So, you want to know what is The Secret of Success in Life for Creatives.
Let me tell you a story from many years ago.
I was about 15 years old and I had been playing basketball in a small team for about 2 years. I loved Basketball, I watched NBA on TV all day and was going every weekend to the Basket Arena to support the main team of my town. My goal was to be like Michael Jordan. Honestly, I was not such a good player, but anyway.. That was my goal. So I decided to change team and I applied for another team’s summer camp.. This team had a very good reputation in my area, So, in my mind that was the right way.
I spent 2 months during the summer with them, training as hell with the goal of joining their main team… I felt that I was improving a lot.
When September came, the coach published the composition of the teams… Well surprise surprise, I was not in team A, I was in team B. Nooo way.. I was destroyed, my goal was not met.. So what? I decided to quit Basketball… Years later, I still regret having abandoned basketball… and I abandoned many other things in my life because I was not able to meet the expectations I myself fixed.
As a Creative, I still needed to create, invent, discover things.. So I kept starting new adventures… I cannot even tell how many musical instruments I started to learn..
It took me years to start analysing my behaviour.. And you know what? During my forties, I realised that the secret is not to focus on the final objective. The secret to success is enjoying the process.
As a Creative, I enjoy creating, discovering new things, and making mistakes for the simple pleasure of knowing more.
Do you know what FAIL means? It is not something negative. It is the acronym for FIRST ATTEMPT IN LEARNING.
So, now Let’s get back to my basketball experience. My goal, as I said, was to get in the main team and then be like Michael Jordan… I was focused on the goal. The correct approach would have been to play just for the pleasure of playing, having fun, enjoying every day this activity and feeling accomplished in my life. Maybe, one day, I would have been a good player, maybe even the best… or maybe I would have remained a mediocre player… Anyway, I would have enjoyed playing basketball for many years.
So, this is my advice to you: do something you like, do it for the pleasure of doing it, keep on FAILing on it. You will have a great life and you could even become the best.
Isn’t this a great secret for success in life? 😉
See you tomorrow.
