It evaporates the moment you touch it

The work is its own reward. 

To look beyond that is foolish. 

If you can get paid for the art you make, that’s great. If you can build a career out of it, that’s a miracle. 

But any remuneration that you think will set you free and make the slog worthwhile, it’s just stardust. It evaporates the moment you touch it. 

All that matters is the process. The journey. The lessons you learn and the people you meet, the obstacles you overcome along the way, and the growth of your soul as a result. 

Because nobody can take that away from you. 

Gilbert’s masterful exploration of the ebbs and flows of the creative process helped clarify this principle for me. She helped me let go of needless suffering around my work by reminding me of several artistic truths:

People murder their creativity by demanding their art pays the bills. They scare it away by demanding that it pay for their entire existence. But it’s not the world’s fault you wanted to be an artist. It’s not the world’s obligation to pay for your dreams. And so, don’t burden your art with the responsibility of subsidizing your life. That only makes stress out of something that should be a joy and a release. 

It’s such a liberating and encouraging philosophy. Particularly if you’re the kind of person whose stomach gets twisted into balloon animals when he’s forced to assign monetary value to his intellectual property. 

Who cares? I never wanted to be a small business owner, I just wanted to make stuff and share it with people. That’s it. That process was enough for me. Probably always will be. 

The sacred experience of inhaling inspiration, capturing ideas, concepting projects, executing plans and sharing results, that’s a journey scratches every itch that I have. 

Everything else is bullshit. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…  

Are you making a psychic burden out of something that should be a joyous relief?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 

The Nametag Guy in action here!