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I can’t find my true voice as a creator

Watermarking

All Tools
WATERMARKING@2x

The Context

Carlin riffed in one of his final interviews about the importance of being true to yourself. If you have to shade it a little bit along the way to get what you need, that’s what life’s all about. Little compromises and little adjustments that we all make to get where we want to go, so that we can reveal more of ourselves. How well do you do that? Do you reveal as much as you can so you can get yourself to a position where you can reveal more? This is the real artist’s journey. Revealing to ourselves and others what we love and who we are. With that authentic intention, nobody can take anything away from us. And while everything we create will not be celebrated or even noticed, we will still have built a place of our own from which we can never be dispossessed.

The Tool

two color

Watermarking

WATERMARKING — Trusting your willingness to be true to yourself

It's natural to want to rush that process. Our underdeveloped brains demand authentic creation now! But when we push our voice to unfold faster or more deeply than is natural, we thwart ourselves. Sometimes all we can do is keep creating and let the passage of time have our way with us. We have to trust that our creative life will unfold in good ways if we put the best that we have into it. Pressfield writes about this phenomenon in his book dissecting the authentic swing. Writing is weird medicine, he says, because you sit down not knowing what you believe and you get up knowing. That healing process applies to any kind of art, for that matter. With each new thing we create, who we are unfolds a little bit more. And the exciting part is, if we honor that voice and stay true to ourselves as creator, the clearer our channel gets. Not necessarily better, but clearer. That’s far more meaningful. Quality is overrated. Honesty is what counts.

Scott's Take

Scott's Take

My first mentor was a retired baseball player turned preacher, teacher and author. He was sixty when we first met, and I was only sixteen. Which meant he had already created enough art in the world to get into a position to trust his own willingness to be true to himself. It was such an inspiration to me as a young artist hearing him speak and teach and write. There was this genuine watermark running through the background of his life that poured into every word he wrote. One day, my teenage brain silently hoped, one day you will reveal enough of yourself to have that same kind of connection to your true voice. Too bad it took another few decades to find. Thinking back to my songs and books from my twenties, they don’t hold a candle to the ones from my thirties. Much bloodier, much truer. And twenty years from now, god willing, I’ll feel the same way about projects from my forties and fifties.

The Rest

Maybe that’s all art really is. Paying for the privilege to be true to yourself. When was the last time you found yourself wishing that we had opted for authenticity?

The Benefits

Connect with your authentic voice
Reveal more of your true self in your work
Compromise strategically to get to the next level
Build a unique create legacy you’re proud of

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