So you’re a creative person whose work rarely gets noticed? You wallow in a pissy puddle of envy, thinking, why am I not more popular?

What am I doing wrong, you ask, and why don’t people give a shit? -stop it! ~ IbraDanCreative GetOut! Stories

Consider the possibility that you are where you should be in your journey, but perhaps you need to put in a more focused effort.

Crafting a masterpiece worthy of accolades is an art form that takes energy and time to realize. So embrace the messiness of your trials and errors.

Put your ‘stuff’ out there, test your wild ideas, stay focused, appreciate the feedback, and repeat the process until satisfied.

But guess what; you’ll never be satisfied, so you’ll keep trying, and then a funny thing will happen. Over time, you’ll gain competence and results as people notice your creations.

You’ll look back at your initial road kill, compare it to your latest perceived plate of vomit, and beam with joy at the improvement.

Getting better sneaks up on you like a bee in your beer on a sunny patio day.

Teachers would cringe at my high school essays. I almost got fired from a job for poorly written emails. But, two decades later, I was writing multi-million dollar proposals and winning the bid with my team.

Today, I find writing stories and producing unique perspectives with media enjoyable to the point that I get a ‘woodie’ looking back at my best work. (Relax, it’s a figure of speech…eh!)

“If English is not your mother tongue and slang throws you a curve ball (no pun intended), a Woody is a term a father uses to explain the sensation a male might receive when he thinks lustful thoughts.”

“So chill. I only get a real woodie when appropriate, my man — but I digress.”

A quick story…..

I remember years ago wanting to learn how to play the piano. At my first lesson, I thumped a six-inch songbook in the teacher’s palms and said; I want to play Billy Joel’s Piano Man by the new year. — His reply; Of what year, you silly egomaniac? Let’s start with ‘Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star and a few cords.

A month later, halfway through my fourth lesson, failing to practice, he reached into his pocket, handed my money back, and said, “I quit as your teacher. You just don’t get it. Learning and creativity are processes that must be respected. Your ego is more concerned with likes and attention than putting in the hard work. I prefer to teach humble little children who put in the effort and submit to my instructions.”

I walked out of the room with my tail between my legs. Sadly, a few months earlier, I had bought a $5000 piano (on credit) and ended up selling it for a measly $900 to my Dental Hygienist.

A lovely Filipino lady whose seven-year-old son had learnt his chords and was slated to perform in a piano recital on New Year’s Eve of that year. The little guy had it figured out.

That was one of the biggest pieces of humble berry pie ever force-fed to me.

I’ve come a long way since my 30’s

Pulling a creative rabbit out of your backside to please others is hard work that requires time and effort. It’s even harder to convince someone to cough up the hard-earned dough for your rabbit creation.

Part of the problem is that we live in an age of instant gratification, easy accolades, and little creativity.

I can post offensive, not-relevant pictures of my morning turd on social media, and I’ll get at least eight likes. (Try it and see what happens)

Today’s likes and claps are as easy to get as the hairs on your grandmother’s chin (respect).

A more valued success metric is when viewers subscribe, regularly come back to you, consume more of your work, and take the time to post a respectful, insightful comment.

Better yet, they send you a non-spammy private message. Finally and ultimately, they compensate you for your offerings.

Life in the blogosphere does not get any better than that, my friend.

Let’s recap: Stop comparing yourself to others, forget chasing likes and claps, and be yourself!

Class dismissed……

Humbly yours,