3 Reasons Why You Should Just Share Your Work With the World
Words of Encouragement for Creative People
Like always, I want to tell you what you will be reading in this essay so that those who are impatient or short on time can decide if they want to read the whole thing or skip to the more "practical" stuff right away.
I want to share 3 pieces of advice when it comes to creative expression. I actually never planned on writing this for Existential Espresso. This is something that I came up with when thinking about what I wanted to say to one of the most important people in my life. Someone who I believe has a lot to share with the world. And I wanted to encourage them to do it. I came up with probably too many things to say. But these 3 things that I am about to share seemed to me like clear pieces of advice that could be useful not only to the person I was writing them for, but for anyone who is hesitant about expressing themselves through some form of creative work.
What I am about to share is not in any way specific to sharing your work on social media but refers to all forms of creative expression. Therefore, in the rest of the text, you won’t find any tactics or "hacks" for growing on social media, because I don’t have any.
Let me start off with a story. I promise, it’s all relevant to what I want to share with you.
In my senior year of high school, I found myself in the principle’s office with a couple of other students. We were taking turns talking with the principle. The whole conversation had the tone of an argument. But, being the immature and impatient high schoolers that we were, none of us was able to talk with a cool head and get their point across in a way that would be acknowledged and respected by the principle. That is, no one except this one guy.
I never felt so far behind someone my age like I did while listening to him talk that day. At that point in my life, I had tried different sports, and I'd experienced what it’s like to compete with someone who is light years ahead of me in terms of talent. I’ve been going to the gym, and I felt what it’s like to see someone my age, a teenager, be stronger than most 30-year-old men. But this was a new feeling.
The way this guy was talking, the way he was expressing himself, was more eloquent than most adults I’ve met in my life up to that point. And I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by educated and wise people quite often. It was clear after a few sentences that both his ability to think and to express his thoughts were far greater than the principle’s.
I felt ashamed of myself. I had been raised by a mother who placed a lot of value on the ability to express yourself through words, so I was always encouraged to speak eloquently. And I believed that I was pretty good at it. But as I was listening to this guy speak, I realized what it actually means to develop the ability to express yourself through words. To use a running metaphor, I was taking jogs, thinking that I was a runner. This guy was running marathons without breaking a sweat.
The only thing that made me feel a little bit better that day was my awareness of time. I was 18 years old, and there was still time for me to grow. The person who was visibly defeated that day was the principal. A student spoke, took away all his authority, and claimed it for himself. Just with the power of words.
Fast forward to today, and the eloquent guy from the principle’s office is someone who I consider family. From that day until now, he has never stopped growing. And his growth wasn’t linear either - it has been exponential all the way through. It's just that, after that day, I didn't allow myself to just stand and watch him. I made sure to learn from him and grow in the process. So if there is any quality that you see in my thinking and writing today, it has primarily been the result of me trying to catch up to this guy. And this brings me to the point of this essay.
I had very little strategy throughout my online writing journey. I never had a master plan of what it is that I’m trying to achieve and how I’m going to achieve it. I just made sure to show up every day and see where that takes me. However, there was one thing that I wanted. You could even say something I dreamed of. If I was able to gain traction with my writing and build some kind of following, I wanted to use it to give a platform to the person who was such a big part of my growth. If people are willing to hear what I have to say and even seek advice from me, they will surely benefit from hearing the person that I go to for advice. The guy who set the standard for me when it comes to constantly seeking to educate myself and develop as a person.
I guess you get an idea of how highly I think of him and how confident I am in his abilities. So imagine my confusion when, after telling him that I wanted to share some of his writing on Existential Espresso, I felt hesitation on his side. In my mind, if I am willing to share my writing with other people daily, he should be at least twice as confident about sharing his. But then I took some time to think about it more objectively. And I realized. There is a difference between creating something and putting it out into the world. Creating something, expressing yourself in any way, is already difficult and scary enough on its own. But sharing it with others is terrifying.
So, as I said at the beginning of this essay, I started thinking about what I could say to encourage him. Encourage him not only to create but also to share his work. Out of everything I came up with, these are the 3 things that I believe can apply to anyone, regardless of their individual situation or the type of work they are hesitant to share.
Action precedes confidence, not the other way around.
I think every single one of us has found themselves in a situation where we think that confidence precedes action. Once you are confident enough, you will take action.
Well, let me tell you something as a person who has spent most of his life being extremely insecure but now finds himself being told how bold he is to try this thing or take that chance. It’s impossible to be 100% confident when taking action. In this case, whether it’s the act of creating something or sharing it. And if it were possible, being 100% confident would only mean that you waited for too long.
What I suggest is something that feels like confidence but is actually better: courage.
Courage means that you are not 100% confident; you are not certain about the outcome of what you are about to attempt, but you still move forward.
When we admire certain individuals for their confidence, it is often not confidence that they have, but courage.
The best thing about this? Courage is a matter of choice.
Choose the attitude of courage. Take action. Earn and develop confidence.
Imperfection is better than hesitation
To the first point, you might say, "But I have a valid reason not to be confident or courageous. I am still not good enough."
You will never be "good enough," whatever that means.
What you will be if you start right now is closer to that elusive ideal of "good enough." You will continually get closer to it. And you will become content with never fully reaching it.
On the other hand, if you keep hesitating, you will only get further away from that ideal of being "good enough."
Whether you will actually be further away because hesitation is preventing you from improving or whether you will just grow more insecure because of hesitation, we cannot know. Probably both.
So, instead of having to wonder why you are even further away from being "good enough," I suggest you take action and quickly begin to wonder, "Wow, who knows how much better I can get?"
Why you shouldn’t care about the opinions of others
This might be the most overlooked piece of advice when it comes to sharing your work with the world. And yet, fear of the opinions of others is often people’s biggest obstacle.
It took me quite some time to realize this, but I have great news for you.
Those who approach your work with the intention of truly seeing or hearing what it is that you have to share will be more supportive and less judgmental than you could ever imagine. Even if they don’t agree with what you are expressing or don’t really enjoy it, they will respect the work you put in and your courage to put yourself out there.
On the other hand, no matter how hard you try, you will never be good enough for those who approach your work with the intention of judging it. There is nothing you could do to get their approval.
If this is true, and I promise you it is, why waste your time and energy worrying about how others will react to your work?
The last thing I could say to try to convince you to follow these 3 pieces of advice is this:
I was the one who had no confidence. I was the one who was always hesitating because he thought that he wasn’t good enough. I was the one who was paralyzed by the fear of what other people would think about my work. I am still all of those things, at least to some extent. I just choose defeat them every single day.
If that’s who I am, but you are reading what I have to say, I think one thing is clear to both of us: you have zero excuses left.
Go, create, and put yourself out there.
P.S. Yes, the intention behind this essay is to give you value but also to call out the person that I was initially writing this for. If I have managed to get you interested and he reads this, I think he'll have no choice but to show you why it is that I'm so excited about sharing his thoughts with you.
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Worth remarking: Actions come before praise, before confidence. Share your vision, cultivate it, learn from it. Thanks for the call, friend!
Interesting, a call for action