The biggest force that holds you back… is you!

So, now that you know it, feel free to slap yourself in the face for an hour or so until you feel better.

OR, here´s some info instead that you could read…

First; Why do you sabotage your work on the way to success so much?

Answer: Simple because most of the time we aren´t aware of that. 

And that is because our self image is not asociated with the person we could be- Logically that is the hardest thing to do, imagining things that are not there, or better said imagining us in a position we´ve never been.

The main problem, and in this case the core of every sad story, is that the protagonist is utterly gifted but in most cases he isn´t aware of it. But he is the chosen one, every watcher of this scene in Spiderman or the Matrix knows what the chosen one can do except for the chosen one in his own reality (that of the movie) itself. Despite the clear fact that the one thing is reality and the movie is fiction, we fail to see ourselves in these situations too less.

What if someone would have said to me at a young age; you become a professional artist, you can make a good living of painting all the stuff you fancy all day and write a blog about that too. I wouldn´t have laughed but know that this could be my way and that there is a deeper meaning behind it. I still try to figure out the latter, but at least all other things worked out, because this tiny thaught became a part of me.

This is different from the tiny voice in your head that reminds you that you are just a little clerk — self awareness and a good evaluation of your true potential have to be established beforehand. This can be through external sources such as peer review or a proven track record or by comparing your work with that of others side-by-side.

Then if you really are on the right side, made yourself aware that you are the chosen one, have several peers recognize your abilities, then you´ve read all the business-zen blogs on how to be successful as entrepreneur — you might eventually come close to the point where the door opens and Morpheus offers you the blue and the red pill. Believe me this is probably a literal euphemism but it comes very close to reality. You have to make a decision and agree to make commitments.

And in my opinion it is the commitments that make so many struggle along the way.

The path of the freelancer and the artists is as much abandoned as wished to succeed upon. Everyone can be a marketer or a salesman, there are proven tactics and methods to be learned and once approved, you can sell a car or house to anyone. But artists are different, they have seemingly the possibility to create something out of thin air, imagine places or unseen lifeforms, creatures and moods and with that a desire to own these things.

An artist has literally the chance to make people fall in love in an instant. Trust me I have seen that in action often enough at my booth in various conventions and countries.

The power of all salestactics fail against the power of the perfect artwork. The iphone in its early day was a remarkable example from which design-students of all ages and all countries still pull inspiration.

So my question still comes up, why in the world do we artists sell ourselves at such a low value, when that what we create has such an enormous power?