Required: an accessible place to work that makes realizing dreams Convenient
So, I've half-decided & half-it's happening involuntarily to change by life by way of Taking Myself Seriously. My work, my art, my talents - viewing it all as a real thing, a real responsibility (to myself & the world), a real life purpose which is meaningful & important.
I know up to this point, Lbs has been a fashion/style/architecture blog, but now I'm branching out into self-improvement for the sake of evolution & to share stories along the strange road of the human condition in this modern life.
I googled "take yourself seriously" today & pared down/rewrote a couple of other peoples' good ideas that are already having a positive effect. This post will is about the importance of actively viewing our passion as possible, valuable & Serious!
Guiette House designed by Le Corbusier in 1926
Here’s
the thing: We all start small & sloppy, using our bedrooms & kitchens
as makeshift studios, using whatever sparse, spare hours we can on the thing we
really enjoy – our passion.
We
all start as hobbyists, enthusiasts, etc. We give away our work as gifts or sell
it at garage sales, or if we’re really ambitious, tiny craft fairs like little
kids at a lemonade stand.
But guess what, You are NOT that anymore!
If you keep thinking of yourself as a hobbyist it will hold you back big time.
You are a professional, an
artisan, and a guru. You know SO much
about your craft. You are bursting with talent. You have a skill
unlike most people.
So why aren’t you shouting it from
the rooftops & blasting it on a website?
Can you not take a compliment with a straight face? Are you not claiming your worth?
Berndnaut Smilde's self-made cloud, Nimbus II, 2012
Get sick of disrespecting yourself. Diminishing & belittling your talent & desire.
You would not disrespect anyone else this much, so why yourself?
Below chunk is based on statements taken from:
http://www.rookiemag.com/2012/03/on-taking-yourself-seriously/
Your ambitions and desires are what give you a sense of self. If you
don’t know what you want from life, it’s easy not try, or to define yourself based
on your friends or lovers & what they’re doing. Seeking their approval or
love can be in an effort to form your identity. You might tell yourself helping
others or being a good listener is all the identity you require. But you can’t
rely on others for that sense of self, because relationships are often
impermanent. People can take away their approval, interest, or support at any
time.
To form your sense of self separate from others’ views of you, think
about what you enjoy, no matter how simple or ‘average’ you think it is. If
money and time were no object, how would you like to spend your time? What was
your favourite activity as a child? Think of your favourite memories? Where
were you & What was happening?
Barbara Kruger's lithograph & serigraph on paper, Untitled (Be), 1985
When you know how you want to spend your time, which activity makes you
feel accomplished, you are learning what you want. Knowing what you want &
believing you have what it takes to get it—building your self-approval—helps
you feel good about yourself despite what is going on with other people in your
life.
These are your interests & passions, unique to you. The difference
between you and a ‘successful’ person – a person who is doing what you’d like
to be doing – is that they took themselves seriously! Start taking yourself seriously as someone who can potentially do the
thing you want to do. See yourself as a person who is making daily choices that
direct your life towards your passion – the activity you want to spend your
time doing. Regret & low self-esteem happen when we start to believe that
the life or career we want will never happen. Why won’t they happen? Because we
aren’t trying. And why aren’t we trying? Because We Aren’t Taking Ourselves
Seriously!
This life is not a dress rehearsal. This is The Life, right Now!
Form a vision
of what you really want to happen in your life. Envision it in your mind, clear
as day, as though it’s your reality.
You are not a puppet that has someone else pulling the strings! You call
the shots. You control your life. If there is Anyone doing what you wish you
could do, then it is Possible to do it. And if there is no one doing it, then
you can be the trailblazer & lead the way.
Coustilleres' hat factory, Septfonds, France
Excerpt from a NY Times Magazine article published this past Sunday entitled:
"What Hollywood Can Teach Us About the Future of Work" by Adam Davidson
"This approach to business is sometimes called the “Hollywood model.” A project is identified; a team is assembled; it works together for precisely as long as is needed to complete the task; then the team disbands. This short-term, project-based business structure is an alternative to the corporate model, in which capital is spent up front to build a business, which then hires workers for long-term, open-ended jobs that can last for years, even a lifetime.
With the Hollywood model, ad hoc teams carry out projects that are large and complex, requiring many different people with complementary skills. The Hollywood model is now used to build bridges, design apps or start restaurants.
Our economy is in the midst of a grand shift toward the Hollywood model. More of us will see our working lives structured around short-term, project-based teams rather than long-term, open-ended jobs."
Below is some good (edited) advice from:
http://indieinkpublishing.com/are-you-taking-yourself-seriously-as-a-writer/
I altered & condensed it so that it isn't just for writers !
Take yourself seriously. If you don’t take yourself and your craft seriously, why
should anybody else? Work on your passion like it’s your job. Still, you’re
only human, so don’t beat yourself up for the days life gets in the way.
Lady Gaga & Lady Starlight around 2007 --which means she was taking her self seriously at 21
Go to events. People are scary,
yes, but If you want people to recognize you, you’ll have to put a face to a
name eventually. Go anywhere someone is doing something even remotely related
to your passion. Don’t just go out with the intention of networking—people can
tell, and it’s gross. Go out with the intention of having fun and meeting
like-minded people. And don’t just go to events you know you’ll love. Try
something new. Just go.
Be active on social media. Accept that social media is existentially
questionable, and move on. Use the
absurdity of the medium to your advantage: follow and befriend your role
models or people in the industry. And then, after you’ve followed them,
interact with them! Do something that shows you’re worth following back. Be
interactive. Don’t just post or tweet about your own events. Always be
conscious of your agenda, but don’t draw attention to it. Get involved in the
conversation.
school tried to show us we need a workspace in order to work on things.
Submit your work, Enter
contests etc. Regardless of your end goal, you shouldn’t
just be submitting your work to the top of food chain companies/galleries etc you
should also be submitting your work to small places, other artists for
potential group shows, and contests as well. You’re going to be rejected – don’t
take it personally. Submitting your work
is the only way to ever make a name for yourself, though, and they’re never
going to publish you if you don’t send them your work. So submit.
Barbara Kruger's "Will"
The best way to maximize your chances of getting noticed is
to research what they’ve recently done, their style, so that you can submit
only your relevant work - don’t waste your time or theirs. When a person is
being paid minimally (or perhaps not at all!) to slog through thousands of
submissions a year, they will not spend time on your piece if it doesn’t adhere
to the guidelines on their submissions page. With a bit of preparation and a
lot of perseverance, a bit of common sense and luck, the quality of your work
will eventually speak for itself.
