As A Creator, What Does It Mean To Have…..
Welcome! It’s Thursday, June 19th.
The creative-commercial divide can demolish creatives. It's a treacherous path with many opportunities to pack it up and go home.
If you're anything like me, your creativity, your ability to make something out of nothing, is a superpower. But knowing what to do next, or how to plan a thriving artistic practice? That's the supervillain.
It's so abstract that it muddles my brain until I'm self-sabotaging, even subconsciously, because that feels safer. Add the fear of being judged, the terror of putting yourself out there, and it all goes to hell.
Navigating from creative daily practice to full-time working artist feels like planning a mission to Mars. How do you get there? How do you survive? You don't even know what you don't know.
If you've ever wondered how to create what you want while building a financially viable life, we've met for a reason.
After years navigating design ups and downs, I was haunted by these questions: How can I create good stuff and what I want and make money? What separates struggling creators from thriving ones?
So I study patterns. I talk to a lot of creators. I look at my own practice. I ask a lot of questions like, how does Frank Lloyd Wright's approach resemble creators like Bourgeois, Kusama, Beeple, and Hadid? They're worlds apart, yet they were breakthrough creators living by a creed unknown to the rest of us.
That’s exactly what I’m sharing with you. Each week, you’ll get the specific strategies these breakthrough creators (current and long past) use to build extraordinary lives without compromise so you can stop choosing between your art and your livelihood.
Your artistic vision and prosperity aren't enemies. Your practice isn't negotiable. Your success isn't optional.
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Let’s start with Architecture.
It’s 1935. The phone rings. It's Edgar Kaufmann, a department store magnate (eventually 59 department stores in 5 states), adoring art and architecture lover, financier, and a client of 9 months. He's two hours away and wants to see the progress on his Pennsylvania summer house. Not a single line has been drawn.
What do you do? I’d panic and ask for more time. But with the unblinking calm of a man who knows exactly what the universe has asked of him, Frank Lloyd Wright says: "Come right along, we're ready for you."
Who does that?
Wright hand-draws a complete architectural plan in two hours, not for the safe, riverside house Kaufmann expected, but for a structure perched directly on top of the waterfall. The result? Fallingwater - one of the most iconic residential structures in American history.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)
The Wright Kind of Madness
What had Wright tapped into? Is he a genius (which would make his success exclusive)? Is it full-blooded hubris? Is he a mystic? What does he embody (and how do we get it)?
It’s certainty. An unshakable inner conviction about one's creative vision that persists despite external doubts, practical challenges, or conventional wisdom.
Wright’s certainty, at times, bordered on recklessness. The house required structural interventions, the original cantilevers sagged, and the waterproofing issues are legendary.
But without the borderline-unhinged certainty- that absolute, unwavering, possibly diagnosable conviction- Fallingwater wouldn't exist.
Creating a masterpiece with absolute certainty takes cojones. You’re summoning belief and enormous, audacious courage. These cojones serve you in many ways, including asking for help when your certainty needs a little engineering expertise.
Be certain enough to put a house on water. Be smart and courageous enough to let someone help you keep it there.
The Revolutionary Act of Certainty
"The sages share that 'certainty beyond logic' is our most powerful tool for miracles. Do what you would have done anyways, but do it with certainty."
Wright didn’t just think the house may work above the waterfall - he knew with absolute certainty that it belonged there. (How did he know that? That’s in part two, next week).
It’s that same unwavering conviction you feel when you sense that your next creation exists before you've even touched a pencil.
What separates the revolutionaries from the rest? Certainty Beyond Reason
“Great, that’s them. What about me”? I hear you. I asked the same question. How does certainty translate to everyday real life?
You start with that persistent voice that won't shut up: “do the thing”, “make this now”, “what are you waiting for?” That’s not random mental chatter, it’s the universe tapping you on the shoulder saying “I insist.” It’s as if the universe is saying…
Your work already exists in another dimension. It’s your job to bring it to life. Which means it’s also your job to hear and/or sense what you re being asked to do (again, part two, next week).
On a practical level, certainty is staring down that blank page with the unblinking calm of Wright himself, knowing version 99 might be trash, but version 100? That's going to be exactly what you needed to make all along.
"To know what you're going to draw, you have to begin drawing."
Your artistic vision isn't waiting for permission. It's waiting for your certainty.
Here a few who created with absolute certainty:
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Centre. Photo: Iwan Baan (used by permission)
Drew "impossible" buildings throughout the 1980s
Faced ridicule for her curved, floating structures
Maintained absolute certainty for 10 years before her first commission
Transformed architecture with what critics once called "unbuildable"
Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois – Crouching Spider, 2003, bronze and stainless steel, Chateau la Coste, Provence, France, Photo: Andrew Pattman & The Easton Foundation, New York
Created in relative obscurity for 40 years
Sculpted massive spiders before having space to show them
Received her first major exhibition at 71
Continued making revolutionary work until 98
Yayoi Kusama
Painted polka dots while being dismissed as insane
Created from within a mental hospital for decades
Built an entire movement through unwavering vision
Now considered the most successful living female artist
The Beeple Effect
Mike Winkelmann (Beeple) committed to publishing one new piece of digital art every day without exception for 13+ years. While the art world dismissed digital creation, Beeple maintained absolute certainty. No galleries called. No museum exhibits. No critics praised his work. Yet he continued with unwavering conviction for at least 4,731 consecutive days.
The result? A historic $69M NFT sale at Christie's. There's a tipping point in which the product doesn't even matter anymore. It's the dedication to create consistently what you feel called to make.
Unwavering commitment is so powerful that, in Beeple's case, his certainty helped create a market that didn't exist.
If you're looking for practical ways to maintain this kind of daily commitment, I've studied Beeple's approach for you. I read and listened to as many interviews as I could find to create this free “Beeple’s SOP’s Guide” for you.
The Certainty Prescription
Doubts and resistance will creep in. When this happens, use these tools:
QUICK FIX: Meditate on: "I trust in the greater purpose of my work. Even though I can’t see the end result yet or completely understand it’s total purpose, I’m in charge of making this. It’s been assigned to me. I believe in my ability to extract what creation wants me to know and use it.
HIGH AMP FIX: Your brain will play tricks on you. That voice in your head may be saying:
➡ Is this really worth your time?
➡ This is going to be a lot of work with the possibility of no return
➡ Yeah, but how do you KNOW. What makes you so special?
Watch this quick video. Hopefully seeing it once is enough to cure you. 👀
DAILY MAINTENANCE:
Show up. Every. Damn. Day. Your work transcends logic and lives in invisibility until you reveal it. Stay on it.
I read Gary Keller and Jay Papasan’s The One Thing The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results in 2013. It taught me radical prioritization. Define your daily non-negotiables that align with your priorities and do that ONE thing regardless of external validation.
Keep the message from the universe in front of your face every day; download free “Hey, you re in charge of making this” wallpapers.
Grow some cojones…download free “Certainty=Cojones”.
