Creativity

10. Hard Contracts

Consider just asking, outright, to see it in writing. If it’s not in writing, it’s not likely to go down the way everyone is making it sound like it’s going to go down. This includes but is not limited to promises of future work, finances, points, schedules, change orders, etc. If you assume, you lose. Almost always… so why take the risk? Get something in writing. If nobody wants to commit anything to writing, it was never intended to begin with.

9. Criticism

Consider the opinions that are healthy and instructive. Don’t be afraid to take some advice from others who know more than you. I have a healthy group of veteran industry people I bounce all kinds of things off of. These people are far more successful (and older) than me and were handpicked because I know they’d just as soon tell me the truth than blow sunshine up my ass. That’s what you need as a Creative because the rest of the people either intentionally want to rip you to shreds or they are too scared to tell you the balls out truth when you need it the most. Both of those last options are completely useless to you. However…

8. Not Giving a Damn

… all that being said, consider learning to identify and embrace when it’s the right time to just not give a damn and do what you have in your heart to do. I just watched STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS last night and there is a great moment when Kirk is trying to explain to Spock why he sometimes does things that Spock finds illogical, and yet, not only do they need to be done but Kirk knows intuitively that they are also the right things to do. “It’s called a ‘gut feeling’”, Kirk explains. And he’s right. Sometimes it’s the most illogical thing to the rest of humanity but you just have to do it because you are a Creative and Creatives don’t operate like “civilians” do. We just don’t. So, follow your heart and always listen to it. It’s rarely wrong.

7. Poverty

Consider taking a little less. You want me to starve, Ogden? No, I really don’t. In fact, quite the opposite: I want you to eat like a king. But what I don’t want is for you to eat like a king because you sold out like a monkey. Stick to your own voice and don’t ever try to ride the coattails of some here-today gone-tomorrow bullshit bandwagon because you think it’s going to keep you relevant and fresh in the minds of the people you think matter. It’s not, and they don’t. Maybe a better heading for this one would have been Integrity, because that’s really what we are talking about here. Staying unfeigned in your own path and voice. That leads to true riches, which have nothing to do with money or fame.

6. Ignorance

Consider staying ignorant to what everyone else is doing. If there was a Musician’s 10 Commandments, the tenth one would be “Thou shalt not covet thy fellow musician’s success”. Instead, you should acknowledge what others have accomplished as a mark of what was right for them, but not allow it to affect you one way or another about your own level of accomplishment. What you have done or have yet to do is something you will always own and nobody can take it away from you. Same with the other people in your field. There is a lot to do, so stay busy doing as much of it as you can and don’t think too much about what everyone else is up to. They don’t have your skills, your dreams, your drives or your responsibilities at home. In fact, they are nothing like you in any way. So don’t give them another thought. Put your head down and work your on program.

5. Professionalism

Consider returning your calls. If you aren’t going to, tell people you aren’t going to. I am notoriously bad about getting back to people because I let myself get overwhelmed too easily. Since realizing this, I’ve started letting people know that their request/plea for help isn’t going to be responded to. Harsh? Maybe… but it’s honest. I try to at least point them toward an answer, but I have a lot of generals, so it’s easy for me to delegate. Maybe you can’t. That’s fine, too. Find another way to communicate that you don’t have time to be all things to all people, as much as you’d like to be. People will understand that. What they won’t understand — or tolerate — is just being ignored or left to twist in the wind. You at least owe them the professionalism of an acknowledgment. In regards to the things you do need to make time for, show up on time for meetings. Send gifts. Send “thank you’s”. Hell, send flowers to secretaries. Just don’t be the person who is the halfway business partner. That’s not going to get you invited back to the table.

4. Socialism

Consider spreading the Creative wealth a bit. Don’t put too much priority on who gets the credit for stuff. Be okay with giving a larger part of your recognition away to others. They deserve it. There is no such thing as a self-made man/woman. None. That’s a bullshit paradigm. It never happens and it’s never happened. You always have someone pulling for you in your corner. They may not be able to do anything but shout your name in the last round, but ain’t that enough sometimes? Tell them you appreciate them, and then tell the world you do. That comes back in spades, but it also just makes you feel great. Plus, it’s just the honest thing. We all know examples of when people were robbed of their due. Don’t do that.

3. Balance

Consider a balance to how you shove yourself down everyone’s throat. It’s easy to promote every time you wipe your butt. Please resist. Take it from a guy who just went through a major album promotion: Wait to promote when and where appropriate. For me, that was my album project. I didn’t talk about anything but that when it was time to talk about it, and even that was too much for some people. But that’s okay because “those people” weren’t my audience. One composer said that I was “over-saturating to the point of [him] not caring anymore”… to which I retorted, “You’ll be happy to know that you aren’t my demo. Thank you for confirming that my PR company isn’t wasting my money on poor market research.” Find out who you really need to market to and leverage the data ONLY WHEN you have something to market. The rest of the time, shut the hell up and create something marketable. Decide early on who you are as a Creative: an artist, an author, a social maven, a community-builder, etc… and work that angle when and where appropriate. If you do more than one of those things, terrific! Do each one when and where appropriate. Find your balance. Draw from your well as often as you need to, but always with your artistic equity in mind. Sooner or later your social bank account will run dry and there you’ll be. Keep mindful of that day, as it is inevitable and healthy. Every project has a shelf life. Be ready to know what yours should be and promote it when and where appropriate.

2. Reality

Consider what it really takes to do this well. This is a hell of a lot of hard work. There are no shortcuts, there is no easy way to the top, there is no secret formula for success. Well, there is… through a hell of a lot of hard work. If you want to be famous, you are in the wrong business. People don’t get famous being artists anymore. They get famous being half-naked on Carls Jr. ads and having manipulative reality shows. You have to be in this for the love of the art. Not the love of the people; not the love of the recognition; certainly not the love of money. You have to love what you do. That’s it. That’s all there is. Even if a single person wouldn’t have purchased the album I just finished, I still had to finish it… for ME. Not for my wife, not for you, not for anyone else but me. It was purely a thing that needed to come out of me, as your art needs to come out of you. That’s reality. It’s not about getting “placements”, box office numbers, being visible or being the big wig in the community. It’s about what makes you happy to produce. That’s it. Anything anyone tells you differently is selling something you just don’t need. The reality of this business is that it will always be about the tunes. Never will it ever be about anything else. The music matters, not the hype. The current hype will always fade to make room for the next generation of “hype-ees”. But the good music will always be here. And making good music is a tough thing to do. There is no easy way but to just bear down and ply the craft. That’s it.

1. The Word “No”

Consider the word “no” a new action word that you don’t use enough. There is an interesting meme floating around about the word “no” and an even more interesting article by Kevin Ashton regarding the word “no” as it pertains to an artistic ecology. I happen to agree with Kevin’s opinion on artists and their time. I’ve written about it on this very blog. But I also think this concept works both ways. The cool thing to say is that you “are” your art. That it is all-consuming, and dammit… if people don’t get that about you, well… then they just don’t get you at all. That’s a nice sentiment, but it’s a loa of crap. If you have chosen the life of a commercial artist, then you don’t get that luxury. If you are some beatnik fire-dancing lost-marbles artist, then sure, okay. I’ll give you a pass. But if you make art for money, sorry — you don’t get everything you want. You have responsibilities. You have someone to take care of if you’ve chosen to be a commercial artist, and even if that someone is you, so be it… you still have a nut to crack every month. A better way to view this concept in that case is not to get really good at saying “no” to people who want your time, but rather to get really good at saying “no” to the projects that aren’t worth your time. That way you can have more time with the people who are.

Art fades. Product has an arc. It’s here and it’s gone. It’s not important in the long run. But people are. They don’t fade. Sure, they come in and out of your life, but how you treat them and what you say and do to them lasts a lifetime. Technically, so can art; da Vinci probably didn’t realize we’d be staring at the Mona Lisa all this time later, but we are… and does anyone care? Do you think of ‘ol Mona when you hug your kids at night? Of course not. Because she doesn’t matter. She’s a picture some dude made a long time ago that had nothing to do with you. It wasn’t even for you. You don’t ultimately care because you weren’t around.

But your children are. Your significant other is. Your parents might be or your sister or your brother. Right now. Today. All those people in your life who’ve invested heavily in your happiness. Will you say “no” to them because you want to crank out a few more stanzas? A few more strokes? A few more paragraphs? A few more roles?

Look, I’m not saying this life we live — the Creative Life — is an open door, that we should be attentive always to what is required around us to the detriment of our own creativity. We must be left to create, for sure. But as I said before, there is a balance. Finding that balance can be a real doozy of a trick, or finding it can be as simple as just choosing to build it into your life from the start.