“All is in a man’s hands and he lets it slip from cowardice, that’s an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new
step, uttering a new word is what they fear most…But I am talking too much. It’s because I chatter that I do nothing. Or perhaps it is that I chatter because I do nothing.”
Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky.
I’ve met so many creative people who tell me about their wonderful ideas for projects or for career moves: they know they are good but they don’t execute them. What is it that keeps them from moving forward? What is it about that job that we are sure we would be brilliant at but don’t go after? That film we don’t make, the book we don’t write, the business we don’t start? Is it, as Dostoevsky suggests, cowardice? We love to chatter of our ambitions and what we are about to start. What are we afraid of? It often seems that we would prefer to carry on with our low level of dissatisfaction than take a flyer on something we know to be good. Perhaps we are afraid of it not turning out the way we imagined – notice I don’t say “failing” – but I have written before about Edison and what he can teach us here.
I know, I know, you need to keep your job – the job you don’t love so much. The rent has to be paid. But when you sitting in your rent-paid house or apartment are you sitting there being vaguely unhappy, or worse?
Do not fear. Work at not fearing. Probably you do not actually have to make a choice between the status quo and whatever adventure is next. This is black-and-white thinking. If there is some job you are interested in or some project that is clearly worth doing – do you really have to throw everything up to get on the track? Almost certainly not. Once you have a vision or a sense of what it is you are going after – break down the little steps you have to take to get there. What is that first easy step? Is it some research? Is it an email to someone who can help you? Is it setting an hour aside to do a shitty first draft of a business plan? Almost certainly there is some small step that you can take to get on the road, and still not jeopardize the current situation that you..er..value so highly.
I know you have the ideas and can see the greener grass. Creative people always do. Stop chattering about it. Address the fear and take a small step to outflank it. Get going on it and give yourself something to look forward to.
Not knowing has been a powerful ally and I have come to rely heavily on the power of ignorance. As a young ad dude, I wasn’t comfortable with the lack of knowing that made up who I was. So like most young ad dudes I set out to become an expert at my chosen field. I had, like others before me, begun to confuse knowledge and intelligence. This great quest for advertising knowledge led me to climb up various mountains to meet and hear from as many industry gurus as I could. It was time well spent and I learned a great deal. But eventually I was lucky enough to come to the conclusion that nobody really “knew” anything. The best and the brightest were all just finding their way. And the most successful people seemed to be the most prodigious at making it up as they went along. So not knowing has become a formidable ally. An ally that is threatened as you gain years and years of experience. It’s an ally that needs to be protected from dangerous threats like “expertise.”
