Q:I totally recommend a book called 'It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be' by Paul Arden.
Yes! Thanks, I’d forgotten about that one. That’s another brilliant book.
Go books!
Q:You were one of my first follows when I joined Tumblr 3 years ago and even though I've followed hundreds of other blogs since then, yours is still one of my favorites!
Wow, thank you! That’s good to hear. You should probably get some sort of medal for not getting bored after 3 years.
Q:as a creative person how do you handle failure/fear of failure? i spent three years and a whole lot of dough on a design course which i never passed and am now taking up on a different area - not in design but still creatively driven. i find myself constantly questioning my abilities and the guilt of having fucked up haunts me every day.
I definitely have fear of failure too, but since I realised that it’s become easier to handle. It’s funny but I think actually failing every now and again is really good for you, so I don’t know why I’m so scared of it. Obviously there is a time and a place where failing is ok. I guess that’s the scary bit.
My very first design job was for an e-commerce site, I’d never really done any web stuff before and in my first week I somehow managed to delete the whole website. Obviously that was a pretty massive fuck up, but luckily it was easily fixed, and it ended up being a good motivator to learn as much as I could about websites in my own time. I also managed to never delete the whole website again.
I read a good book specifically aimed at people with fear of failure recently. I can’t recommend it highly enough, if you have any kind of fear of failure you should buy it right now.
It’s called - What’s Stopping You? by Robert Kelsey.
It’s really accessible and it’s what made me realise that I have a fear of failure in the first place. I also get depressed quite often, and recently I’ve been reading a lot about a form of therapy called CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy). Which is basically about examining your negative thoughts and emotions and learning how to overcome them and think in a more positive way.
I just started reading The Little CBT Workbook by Michael Sinclair and Belinda Hollingsworth. I’ve only read the first couple of chapters so far but I think this is going to be really helpful too.
Something else that helped me was realising how many other creatives I look up to have exactly the same thoughts and fears. I went to see Miranda July give a talk a couple of years ago about making her second movie, and she said:
“I realised that everyone I admire also had to go on and create the next thing, and then the next thing, and then the next thing.”
That’s such a great realisation to have, when you’re feeling like that it can be easy to get stuck inside your own head and think you’re the only one who has ever felt that way. It’s also incredibly reassuring when hugely successful people are talking about being afraid to fail.
Miranda also wrote a book (yes another one, I love books) about making that movie, which specifically focused on everything she did to avoid making the movie.
It’s amazing, and it’s called - It Chooses You by Miranda July.
I’d recommend getting that too. You can also watch videos of lectures given by any kind of creative and a ton of them will mention fear of failure, or something similar. I’ll try and dig some out and post a list next week.
Another good tip is to fuck up on purpose, a lot. Do things that you hate or think you “can’t do”. I hate drawing people, and I’ve avoided it for a long time, to the point where I now think I can’t draw people. So this weekend I’m starting a sketchbook purely for drawing people. I’m sure I’ll fuck up a million times and a lot of the drawings will be crap, but I’m also sure that if I keep going eventually I’ll get somewhere.
I could probably keep writing about this subject until you give up on reading the answer. So I’ll stop there. But hopefully this has helped a little.
Q:Hey Lee, have you ever thought of illustration a book with hand written text? Like doing the drawing and text. I think that would be cool.
I’m probably being stupid but I’m not sure I understand the question properly. Quoteskine Volume 1 is a book full of illustrations and (mostly of) text. But I guess maybe you mean more of a story book?
I do have a few ideas for that kind of thing. I just haven’t got round to doing anything with them.
Q:Oh my bad, I didn't pay attention. I think I nailed it this time though. Thirty, right? You seem like a pretty rad 30yo to be honest. Ps. I'm not some crazed stalker, I just looked on your about page and I really enjoy your work. x
That’s a shame, crazed stalkers are my favourite.
It’s a great day when you realise people of all ages can be pretty rad, and hopefully there are still a few more years of pretty radness left in me!
PS: Your first guess was correct.
Q:If I was single, I'd be all over that.
Well thanks Anonymous… I think.
Q:So how old are you ?
The answer to life, the universe, and everything.
Minus 10.
Q:How come you're too old to be anyone's first date at 25? I've never been on a date and I'm 22...I mean, I've been with someone but we didn't go on dates or anything, is that bad? :P
HA! If only I was 25 again.
Q:Are you a cynic?
I think I’m a realist. But I think a lot of people see realism as cynical. So I guess I’m a cynic. Which says a lot about reality.
Q:Hope you don't take it in a bad way, but you seem like any girl's perfect first date really.
Haha I don’t think I could take that badly.
But sadly, I am too old to be anyone’s first date.
