A few days ago, I read something remarkable. It was a blog post entitled How to Steal Like an Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me) by Austin Kleon (the newspaper blackout artist). I encourage you all to read it here.
The life advice contained therein is rich and insightful. As someone on the verge of some big life changes, I felt an incredibly personal connection to his words.
One point Kleon brings up that really resonated with me was the concept of Imposter Syndrome.
“There’s this very real thing that runs rampant in educated people. It’s called imposter syndrome. The clinical definition is a “psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments.” It means that you feel like a phony, like you’re just winging it, that you really don’t have any idea what you’re doing.
Guess what?
None of us do. Ask any real artist, and they’ll tell you the truth: they don’t know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing. Every day.”
Did anyone else just breathe a huge sigh of relief? I know I did. I think the biggest fear of any grad student is that we’re going to graduate, step into the real world, and not be able to apply anything. Yes we work with real clients and produce real work now, but our hands are being held. We work in teams, we’re united together. In a few short months, it will all be on us. I do feel like a phony sometimes, but I’m not even sure what I’m faking. Maybe it’s a fear that I’ll never be great at anything. Or that the things I’m great at, aren’t the things that actually matter in the work place.
When everyone we know, everyone we look up to and respect, is telling us everything is going to be alright, why do we still question whether it will? Self doubt is a silly thing.
Here are some important things I’ve been learning lately, from Kleon and from the incredible people I surround myself with:
1. Being creative doesn’t mean you have to invent something no one has ever thought of before. (phew)
2. You are your influences. Surround yourself with inspiration and you will be inspirational.
3. If you see, read or hear something you like, write it down. Save it somewhere. Don’t let it pass you by.
4. Start creating now. By doing so, you’ll learn more about yourself than you ever could while waiting to find out.
5. If you act like the person you want to be, pretty soon you’ll be the person you want to be.
6. Art doesn’t feel like work. It feels like play. If it feels like work, you’re probably not making art.
7. People are busy. They can’t all pay attention to you.
8. Give your secrets away. Tell everyone. The more you share, the more people assume you have.
9. The more nice you put out, the more nice you get back.
10. Creativity is subtraction. Edit, edit, edit.
Do you have other bits of wisdom to share? Please do, we can’t ever have enough.
This is a CRITICAL piece of learning. Here’s a sidebar point: People who are creative and express that creativity through artistry (music, dance, writing, theatre, et al) are told almost from junior kindergarten and certainly at home that “real” work is math, science, etc. If you got 88 in English and 51 in Science, clearly you weren’t too bright. So if you choose to pursue a career as, say, a writer or a director or an actor, you live with an uneasy feeling that, no matter how well you do, you’re “cheating”… relative to those who work as computer programmers, physicists, doctors, lawyers, etc. But at some point creative people need to be told that what they produce is AS LEGITIMATE and AS WORTHWHILE as the folks who produce from the other side of the brain. My sister is a doctor, and I am a musician, writer, director. My very analytical and results-driven father finally, in my mid-forties, told me that he was equally proud of Susie – and me!
Margaux great piece!
I especially like number five and number eight, both so true, and the reason that blogs exist today in their millions.
In fundraising, not reinventing the wheel is recognised to be the smart move, in fact the phrase “The second mouse gets the cheese” exists for a reason!
It’s also the reason that SOFII exists. If you are a fundraiser who hasn’t checked out the Showcase of Fundraising Inspiration and Innovation, click on over to http://www.SOFII.org once you have left Margaux a comment. SOFII is a collectin of stories from people who thought at they time they were ‘making it up’, ‘faking it’ or were ‘phoney’….. sharing their successes and failure so that other fundraisers can learn from it.
So there you have it, my wisdom is to learn from other people’s successes and failures.
#11. If you focus on the content of character and quality of heart, you will always be surrounded by great people doing great things
My goodness Margaux! Firstly didn’t know you had a blog. So sorry about that I will bookmark it.
Secondly thank you so much for educating me about ‘imposter syndrome’. Honest to goodness I have been fundraising for some time now and still feel like I’m going to be found out!
Thanks Margaux – great blog, super post!
I wish you could present this to our class! I think its exactly what we all need to hear right now. At this point of the school year this is the lift that we all could use.
Personally, its just what I needed to read right now.
Thanks Margaux!
I love this post. To be honest I love your blog. Look forward to reading more!
Great post! I couldn’t agree more with the design principle of elegance through subtraction/editing, and the encouragement to confidently give away your secrets!