5 Things I Wish I Knew at the Start My Career
Mistakes are your best teachers
Mistakes don’t feel good in the moment. Sometimes, the really big mess ups can even feel like the end of the world. The consequences of mistakes might be hard to stomach and may affect your everyday life in negative ways. The thing is, mistakes are inevitable. We are all human and we are bound to mess up. I can tell you when looking at my art career though, I have learned more from the mistakes I have made than I have from my wins and successes. Why? Well because when I make mistakes, I don’t want to repeat them, so I learn from them in order to avoid mistakes in the future.
You and your work are not for everybody
Who doesn’t want to be liked? Life can often feel like a popularity contest, especially in this day and age with social media. A big audience strokes the ego, but more eyeballs on you and your work doesn’t always translate to more sales. I would much rather have a small but mighty audience who really connects with and collects my work than a large audience of lookie-loos.
Artists who you think have “made it” are still growing and evolving
This was and still is a huge lesson for me. There are artists I have admired for years with big careers and a lot of success. When I was just starting out pursuing painting full time, I dreamed of hitting those same milestones and imagined it would be like crossing a finish line of achievements. Now that I have reached some of those milestones, I am realizing that there is no finish line. We set new goals, our work changes, our dreams grow. Even the most successful and well known artists you follow are growing and evolving.
You cannot fail if you don’t give up
Failure is a funny thing. Sometimes we look at mistakes as failures, but they aren’t. Failure only happens when you quit. As long as you are putting forth some effort, you are succeeding. I know it sounds cliche, because it is, but that’s because cliches are true.
It’s going to be hard but it’s so worth it
I knew that there was no easy path to carving out a life as an artist, but I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. Most things worth having take an incredible amount of hard work, but if you are passionate about it, that hard work doesn’t feel so very hard after all. So ride out the tough times, put in the effort, and do more of what you love.
If you read this post, I am guessing you are an artist. Hi there, my creative friend! I would like to give you more content to help you along your path as an artist and I would like to hear from you. Could you take a moment to answer this survey? I would be super grateful. Thanks!
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