t h e b e s t
I had a long conversation with a good friend about this yesterday and I thought I would share. This goes along with "take the ego out of painting" and "put your head down and paint".
Competition is a killer. It kills creativity. It sneaks into your brain and makes you question everything you do.
I make a concerted effort every single day to avoid thinking about what other people are doing in business.
This is the worst thing an artist can do.
I try very hard not to look at what anyone else is doing. Unless you are a painter friend of mine and in that case I want to celebrate what you do. I will try to go out of my way to help you in any way I can. It doesn't add or take away from anything I do.
People that refer to themselves as the best this or that confuse me. Why say this? Especially with art because it is so subjective. If someone says they are better than me at something it says more about them than it does me. I am just doing my best, I am not THE best.
I just want to be the best for myself. I really don't have an opinion about what someone else is doing, I am sure they have a very good reason for decisions they have made. Just as I have reasons for the decisions I have made.
One reason I wanted to write this is, I get asked often, weekly about how to get started in this business. The thing is, I only know how to do it for myself. I only know how to set goals for myself, get off the couch and pick up the brush myself. No one is doing it for me.
I want to do my best work. I might not ever be the best at anything. I want to be a great mentor, friend, mom, wife, shop owner. But I probably won't ever be the best. In fact, I know I won't be.
And you know what?! I am happy with that. I just took the pressure off myself and opened up room for happiness.
