Confidence is Overrated

[YinYang]

One of my sources of inspiration is Debbie Millman, who's been doing the Design Matters podcast for more than a decade now. I found her show because I'm a graphic designer and artist, and she's interviewed some of the best. The show evolved from its early stages and now include interviews with all creative types; authors, cartoonists, musicians, artists, bloggers... you name it. What makes the show interesting is that conversations usually veer off into 'this business we call life'... for the most part.

Many words of wisdom from people in all walks of life. I stumbled on this little clip of hers today, which is so true (it's only a minute and a half):

[AnthroHeart]

One of my sources of inspiration is Debbie Millman, who's been doing the Design Matters podcast for more than a decade now. I found her show because I'm a graphic designer and artist, and she's interviewed some of the best. The show evolved from its early stages and now include interviews with all creative types; authors, cartoonists, musicians, artists, bloggers... you name it. What makes the show interesting is that conversations usually veer off into 'this business we call life'... for the most part.

Many words of wisdom from people in all walks of life. I stumbled on this little clip of hers today, which is so true (it's only a minute and a half):

I didn't know you were a graphic designer. What types of art do you create?
I'm into character development and story and environment, but am still very much learning.

[YinYang]

I 'used to' be in advertising, but I will never endure such stress again! In fact I don't think I'll work in an office again, it sucks. Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign are my be-all and end-alls these days, and back in the day it used to be Flash, until Apple decided to no longer allow it on their devices, which spelled the end for Flash.

I remember you were into 3D, my 3D skills are very mediocre. I think 3D is very much a specialisation skill, someone who does that should focus on only that. I always outsourced 3D.

I haven't done fine art in ages though, I was an illustrator, portraits only - water colour pencil. My perfectionism made it a very painful exercise though, I think I'll be much different today. I'll have more of a loose style nowadays.

The only sketch I have on my phone is this one, of my brother's kid, many, many moons ago - he's all grown up now. When I was halfway through he decided to add his own little artistic licence, to the tooth, and smearing his fingers all over it, and that was the end of that...

[rva_jeremy]

This is really relevant to me. I'm 15 years into my software development career, and I think this puts a very fine point on one of the things that I misjudge about the nature of my job. Technologies change so often in my world that nobody has much call to be confident for very long. There's a lot of arrogance and overconfidence and arbitrary opinions masquerading as expertise.

One can't always know what one's doing given how volatile things are. But one can wake up every day, go into the office, and courageously jump into the problem at hand with all one's mind and heart. More and more I'm starting to understand that this is the real talent, and that writing and architecting code is more of the baggage one brings along from deeper and higher dives.

Thanks for posting this!

[YinYang]

It's the old adage, Jeremy - "just do it!"... and I usually add Carla's wisdom afterwards - "and let the chips fall where they may" :-)

And as I opened Facebook this morning, another interesting synchronicity for me! I see Debbie Millman's latest interview is with Brené Brown, the psychologist studying courage, vulnerability, empathy and shame, who I mentioned on this forum before!

That should be interesting, two of my favourite people in conversation! I think they're both wanderers.

[rva_jeremy]

YinYang, did you do a lot of spec work? I cannot think of anything more depressing than working hard on an awesome idea, only to have a bunch of suits throw it away.

[YinYang]

Exactly! Spec work was something I was unfamiliar with until it was mentioned on the podcast once, in a very negative light. It's exploitative as you say, because what companies do, is they get a whole bunch of designers to work on the same project, and then choose the best one and all the others are left empty handed. It's an American thing, we don't have it here fortunately. It's very unethical.

Ha-ha, I won't even sit down and switch on my PC without 50% upfront! Once bitten, twice shy! We're launching an online store in January, so it's been very satisfying working on my own brand again - no suits with shaking heads :-) I'm a bit rusty on the social media marketing side of things though, so I'm busy reading this book at the moment... so Facebook IS actually good for something...  

[AnthroHeart]

YinYang,

The furry artist who did my avatar (though much bigger), charged me the full $200 upfront. He takes slots of like 18 at a time and can knock all those out, with backgrounds in like 2 weeks I believe. He is well known to many people so he can charge up front. I'm learning art so I can draw my own and develop my own style.

The furries are like humans with fur and tails and stuff like animals have. So learning human anatomy one can venture into furry art. There are many of those types of artists, but if one is good, they can get a lot of business. Just need a Terms of Service or something like that.

My fursuit was also like 1/2 of the $2000 up front.

They both had to use a friend's Paypal, because I don't have that anymore, and I just give him the money.

[YinYang]

Oh yeah, character animation is definitely in a league of it's own. Much time and effort to make it move realistically. When I see what some of the guys get up to nowadays, I just feel like a dinosaur!

I'm still drawn to portraits, we have this artist here in Cape Town who does abstract portraits, and I think I wanna give that a go next.

Here's some of his work, which to me, is just brilliant! It's also enormous, so the large format makes it very striking:

[Jim Kent +]

Hi YinYang, 

I've lived with profound insecurity for my entire life, and is something I attribute to being adopted as a baby.

To get anything done, I've had to develop the mindset of "sod it, I'm going to do this even if it will probably all turn to sh*t". ( Which it has on many occasions! )

I've often considered this approach to be somewhat stubborn, but married with a considerable obsessive character, I seem to get the important things done eventually.

I'm not going to argue semantics with you and I suppose that "courage" ( in the face of almost inevitable failure ) is as good as a description of what is often needed to succeed as anything else. ( It's just that I'm often too insecure to admit to myself that I'm being brave!    )

L & L

Jim     

[AnthroHeart]

YinYang, yes that is very good work he does.

I'm not really drawn to animation like I used to be. I like still shots of a nice character and background.

Sort of like an anthro teaching a human, or humans and anthros working together. Sometimes on the astral plane.

Or drawing peace between them, or symbolic gestures. I've got a lot to learn.

I'm glad you're in art. It's an amazing feeling when something comes out great. At least for your skill level.

[Diana]

While i agree that courage is important, I disagree with the general idea Millman presents. I disagree because of who I am. I have always known I could do anything, whether I had done it or not. This is what might be called empowerment, and it is, as some say, a birthright of humankind. (Being empowered does not mean it makes anything easier—just possible.) 

If you believe you have the potential to do anything, then confidence is inherent in your subconscious and conscious mind. This kind of confidence does not become obnoxious. A person with this kind of confidence wants everyone to be empowered, and wants to share information because she isn't afraid of competition—she doesn't horde her "edge."

In one instance this thinking works. Which is, if you lack confidence for whatever reason, forge ahead with courage anyway. Out of this idea has risen sayings such as, Fake it til you make it. And it works. I would encourage everyone to do whatever it takes to keep empowering yourself. 

One dichotomy I see in today's world is about competition and quality. In the past, and I will use publishing (books) as an example, competition created an environment where standards were so high to get a book published, the quality was in general extremely high. You hardly ever saw a typo for instance. Now, self-publishing has become affordable to everyone. The market is now flooded with mediocre and sometimes downright awful stuff (Fifty Shades a good example). So competition served us in that writers really pushed themselves to reach potential. On the one hand, we have the opportunity to express ourselves in just about any way we want and that's great. But a s result of a society that rewards mediocrity, people just don't try that hard.

So my final advice is this: Whatever you do, do your absolute best. Always. There is a great freedom in this, and peace.

[YinYang]

I think nowadays you have to be a polymath in this business, wearing so many hats. The landscape has changed completely, you can never be too confident, because it's always in flux. I entered the industry before the internet became big, so print media was huge in those days. Then the internet came, and all of a sudden ad agencies started hiring programmers. So an industry that was always dominated by right-brain creatives, suddenly couldn't go any further without the help of left-brain "geeks". Then 3D entered the arena, which is a very difficult skill to master. You either do it all day every day, or you'll never master that skill. The same goes for the video production guys, who have spent years at film school to hone their skills. As with copywriters, it takes time to become good. The photographers, who also spent years at art school. The PR component, totally opposite to advertising, all about wooing and wining and dining journalists! Smooth operators... and the birth of "advertorials", an ad disguised as an article, which carries more credibility in the mind of the consumer, because they don't know they're looking at an ad. And I can go on and on, there are so many specialisation fields in advertising that no one person can master them all, it's impossible. That's Jack of all trades.... master of none. I thoroughly believe in specialisation, someone who sticks to something, becomes a master at it. It's like an orchestra coming together. So your skill set is always just one little puzzle piece in a very large puzzle. The art director would be the conductor of this orchestra, chasing after people, encouraging them, berating them, and so on. Trust becomes crucial, trusting others to do what they say they can do.

If I just think of my own new company, we have to rely on a number of companies we hired. One company for the SEO, who does that all day every day. They even have two people sitting inside Google notifying them of all the algorithm changes, and new roll outs. Then we have the web developers, different company, using Magento as an e-commerce platform, again, difficult skill to master. And the list goes on. You can't do everything yourself, because you simply can't master all these specialisation fields.

So I wouldn't say I'm over confident, because e-commerce is something I've never done before. There are just too many variables, every day we think of something we haven't thought of before, and the list just grows. Money is flowing out and nothing is coming in before the launch. I always joke and say "we have great cash flow, it's all flowing out!" :-) With a little humour and a lot of faith, it'll all come together. But it's precisely that which makes it fun, the new territory. You just keep reinventing yourself. I've read quite a few case studies by now, and for everyone there was a first time. What made that first time happen, is courage. A willingness to take the first step, without guarantees. So courage to me, is most important! I also have a business mentor this time around, because I'm an artsy-fartsy, and I hate "business". I just wanna do the fun stuff, the creative work, but unfortunately there's lots of admin. So he keeps on saying "do the right things in the right order!" Lol! But it's slowly but surely taking shape, which is fulfilling, and I get to wear a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops every day. Hie-hie-hie...

I guess it just goes to show again, that we're all different and unique. As Carl Jung said "the shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases." Confidence to me is overrated, I haven't pulled off any of my feats in the industry because of confidence. I wouldn't have experienced stress if I was confident, and I lay awake many nights back in the day wondering how we're gonna pull something off. I was micro-managing in those days, which led to my own burnout. Mico-managing is all about not trusting others. Today I'm very different, quite relaxed, and I trust others. Trust the infinity and the variety of the Creator.

[YinYang]

I had the funniest thought as I was laying in the bath, and thinking about design. Everywhere you look is a human being’s design, or creation. There is nowhere you can turn your gaze, and not see someone’s creation. The shower head, the shampoo bottle, the razor, the tooth brush, the kettle, the toaster, the light fittings, the cutlery, the furniture, your clothes, your watch, the layout of the apartment, the design of the building, the city planner, every car and bicycle driving in the street down below… we are living inside each other’s creations. So I was wondering if a little bit of the essence of the person who designed the shampoo bottle label for instance, is in it, and so on for everything else, and if so, how many energies are floating and swirling around.

How many people , if they’re all combined, have contributed to all the objects you touch or see everyday? It’s a funny thought, because it makes everything come alive! We are evolving together, with every generation it just gets better and better. My biology teacher in school always said everything we come up with, we saw in nature first, nothing is original. I still wonder about that... he used a parachute as an example of a dandelion that day.

*********************************

"As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clearheaded science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about the atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Spirit. This Spirit is the matrix of all matter."

- Max Planck

[Diana]

If I just think of my own new company, we have to rely on a number of companies we hired. One company for the SEO, who does that all day every day. They even have two people sitting inside Google notifying them of all the algorithm changes, and new roll outs. Then we have the web developers, different company, using Magento as an e-commerce platform, again, difficult skill to master. And the list goes on. You can't do everything yourself, because you simply can't master all these specialisation fields.

OMG, I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  

So I wouldn't say I'm over confident, because e-commerce is something I've never done before. There are just too many variables, every day we think of something we haven't thought of before, and the list just grows. Money is flowing out and nothing is coming in before the launch. I always joke and say "we have great cash flow, it's all flowing out!" :-) With a little humour and a lot of faith, it'll all come together. But it's precisely that which makes it fun, the new territory. You just keep reinventing yourself.

Yes. I know a couple of teachers who started a publishing business. They lost almost everything and were about to be out on the streets literally. But at that time they went digital in the beginning, circa 1990, and pulled themselves out of the black hole. They used to joke that they didn't even quit when it was over. They made it big, and one of them actually bought back the family farm in the midwest.

[YinYang]

OMG, I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  

Ha-ha, actually it's lovely passing the buck! I stick to my expertise, and I trust their expertise. It isn't without hick ups, but is anything ever?

Yes. I know a couple of teachers who started a publishing business. They lost almost everything and were about to be out on the streets literally. But at that time they went digital in the beginning, circa 1990, and pulled themselves out of the black hole. They used to joke that they didn't even quit when it was over. They made it big, and one of them actually bought back the family farm in the midwest.

That's nice to hear. Yeah, there are many, many people who were interviewed in this podcast who have stories like that, like Jen Bekman for example, who owns 20x200.com today. She was literally out on the street, maxed out credit cards, and some other craziness... like being 8 months behind on her rent and so on. There is much to be said about the human spirit. That's why I love this podcast so much, because it's people who seemingly "made it", and then you hear about all the heartbreak and trials and tribulations behind the scenes.

I have been thinking about what you said about self publishing, and I'm not sure I agree with you. Self publishing is self empowerment, why cast your lot with other people's likes and dislikes? Do you remember what a publisher wrote Don after he sent them the Ra material?

No entity that wreaks such havoc with the English language is going to ingratiate himself with the general reading public. This has all the denseness of The New England Journal Of Medicine, or the Journal Of English And German Philosophy or a Ph.D. dissertation on epistemology… and for another thing, the dialogue form gets pretty tedious after a while. It was all the rage in Athens for a while, I know, and its popularity continued all the way through the neoclassic renaissance, but it died out shortly afterwards, and I don’t think that it’s about to be revived.

Okay the guy had quite the sense of humour, I'll give him that, but you get my point. Brené Brown also couldn't find a publisher willing to publish her book, so she initially self published and sold copies out of her car's trunk on the street.

The money catalyst is a catalyst we all share, and it's a strong catalyst. I love this talk by Alan Watts:

Why I Hate Everything To Do With Business

"figure out some way in which you get paid for playing"

[AnthroHeart]

OMG, I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  

Ha-ha, actually it's lovely passing the buck! I stick to my expertise, and I trust their expertise. It isn't without hick ups, but is anything ever?

You might not have heard of Poka-yoke then. It's a Japanese way of making sure something does not break down. I'd say it usually doesn't have hiccups.

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&...bkAtK4vEuI

[YinYang]

The Japanese are renowned for their perfectionism, Gem, and I think there is a link between their high suicide rate and their perfectionism. They also see suicide as a "morally responsible action" when shame or failure befalls you. Perfectionism is actually something I'm actively steering away from, because it has been a lifelong issue with me. When I was in grade 2, I unpacked and repacked my schoolbag constantly, to make sure everything is in its rightful place, and even at that age I realised there was an issue. I hear it's a Virgo thing...

The topic of perfectionism can turn into another thread, and it's also a topic Brené Brown tackles. She calls it a "20 ton shield". Perfectionism is a limitation, I'm okay with the boo-boos, and nowadays I'm also okay with "good enough". There's always time for improvement and fine tuning as time goes on. And with creatives you wanna give them as much rope as possible, that's how they excel. There is no such thing as perfect, so chasing it becomes very painful, especially with something as subjective as design and aesthetics. When is something perfect, and who decides? I drove myself and my team to insanity with my perfectionism back in the day... some of them are still friends of mine (miraculously), and they just say "never again!" It's funny in hindsight, but it wasn't funny then. It's a mistake I won't make again.

[Diana]

Decided  to remove my remarks.

[The Traveler]

Oh yeah, character animation is definitely in a league of it's own. Much time and effort to make it move realistically. When I see what some of the guys get up to nowadays, I just feel like a dinosaur!

I'm still drawn to portraits, we have this artist here in Cape Town who does abstract portraits, and I think I wanna give that a go next.

Here's some of his work, which to me, is just brilliant! It's also enormous, so the large format makes it very striking:

YinYang I didnt know you stay in Cape Town, I do too. How interesting. (Unless I read it wrong)

[YinYang]

Wow! I thought I was the only Capetonian here! :-) Where in Cape Town do you stay? I grew up in Pretoria, and only moved down in 2012, and I'm still amazed by this place. The beauty just takes my breath away!

[The Traveler]

Wow! I thought I was the only Capetonian here! :-) Where in Cape Town do you stay? I grew up in Pretoria, and only moved down in 2012, and I'm still amazed by this place. The beauty just takes my breath away!

Yay a fellow Wanderer in my city, this is so cool! I stay in the Tableview area and you?

[YinYang]

Also Table View! He-he-he!

[The Traveler]

Also Table View! He-he-he!

Whoa no way! What are the odds of that! Maybe we can meet sometime, would be nice to be able to talk to someone about all this stuff.

[YinYang]

Anytime you wish! I'm here at Marine Circle, and the are many cool places down the coast, Ons Huisie is my favourite! Best view in the world!

[The Traveler]

Anytime you wish! I'm here at Marine Circle, and the are many cool places down the coast, Ons Huisie is my favourite! Best view in the world!

I'm near Gee Road. Ons Huisie is a pretty nice place.

[YinYang]

As they say, it's a small world. :-)