“I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.” Michael Jordan
When we see someone reach a high level of success, we tend to think they got lucky, or had super-secret God given talent, or sold their soul to the devil. They just make it look so easy.
Through the many years of growing the art business of Drew Brophy, we’ve had spurts of fortune and elation. We’ve also suffered dry spells where our projects were rejected and the money just wasn’t coming.
Many times during a drought, Drew and I would find ourselves working twice as hard for half as much. Exhausted, we’d look at each other and ask “Why are we doing this?” But then, a new opportunity would present itself and we’d find ourselves washed over with passion once again, renewed with energy and excitement. And now, after years of commitment to our passion, we finally can breathe a little easier.
Recently Drew gave a lecture to artists on success principles. A lady in the front row was a muralist, and she had been plugging away at her craft for many years. Though she had many achievements, she was frustrated at how hard it was to break through to the next level in her art career. She had too many rejections, and she wanted to know what she was doing wrong.
Drew’s answer to her was “You aren’t doing anything wrong. It’s just hard.”
Artist, director and producer Tim Burton is a great example of how much work you may have to put in to find the reward when you are attempting to do something BIG. We’ve seen the results of Burton’s sweat and tears through his dark, creepy films such as Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissor Hands and Beetlejuice, all of which were wildly popular.
What we haven’t seen is just how many of Tim Burton’s films were turned down and never made it to the big screen. Seth Godin just wrote a post about the countless projects that Burton put months and years into that never made it to completion.
When I read Seth’s article, I felt great encouragement! If Tim Burton has suffered more failures than I have, then maybe that’s just what I have to do. Fail more often. Keep producing projects and don’t stop (like my 2 years of producing a TV Show that still hasn’t been picked up).
I realized that so many of the projects and ideas that Drew and I have had that didn’t make it were just part of the trail that lead us to the projects that did make it.
Michael Jordan has said of allowing yourself to fail: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
It’s not that we are doing anything wrong. It’s just hard to do great things. (And that’s okay.)
Maria xxoo
