To a dreamer
Being a creator is hard. And so, when you see someone smile, don’t question it as a garb to hide an agenda. Cheer for them. That is courage. The investor might have pulled out. A parent may be going through a health crisis. A lover could have decided to breakup for no apparent reason. But they still showed up to send out that email. To get the presentation through. They show up despite what mood they went to bed with, last night. They will breakdown for a while and then pull it all back together before you know it. It going to be your honour to see a dreamer be vulnerable in your presence. Guard their space.
Not everyone will understand you. So tragic. So liberating. Iyanla Vanzant said, “On your way to greatness expect no friends.” I’d like to rephrase it to: Expect friends but only a few. What is inside your head may not always translate into words, vision boards and pitch decks. Give people the benefit of doubt. A lot of it.
Make patience your best friend. When you estimate the time it will take for things to turn around and manifest, add a big buffer to that assumption. A marginal space between your expectation and the reality. One that allows you to breathe easy, not get worked up and hold on when everything tells you its time.
When you will begin, you will need role models. References, moodboards, vision walls that will be pinned up with pictures of people too distant . Plus the people whose faces may never be on that wall but they do an equally important job. They safeguard your innocence. They hold fort against the cynicism and criticism that comes your way. They cheerlead your basic ideas until they bloom into magnanimous blueprints. They light up board meetings and Instagram chambers. Do not forget those names who convince you to set up that first studio, buy that website domain or hire your first staff.
Buy your sense of clarity with the currency of exploration. Do not tread so cautiously that you forget to make any mistakes. Take chances, experiment, hold it tight, let it loose. Be willing to lose. Having knowledge alone isn’t sufficient; knowing when to apply that knowledge at the right place is what the important part.
Don’t stand when you can sit. Meaning: Just because things are hard doesn’t mean you have to be too—on friends, family, lover, the world and yourself. Not everything is an emergency. Respond in accordance. Some emails only say ‘Urgent’ in the subject line, they actually aren’t by the time you reach the signature.
Embrace small beginnings. People park celebrations in the tunnels of milestones. Until the follower base increases to a 100 K, when the turnover is a certain number, when the square foot of the office increases, when the table is branded and the laptop on it is a Mac. ‘Until’ often is a prefix to delayed contentment. A bad prologue to the present moment. You deserve joy even when the excel sheet looks like a word document and the bank account isn’t reflecting a seven figure mark.
Be wannabe. Because that slang means you “Want to be”. Which is far better than people who never enter the ring. Never fight to feel what we deeply crave. To be a wannabe means you choose to sing even when you are tone deaf. You dance even though you have two left feet. Wannabes make an attempt not an excuse. They try and trying sometimes is the first step to arriving anywhere close to the life you hope to have someday.
Remember what Maya Angelou said, “Just because you fail, doesn’t make you a failure.” Even if things don’t work out, you will. You are not defined by an idea, by a position, by a paycheck. We are defined by the way we treat ourselves and the way we treat others. You will do well, irrespective of what happens, if you decide to. It is wonderful to be acclaimed and admired but if that doesn’t happen, then there must be other important things in your life that you turn towards. We don’t get to pick our success and failures but we do get to define them.