We’re back with Part II of Demon Slaying 101, a discussion about our internal battles when we create our art. In particular, we have to wrestle with three especially nasty demons — imposter syndrome, negative bias, and self-doubt. These three are so strong, in fact, that they may also be the root of many other psychological blocks that can tarnish our creativity. In this Part II then we’ll start our discussion with some insights on all this to better cultivate and preserve our joy and confidence despite them. So let’s dive right in!…
To begin with, it’s helpful to remind ourselves that negative bias is a big trigger because once we recognize that it’s an instinctive hardwired reflex designed to spin, we can talk ourselves down. Because — hey — if it’s a prejudiced filter, there’s a lot being scooped out…all the good stuff! For example, take heart in the fact that for every jerky or careless comment, there are many others who are supportive, thoughtful, and encouraging (even if they don’t speak up), so focus on them instead and trust that they’re there. Put more energy into those who are generous and encouraging — we have to work at it, mind you — and let the rest fall away. Remind ourselves, too, that it’s just the noise associated with those who find more joy in tearing someone down or want to feel self-important than in truly wanting to understand and appreciate our efforts. Some people are just careless, thoughtless, or mean, or just derive their life force from negativity. Let’s be frank, too, there’s a lot of self-important, boorish, insensitive clods out there who just don’t care. Everyone sees a piece of art differently, too, and in our genre, that’s a loaded question because of all the technicalities involved. Really, not everyone’s knowledge base is more fully informed or objective, or even open to the unconventional aspects of reality. Their priorities and goals may be different from ours, too. So work to focus on the positive encouragement more deliberately and enthusiastically, exercise gratitude and remind ourselves that not everyone has our same creative sensibilities — and that’s okay — and try to find some peace in that.
Remember that everyone has to deal with negative bias in their own reality. That’s to say many folks shred work because they’re fundamentally unaware this hardwired tendency is compelling them to fixate on the perceived negatives rather than step back, take a breath, and re-evaluate the reality of a piece with more objective, informed, or compassionate eyes. What’s more, the negatives in their lives — we don’t know what emotional and psychological struggles they’re enduring — can compel them to displace that anguish onto others. Indeed, some people’s pain morphs into ugly behavior that’s spewed all over the place, particularly on those who are easy targets like artists. In a sense then, they’re victims of their own wiring and in being so, victimize others.
Consider the source. Is negative input coming from those we admire and trust? Is it coming from others whose goals and priorities align with ours? Are they our collectors or those who have no vested interest in our work? Are they coming from someone notorious for being obnoxious, callous, or careless? All this will tell us how much those opinions are actually worth. And if they aren’t worthwhile, we’re going to have to work a little bit to remind ourselves that…repeatedly. If we have doubts anyway as a result — which is normal — seek advice from trusted friends or colleagues, or do some pro-active research to dig into the matter of things. Find a way to ease those introduced doubts either through more facts or the ability to recognize that, again, not everyone has our best interests at heart or is savvy enough with either their knowledge or social skills.
Try to work on developing a “devil may care” attitude by realizing five things. First, that we’re truly into arting for our own enjoyment and the enrichment of our own Voice, experience, and inspirations. To create for the validation of others is only begging for those demons to shriek even louder. Second, we’ll never please everyone. No matter how we try or how many critiques we input, not everyone is going to like our work, and that’s fine. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and folks are entitled to their tastes. This also makes sure that many styles have a place in our niche by appealing to all those different tastes, so it’s really a positive. Just remember there’s really only one person to please — ourselves. Third, conversely, know that there’s always — always — someone out there who loves our work like nobody’s business. Keep our focus on them, not to have an echo chamber, but to help counterbalance our distracting demons. Fourth, there’s always “that guy” in every crowd. No matter how we curate our social media or our social interactions, there’s always going to be a clanging note at some point, some person who just cannot be thoughtful, careful, or sensitive with our efforts and feelings, or respectful of the bravery it takes to even present our work to the public in the first place. And fifth, the truth is — believe it or not — our work is better than we think and more people love it than we suspect. So trust in that seemingly unlikely scenario knowing that our demons are always working to convince us otherwise.
Another way to transform the negative to the positive is to turn every “failure” into a learning experience. In many ways, this is a choice — we have to decide to morph the situation with every single piece, and especially with those that wind up in the middle of a disappointment. Yet make it a habit and we become better artists as well as better people. Really, if we can find the lesson in every outcome, we can regain our footing pretty quickly. We can also come to better appreciate the realities of other artists to develop more camaraderie in a shared experience. And that applies to ourselves, too! Be gentle with our own heart, extend that same compassion to ourselves as we would to others.
In line with that, it’s helpful to recognize that artistic evolution can usher in a particularly crushing brand of self-doubt as a side effect. Or said another way, artistic evolution can be camouflaged by self-doubt and if we aren’t obsessively dedicated to slogging through it, we’re going to make the mistake of quitting. That’s because sometimes certain pieces come into our inspiration with lessons for us, lessons so pivotal they promise to change the way we do things forever — only we don’t know it yet. If we have a hard time absorbing those lessons and especially if we fight them, however, we’re in for a world of hurt in the doubt department. For example, if we have interpretive habits that look right to us but our piece’s references show us that they’re wrong, a major shift has to happen. But it doesn’t usually happen so easily since our piece will try to yank us forwards only we’re stuck where we are. Being so, pressure and friction will build up like between tectonic plates, often making this situation an excruciatingly frustrating, confusing, and anxiety-ridden kind of smackdown. What are some symptoms? Trying to get something right and either continually screwing it up or always coming up short. Re-doing areas but we keep sliding back into our habits despite our best efforts otherwise. Being completely inspired by our concept, yet perpetually “not feeling” what we’re doing. Creating in a very uncomfortable “space” because this new thing we’re doing just seems so wrong. Sculpting or painting the area accurately in form, but it’s somehow flawed like being skewed off proper placement, out of scale, or angled improperly — we’re “halfway there” but not at home base yet. And all this? Maddening as all get out! Even paralyzing. Truthfully, the grind of self-doubt this generates can be so powerful and dangerous, it can even drag us to the notion of quitting outright because we start to believe that we’ve permanently plateaued or, worse, that we’ve lost our abilities, talents, or our muse. And there are few things that can destroy joy in a passionate artist faster than the belief we’ve gone as far as we can go in our abilities. However, if we can remind ourselves that this situation isn’t a lack of talent or the wall of a plateau, that we’re on the cusp of an evolution, we can get the upper hand here. So gut it out. Keep trying! Even if we want to bang our head on wall. We have to give our mind, hand, Eye, and skills the time, practice, and opportunity to finally all click into place and learn the lesson. And remember, we have to make those mistakes to learn! Then lemme tell ya, when that shift happens, it’s like an ecstatic tectonic jolt, an artistic earthquake, and nothing will ever be the same again. But trust that it’ll happen — trust yourself, trust the moment, trust the opportunity the piece presents. Evolution will come, but only if we’re engaging our process.
Without a doubt, the more established and successful an artist becomes, the more pronounced the pressure on ourselves and so the greater the weight of failures. There’s just so much expectation piled on a successful artist to keep topping themselves! Yet artists need the room, the safe zone to go back and forth, to hit or miss, to stretch and snap back. But if the audience keeps expecting an artist to just keep going up up up, at some point they’re going to kill the golden goose by psychologically paralyzing them. We can’t back a creative mind into a corner of expectation! Remember they’re heaping mountains of expectations on themselves already, too! Instead, give them the complete freedom to explore, risk, fail, learn, grow, discover, and just chillax in their work. Let them have their creative space. Honestly, art is best when it’s based on freedom to some degree and, similarly, experimentation and exploration inject a sense of adventure into it all. It does an artist good then to focus on that rather than living in a pressure cooker of public expectation. Never forget to have fun, first and foremost!
Making art isn’t only hard, it can hurt. Disappointments, resentments, envy, frustrations, regrets, embarrassments, anxieties, anger, and any number of other negatives can tarnish our creative experience. Indeed, some artists stop outright because of it. So try to always remember the driving reasons why we make art — the meaning, the joy, the inspiration, the satisfaction, the thrill, the exploration, the peace of the soul. Whatever it is, hold onto it very closely and lean into it if things start to go haywire. It can be our rock for weathering a storm or a jumpstart to prime the pump after a dry spell.
Toxic positivity is a thing just as there’s toxic negativity. It’s nice to say that the ideal condition then is in the middle, but honestly, that’s a rather milquetoast place, a flatline that can leave us too satisfied and content. Really, it’s not such a bad thing for an artist to stay a little shook because it keeps us hungry and more objective. Now everyone is different, but for me the ideal place is just offset from center towards the positive — by choice. Because it takes work and we may have to actively remind ourselves when we backslide. Even if we have to speak it aloud or getting it down in a journal, reinforcing our efforts with positive affirmations can go far to making this continual choice easier and easier, too.
We have to accept that we may be doing something no one will care about, that will never find reward, or at least to the degree we hope it will. It’s always an uncertainty and to be frank, there’s rarely rhyme or reason as to what the audience gravitates towards one minute to the next; it likes what it likes at that moment, and that’s that. We should just keep at it though and create for our own reasons. And that’s actually a pretty freeing place to create when ya think about it! Also consider marketing strategies as they may be sabotaging our efforts for exposure. Who knows — it may be time for a solid social media and advertising campaign! On that note, don’t put too much credence into any single win or loss. There are plenty of enormously talented artists who don’t place or get juried into a show, and it just happens to be our day. Really, thinking about it, with all the quality out there today, those planets have to align in a pretty crazy way for any piece to place! Yeah, we could make placings based almost solely on quality alone in the past — not so today. Today the quality is so consistent and extraordinary, it comes down to other things, things that can rely heavily on the moment and mercurial tastes, or the knowledge strengths or gaps of the judge. Today there are truly those pieces that are of equal quality.
So we’ll end Part II here and in Part III then, we’ll continue our discussion on such things. Being able to openly discuss these issues is important to learn new coping insights from others and to raise awareness. Our demons only have as much power as we’re willing to give them, and with new ways of manipulating them, we can deny them quite a bit of it!
“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” ~ Robert Hughes