Arriving Not Allowed.

When I was in architecture school, there was this mantra always floating around the studio, “You’re only as good as what you last pinned up.” This expression speaks volumes to any artist or creatively driven person because each and every project is a tabula rasa… a chance to make something from nothing. You must keep producing great work time and time again or the harsh and critical world might discover that you’re just another fraud. We’re a culture filled with armchair quarterbacks, where the only thing better than rooting for your protagonist is bringing them to their knees when they don’t deliver.

NO ARRIVING

Creative people are driven by their work - by making, generating, building and so on. An artist is only as good as his or her last creation… last project, last album, last deign, last painting, last film, etcetera. Ever hear of the sophomore slump? Whether it’s a bands second album, athletes second season, or a movie sequel, we all understand the tendency for certain creative endeavors not to live up to the standards of the first effort. The hope of any artist is to avoid this inclination and flourish with one success after the other. Too often though, “fade away” becomes the inevitable epitaph of those that were once great.

The risk of being cast down with the socially stigmatized “one hit wonders” of the world drives many artists to keep evolving… that and hopefully a genuine love for what they do. Think about it. The best artists continue delivering inspiring work and that challenge becomes an addiction because it’s fresh every time – like a creative adrenaline rush.

Great artists don’t have a final destination. They never arrive. Even if you’re at the top your particular creative food chain, the moment you “think” you’ve arrived – that’s the moment life sucker-punches you in the gut and watches your ego deflate faster than balloon at a toddler’s birthday bash. So… don’t do it. Don’t get off the bus just because the spotlight momentarily focuses on you. Just keep swimming… because to be able to do what you love again and again, without cutting your ear off… that is a gift. Don’t forget it. Don’t arrive.