100% Dissatisfaction Guaranteed! Get Onboard.

I don’t know the original author of this quote but it used to be part of my email signature for years. “Comfort zones are beautiful places but nothing ever grows there”. My friends, It’s time to get fired up!

If you are “content” with everything in your life I strongly suggest you stop reading here… 100% dissatisfaction is guaranteed if you stay (caveat lectur).

If you have read some of my other blog posts you already know that I believe we will never “master” anything. I believe that we should always be learning and never content . That is not to say we can’t be happy with what we have produced but for me I am always looking for a way to improve it for the next time. So I can’t think of a single image I have taken that I have loved for more than 48 hours. Clients still love them and I love that!…. but where is the personal/professional growth as an artist? Maybe it’s just me and my own character flaw but when I meet a fellow artist and they talk about this ‘amazing __________’ that they did 2 decades ago it bugs me. That level of amazing for me is reserved for things that are 100% “perfect!” like a song that just can’t be any better ex: Bohemian Rhapsody... but even then I wonder if the creators hear the flaws that we don’t or have thoughts of what they wish they could go back and change.

“Mastery” is a funny word…. and I believe it is the journey that matters most. Let me tell you a short VERY true story about me: It was around 1997 that I was at a sporting goods store looking around and overheard two gentlemen talking about Fly Fishing. Now, I don’t really care for fishing but Fly Fishing always looked beautiful to me for some reason. I started asking them a few questions about their experiences and my 1 takeaway I got from the conversation was “you won’t even catch a fish for at least a year…. you will have to really learn how to do this” and that was intriguing to me. I don’t eat fish all that much but taking the time to learn the technique would be a fun distraction at the river down the street in Historic Ellicott City. So an hour later I’m walking out of the store having spent way too much money on this new hobby. For the next week I am watching videos and doing research on the internet to make sure I am adequately prepared (well as much as a beginner that’s not going to catch a fish for a year could be) for my 1st day out in the river. That Sunday morning I get up early, drive my gear down Main Street over the bridge and get suited up. This is it! I’m excited, nervous and peacefully thinking about how much fun this will be just to come cast lines and put these techniques to practice to possibly catch a fish someday. The river that morning had a slow current but it was chilly so I had Waders on so I didn’t get soaked. I left my fish basket in the car since I knew wouldn't be catching anything. A drew back my fly rod and slowly started casting to a spot about 30-40 feet away while counting my strokes. 1- then draw back…. 2 - draw back again… 3- draw….. wait a minute! WTF! There is something tugging on my line. My first thought was it’s stuck on a rock BUT wait…. rocks don’t jump out of the water! I have a fish! It was a little exciting… and disappointing at the same time. I reeled the the jumpy guy in, we said hello and then I threw him back into the river. Deep sigh…. I walk back to my vehicle put everything away and drive back home to never use that gear again. This journey for me was about having to be good enough through practice to catch an actual fish that would feel like a prize after all the hard work I would put in over the course of year. That mission accomplished in less than 5 minutes. So what I am trying to convey here is that if something comes to you as easily as that fish did to my line and you are 100% satisfied… you should still up your game and challenge yourself more if it is important to you. If it was that easy…. imagine what you can get if you put some real work and thought into it. Imagine the possibilities outside of being “content” while you are trying to “master” (but never actually mastering…. ever!) whatever this passion of your’s is. Obviously…… mine was not Fly Fishing.

Like this but bigger….. “it was this BIG” (extends arms)

“You are only as good as your last _________ .”

When you practice your craft over time in different projects that is how you accumulate real world knowledge and skills on how to be better at it. If you are looking at a piece of work from 5 years ago still amazed more by it than what you created last week you may want to change something up. What you did last week should be the sum of experience and knowledge acquired over the past years…. so what I am saying is that it should be better than what you created 5 years ago. If it is not you have likely given up on something in your process… maybe you need to visit my blog post titled “F*ck Around & Find Out” or maybe you just need to raise your standards and stop being content. Don’t be happy for too long…. be motivated and adventurous to keep or get your edge back. Can you honestly look at your last creation and think to yourself ‘this is perfect and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it!’? If there is no room left for improvement then gtfoh but if like me you believe in the journey, the process and beating yourself up a bit then I’m raising this glass of Jack in honor of you. Cheers to the journey and cheers to the self-doubt that keeps us on our toes and learning day after day.

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Have a great and adventurous week my friends,

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