How to Recover from Success
Its a habit of doing, a consistency of output, of making stuff, finishing and shipping it, then going back and doing it all over again and again and again.
– 2 min read
The 80 Year Old Jazz Musician
Phil, a musician friend of mine is a bass player who plays session work with some of the biggest names in jazz.
He told me that these 80 year old musicians don't make mistakes.
They physically can’t.
They don’t know how to.
They've been in the habit of ‘doing’ everyday for sixty plus years and their level of proficiency is off the scale.
The Habit of Doing
Artists, writers, film makers, musicians and designers all live in hope of being able to create something.
This is their livelihood.
And in order to create something they must enter a state known as ‘Flow’.
It can also be compared to waiting for lightning to strike in the same place everyday. The thing with waiting for lightning to strike is that there are steps successful artists take to increase the chances.
They have a habit of ‘doing’.
Its a consistency of output, of making stuff, finishing and shipping it, then going back and doing it all over again. Mastering their craft and incrementally increasing the chance of success.
A Catalogue of Work
Having a catalogue of work does something to how we’re perceived by our audience and increases the likelihood of a lightning strike.
For an author with a dozen books completed and released, no matter how commercially successful, the one she’s working on right now has an extra aura about it and a far better chance of success than if it was her first. She’s regarded differently by her audience and critics alike. She’s a professional. And how did she get here? By doing the first dozen books.
As an entrepreneur, your past creations, businesses and products count for a lot when gaining attention and credibility for your latest efforts. There’s no such thing as the perfect business or product, they all need tweaking to some extent. Better to release something that’s 90% complete than to not release at all.
The only caveat I’d include here would be when producing expensive physical products - get as close to 100% as you can otherwise it will come back to bite you.
The secret to big success is to keep going after you have the small successes
Maintain our output when we’ve had a success: when our product is worn by a high profile celebrity; we hit the best seller list on Amazon; we land an acting part with a name director; a gig backing a successful artist; a design project with a major studio; a commission; a show on Netflix…
Doing it is hard.
You’ve spent the past ten or fifteen years in the habit of ‘doing’ and striving and now, finally this first success feels like you’ve really ‘done’ it. You want to take your foot off the accelerator. You want to stop, celebrate, take a look around at this new magical kingdom you’ve been granted entry to.
But the thing is, you can’t.
Its a sticky trap. Its the Hotel California of productivity.
Allow yourself a moment to catch your breath, celebrate. Then get straight back to work.
The most successful business people, entrepreneurs and creatives never break their habit of ‘doing’. This is how the pros become pros.
