Repetition is Not Insanity

Doing be afraid to do it over and over again

Photo by Dolo Iglesias on Unsplash

The way I write this newsletter every week in addition to

The Sunday Bagel

is that early in the morning I sit down and take notes on what has been going through my mind lately.

As the day progresses and I do things like listen to podcasts or read ebooks, I try to remember to keep adding to the note file.

Then when it comes time to write the newsletters, the neutrons mix with electrons in critical mass by way of just start scrolling through the file, and very quickly I find something to write about.

This entry caught my eye that I want to share with you today:

The most important thing is not whether or not people read, listen or hit like on your work. It’s that you continue to do it.

Woh. That one’s heavy like HP Sauce.

It won’t take long before the inner critic has a crack at it. And what that crack says, “the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

We have an aversion to insanity, so when we hear this quote we get afraid of continuing onwards even though things aren’t working out exactly as planned for us.

But the rub is: there is undoubtedly an aspect of insanity to repeating the same mistakes over and over again. However there is nothing insane about showing up to practice your craft over and over again and iron those mistakes out.

The more we doubt ourselves in doing our Most Creative Work, the more we shy away from doing it.

A New Relationship With Social

The common denominator these days is that we use social media to help promote our work, but social can be deflating when it feels like it will take forever to grow an audience and we just don’t have the patience to work with algorithms.

So this letter is a reminder that if you are looking to share your work on social, don’t do it for fleeting likes and engagement metrics. Do it for personal growth.

• Every post is going to teach you something about your work and your outlook on life.

• Every post makes your work more real than when it sits in your note files.

• Every post is a chance to play around and not care what other people think of you and to not let tech companies control your emotional states.

This approach radiates to other work too, if you are looking to release an album, a gallery show or a digital product. Get in the habit of not letting positive or negative responses alter what you are looking for in life.

Some level of feedback is good, but also realize that we are often getting feedback from a very small sample size when it comes to our inner network of friends. If the work is exciting to you, then keep doing it.

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My workshop on Keeping Your Projects Moving did not have enough registrants, but there was interest in the recording so in accordance with the name of the workshop I will still be recording it tonight, and it will be a part of my catalog.

If you had been on the fence and still want to join along then you can sign up here (promo code IAMCREATIVE).

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Thanks for reading and I hope you will consider sharing some of your work this week if you have been feeling a bit blocked lately in this regard.

Elliott