Be in the long game (five more thoughts on art, mindsets, and creativity).

If you are an active parent, then you have the tools and experience to be a skilled - and active - artist.

It means you’re probably good at a lot of things that artists need to be good at (or at least middlingly competent at).

Things like multitasking, living in chaotic environments, and accepting the futility of trying to map out everything ahead and have it unfold how you plan. If you are an artist and a parent, find ways to integrate your children into your work - your work process. That doesn’t mean plopping them on social media because, Hey! Cute kids doing art!

It means at a soul-level, getting them involved from early on in the act and joy of creating and birthing something into existence.

Be in the long game.

You probably get jealous seeing what seems like so many people finding success in their field easily and quickly.

I do. I’m human, which means I’m also petty and fight back those shallow impulses.

But I also own up to them. And I know that my love of history also affects my relationship with art. I care more about what I will create over a lifetime, what will be meaningful and last, what will have truth and beauty beyond the adrenaline rush of immediate ‘success.’ Be in it for the long. Doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t find ‘success’ in what you do in the present.

But don’t be so focused on it that you lose track of what you want your work to mean over the long haul. And beyond.

You have to move on from criticism.

You can ignore it, or you can pay attention to it. If you ignore it, you risk missing out on valuable insights or feedback that might be helpful in some way. If you pay attention to it, you risk being discouraged, demoralized, and even paralyzed. You need to commit, ahead of time, to setting boundaries for how you’ll react to others’ reactions.

Don’t get caught up in the praise. Don’t get caught up in the pessimism. Commit to going ahead, regardless.

You might make shifts here and there. I am certainly influenced by the reactions of others, I wish I could say I’m not, but I am. But I am also resolute in continuing to do what I do, no matter the kind words or brutal words.

Decide when you’re done. Then be done.

Seriously. You could keep working and reworking ad infinitum. Commit to finishing, and then moving on. Do it again.

Repeat. Keep going.

Batten down the sulking.

Good things are going to happen to other people. Accept it and work at finding some sense of joy or happiness for them.

Or at least appreciation. Do not waste your energies on envy or jealousy. This is easy to write. It is infinitely difficult to put into practice. But you can get better by practicing. Practice framing the success of others in positive terms that don’t stall or paralyze you. Again, this is one of those things that is equally applicable to art and to life.