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A few days ago, the Grammy’s happened. One of my new favorite bands, Imagine Dragons, performed their crazy hit Radioactive from the debut album. If you watched, you know how epic it was. But as it’s all going down, I look over at Jen and say, “Man. I really hope their next album doesn’t suck. How will they ever top this album?” Her response: “It’s kinda like our work. How will we top what we did last year?”

I remember thinking this same thing last year. Looking at the year behind me and the year ahead of me, what can I do to top that? How can I make something better than that this year? The key to not flopping is to keep standing up. To continue to make the stuff only you can make. Don’t worry about ‘topping’ your work from last year. That was last year, this is now. Having that looming over your head, “Gotta beat last year. Gotta beat last year.” It will only lead to a sucky, sub-par new record. Hold yourself to a standard, sure, but don’t make it about winning. Make it about making. Make it about growing. If you want to top last year don’t look back to last year, look forward and grow this year.

The Key To Not Flopping

So if you had a hit record last year guess what? You still have a hit record. It still exists. You did that. Now keep playing and keep making.

Happy Tuesday!

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As most of you know, we lost a great actor and artist this weekend. Philip Seymour Hoffman contributed and made awesome art. He leaves behind an incredible body of work in which the depth and breadth of the artistry is unbelievable and undeniable. His death is a tragedy.

One of my favorite quotes from PSH:

“For me, acting is torturous, and it’s torturous because you know it’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “I was young once, and I said, ‘That’s beautiful and I want that.’ Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great — well, that’s absolutely torturous.”

The key here is “Wanting is easy. Making it happen is hard.” This beautiful and haunting thought from Todd Henry’s book Die Empty feels more true to me today than ever:

“The cost of inaction is vast. Don’t go to your grave with your best work inside you. Choose to die empty.”

Choose to make stuff. The cost of waiting is more than you have to give.

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Have you ever heard the expression, “Say what you mean and mean what you say.”? Of course you have. If you really look at that phrase, you see the truth it has. Sometimes, I say things I don’t mean and fail to do things that I meant to do. My intentions in these situations are irrelevant. What you do is what matters because it’s what people see and hear that they will remember. Not what I meant to do.

There is no in-between. I either do what I say I was going to do, or according the other 7 billion people in the world who aren’t in my head,  I do nothing. I have been the guy who talked about all the things he wanted to do. All the ideas I had. People can take you at your word in two different ways:

1) If you say you’ll do it then they know it’s done.

2) If you say you’ll do it then they know it will never happen.

I’m interested in the former. Gone are they days of endless-idea-haver-never-gonna-do-anything-about-it guy. Because you know the best way to get people to hate your idea? Never do anything about it. So if you’ve asked me why I pour cold water over my head outside in the below freezing weather? It’s because I said I would. Because I’m working to make that a strong value in my life: Integrity.

Integrity is: Doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it, and how you said you would do it.
–Byrd Baggett

I challenge you (and me) to explore this in your day today. Be intentional about sharing your ideas. If you say you’ll do it, then start today.

Say what you mean and do what you say.

Happy Friday! Make stuff this weekend!

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  • Tom Schaber - There is a corollary to that which uses the word believe vs. the word think. People need to eliminate the word ‘think’ in their action statements. “That looks like fun I think I’ll do that. Think to me always connotes maybe, might, when I have time. I’ll wager that if you go back 200 years in our history you would find that people used the word ‘think’ to mean ponder, ruminate and it had nothing to do with potential behavior.

    I ‘think’ I like your stuff Creed. 😉ReplyCancel

Creatives are prone to loneliness. We spend time inside our own head thinking and making, and it’s hard to remember sometimes that there’s a whole world out there. Out there, with people who need help. With people who need what you’re making. Also, because we work alone, we’re prone to fear. It’s easy to hide in a group but to stand up as an individual and say “This is what I believe.” That is scary.

Last night I was driving listening to Spotify when I heard a song I hadn’t heard in awhile. It’s a song about meaning. It’s a song about standing up.

Dare You To Move by Switchfoot

Here’s a taste if you haven’t heard it;

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone’s here
Everyone’s here
Everybody’s watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next
What happens next

I dare you to move

I_Dare_You_to_move

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  • Tom Schaber - You might get a slight giggle out of this. I passed the lyrics along to one of my salespeople who seemed to not want to make sales calls outside the office. Amazing how fast he scrambled to get out of sight.ReplyCancel

  • Fragments of Light - Thank you so much for your encouragement in the creative life! I want to thank you with every post, but that would become tedious and boring to read. 🙂 So, just know that your work is making a daily impact!ReplyCancel

    • Chris Creed - Wow. Thank you so much! I’m honored that you’re reading 🙂ReplyCancel

  • www.laurensapala.com - This is excellent Chris, and I totally agree. We creatives tend to get up inside our own head so much of the time that it’s easy to forget that there IS a whole world out there full of people who need us, and who we need as well. I’m taking the dare to move in the next couple of days. Thanks so much, as always, for your brilliant inspirational posts!ReplyCancel

    • Chris Creed - Thanks Lauren! I’m excited for you!ReplyCancel

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