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Why Do Most Creatives Fail?
Personal thoughts on our limitations, and practical steps to increase our success potential
Success is personal, but looking through others’ eyes, you never know what you’d see.
~ Mark Anaki
I am an architect and a writer. For the past 20 years, I have experienced the highs and lows of this creative life, manipulating space and words. For context, I believe that we are all creatives, and this often jealously guarded term isn’t exclusive to pianists, painters and pantomimes in street corners. At a broad scale, we all create, especially when it comes to solving problems and ensuring our continuous survival.
However, the word creative(s) as used throughout this piece refer to those whose passions align with the creative arts, and/or whose livelihoods depend on it. Subsequently, I define success in these fields as attaining the highest expression of one’s art, with one’s work impacting on the widest possible audience reachable given one’s circumstances. My reference to failure or success throughout this conversation will be tethered to these two loci:
- Highest expression and;
- Widest reach.
