Back to the Shop

One thing that will stop you from doing the work you need to do to get to where you want and need to be, is paying too much attention to what the other guy is doing. You want to get somewhere in life, you need to put your head down and work. It's all about the work. It has to be about the work, because it's the work that will stand. Not excuses, not what you meant to do. What stands in front of you and your audience is the work.

I think I worry to much about what other people do. I look at the runner ahead of me and then I lose my footing, my confidence, my stride, I wonder if there's a point. There is a point. There's always a point. But so much of it is psychological, being in the right frame of mind. Accept your strengths and weaknesses and do the best you can do. You can only do the best you can do. And the next time, after you've learned a little more, you do a little better. And in time, with experience and persistence, you may find you've got to where you wanted to be. Or, most likely, you've arrived somewhere completely different and it's better than anything you could have imagined. The runner in front is in front because he's put the leg work in. You want to get to where he is, pass him out, put the hours in.

We're humans, we're naturally nosey. We want to peak through the neighbour's curtains and see what they're up to. I mean, is there anything more thrilling than the neighbours having a blistering row?! It's better than a movie! You stop your movie to listen. Some people take it too far of course. Those people are called stalkers and they get in trouble with the law, have restraining orders and sometimes go to prison. But now, in this strange age we live in, we've all been given a free license to be stalkers. It is now socially acceptable to approach someone you may only be acquainted with and relay everything they're are doing in there lives. The first time it happened to me I was shocked, disturbed, worried. I thought, how the hell does this guy know all this about me? I hardly know him, in fact, I don't even know his name! Then is occurred to me. Facebook. I give it all away for free. I've invited them in. And then, part of you needs to feed that, to keep updating, to keep giving. In the future I think you'll find privacy in a museum along side dinosaurs.

On the flip side is the watching. Seeing what everyone is doing. For me, sometimes, if someone gets a little ahead, a little taste of success, there is jealousy. I'll admit it. There's no resentment, generally I'm happy for the person, it's more to do with disappointment in myself and that I haven't achieved that, that I'm not up there. I guess in someways it's a good thing. It's a reminder that I still want it. But it's also detrimental I think. To be bombarded with this running commentary, daily, hourly, minute to minute. I need to live my life. There is enough rejection and failure in this world for artists without having a page, or two, where you can check in daily to feel even more disappointed in yourself.

It is self fulfilling. It's no one's fault but my own. If I didn't look I wouldn't see and I wouldn't get annoyed about it. The carpenter who spends his time looking in the window of the other guy's shop, wondering why he's selling more, is missing the point. Get back to your own shop. Put your head down and carve something.