Make It Till You Make It: 40 Myths & Truths About Creating

by Brendan Leonard

The fact is, it takes no mental or physical effort to have a dream, especially if you continually procrastinate the actual work it would take to realize that dream. Making something, on the other hand, and having the courage to put it out there, will require hours of trying, fucking up, re-doing, worrying if it’s good enough or true enough or exactly what you wanted to say in the first place, and more hours of trying, before you nervously send it out to whatever audience you believe needs it. And all that stuff is the scary part, which is why all those big ideas never get started in the first place and die at the bottom of a beer glass or under a pile of other stuff we think is “more important.”

There seems to be a special breed of people whose only mission is to spend 10 seconds taking down something that took someone else days or months or years to create. They’re toxic, angry, sad, insecure people, and they will find you someday, if your art reaches a big enough audience.

If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll never be ready. No one is ever ready. If you’re ready for whatever it is, whatever it is will be boring the entire time you’re working on it.

Scrolling is procrastinating, and it’s making you less interesting. You need stillness in order for your mind to create, so put down your phone, close your laptop, go for a walk, and when you come back, create whatever it is you’re going to create.

Or, maybe you’re full of shit. All those excuses don’t produce anything besides more procrastination.

A camera, or a stylish notebook, or a sleek laptop, are all just tools. The art comes from the person, their experiences, their knowledge of how to communicate their vision, their mastery of whatever tools they use, and their drive.

Someone out there is always going to be more successful than you, have more fans than you, more Facebook likes than you, more recognition than you, and more awards than you. Hating on them isn’t going to make your art any better; it’s just making you look like a bitter asshole—or, if you do enough of it, it’s making you actually become a bitter asshole.

Self-help author James Altucher recommends a practice of writing down ideas for a certain amount of time each day. Good ideas, bad ideas, half-formed ideas, doesn’t matter—just get them out.

If your story is “look at me,” that’s not a good story.

Matthew Inman, the famous creator of The Oatmeal, wrote in a comic in 2016: “A friend once told me creativity is like breathing. When you make stuff, you're exhaling.” Inman then went on to explain that he spends a lot of time “inhaling,” consuming creative work from diverse sources.

Yes, you’re busy. I understand. We’re all busy. Take a hard look at your day and be honest with yourself: you’re filling it up with bullshit.