and editing at large.
I want it all.
And it really, really hurts.
When I get to this point one thing happens every single time.
I become Mr. Excuses.
“I’ve got so much work to do.”
“I’m tired.”
“I don’t feel like getting up and setting up my camera.”
“It would be so much work to light this room properly.”
“I’m scared to film myself in public.”
“I can’t think of any good ideas.”
“Why would anyone listen to me?”
The worst part is that some of those excuses are valid. Sometimes I am tired and pushing on creative stuff wouldn’t yield any fruit. Sometimes I’m on a deadline and cannot work on my own stuff. It is daunting to take my camera out in public.
I do not want to be someone who lives their entire life on screens. I am someone who believes in a balanced life. My #1 goal is to be a present person for the important people in my world. Work and anything else comes second to that.
Yet the fire burns on through the night.
The excuses are a warm blanket and bug spray.
Just enough to keep me comfortable, but not enough to stop the itch.
For years I’ve known the secret.
The way to become great.
You know it too, but it burns!
You have to take your chair and set it directly at the center of the fire, engulfing yourself in flames.
You cannot flinch.
You cannot stop, drop, and roll.
You have to take it.
Even though it is torture.
You have to continuously push yourself through creatively fulfilling work over and over and over again.
Make 1,000 videos.
Write hundreds of thousands of words.
Press publish on something every single day.
You can keep the fire going with small projects and working for other people, but it will die if you don’t make something for yourself.
I wish I could end this post with some sort of commitment or challenge, but it would fall flat
I’ve only been consistent at one thing in my 15+ year creative journey:
Being inconsistent.
My world, and yours, would be completely different if we committed to sitting in the fire a long time ago.
All of the greats, the creatives we know and love, are no better than us.
They have just been consistent for a long enough time where it would be impossible to not know their name
No hacks, no optimization, there’s always some luck…
But they’ve given themselves a chance because they can sit in the fire.
They don’t pull back when it gets uncomfortable.
They don’t complain about the pain.
They just go.
And after a long enough amount of time, the pain goes away. They are free to create 24/7 and they do. It completely changes their lives and the lives of those around them.
But let’s be clear on one last thing:
The pain may have went away, but the fire didn’t stop.
I have high hopes for this post and the YouTube video that goes with it.
I think I did a pretty good job.
And the truth is that I will be disappointed if I don’t get many replies.
But you will see this post again.
And when you do, look and see if I’ve posted recently.
If I haven’t, it means I took the comfortable route.
I probably have my marshmallows getting toasty in a cushy chair around the fire.
I must not have wanted to be great.
Even though I knew what it actually takes.