31/07/2024
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
1. Don’t play it safe. Political correctness is killing art. Art isn’t supposed to make you comfortable — it’s supposed to make you think. 2. Study the classics: literature, architecture, music, etc. These works weren’t made for instant gratification or mindless entertainment; they were meant to tap into the collective unconscious and evoke a feeling of transcendence. They remain superior in scope and power to most contemporary productions, whether we admit it or not. Read Aristotle’s “Poetics.” 3. Use your right brain. In art, intuition and imagination are far more powerful than logic. Many writers get stuck because they over-analyze everything. Get in the flow and enjoy it. 4. Be mindful. You are not your thoughts. If you cannot feel into this essential truth, you have nothing of significance to say to the world. Read “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. 5. Build authentic, kind, compassionate relationships with the people you collaborate with. Not to squeeze something out of them — money, favors, etc. — but out of genuine interest and empathy. Success is absolutely worthless if you don’t have loved ones to share it with.
