THE COST OF DOING NOTHING

The cost of doing nothing is high.

Gas prices on a long weekend high.

Romaine lettuce high.

Hotels in Toronto high.

There’s a hidden price tag hanging on the sleeve of nothing. The upfront cost might not visible, but the interest rate is just waiting to bite you in the ass.

Trust us, it hurts.

By doing nothing when we dream of doing something, we can trick ourselves into thinking we’re playing it safe and making a rational, low risk decision.

Is that what we want on our tombstone ?

Safe.

Rational.

Low risk.

To each their own when it comes to tombstone adjectives. It’s your funeral. But if you’re reading this you’re probably an artist, or you work with artists and you know as well as we do that those words don’t make good art.

They also don’t make a good career plan.

Great artists don’t play it safe. They take risks. They make irrational decisions in pursuit of the vision in their head. They don’t follow. They lead down a path they are paving themselves. That’s how you get to be great.

Doing nothing is not something great artists do. And if you wanna be great, you can’t do it either.

It’s easy to play it safe. It’s easy to get lazy, or scared, or overwhelmed. Apathetic. Discouraged. Cocky. Any of those feelings can become roadblocks to doing what you set out to do. There’s no judgment here. We’re flawed humans, easily bumped off course by the shitstorms that come with daily life. Art doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it happens smack dab in the middle of a life you’re trying to live with a ton of moving parts.

It’s hard to be an artist and still be everything else you need to be.

This isn’t meant to be critical. It’s meant to be a gentle kick in the ass in the hopes that the bite doesn’t hurt as much later. Every artist has a vision. Having the confidence and daily commitment to making it happen is what sets the great ones apart.

If you lie awake thinking about the things you want to do, don’t let the morning smack you in the face with reasons you can’t do them. You’re not gonna execute on everything all at once, but start with the things you can do. The small things. The way you think. The way you use your time. The confidence in your own decision making. Create a plan. Stick to a schedule. Take risks.

Those things will help to turn nothing into something and make you feel like you’re moving instead of standing still.

Nothing is a trap. It’s a terrible answer to ‘What have you been up to’ ? Or ‘What are you working on’ ? It’s an answer an artist can’t afford to give. The cost is just too high.

If we can be of any help turning nothing into something, reach out and let us know.

We’ve seen the price tag and it ain’t worth paying.