The Sadness of Creatives
I want to write to the creatives and intellectuals today about an important lesson I have learned over the years.
The world does not reward creativity, smarts or genius. The world does not care. The world rewards necessity products and in the creative space superficiality.
Being the best actor, musician, artists, sculptor, director, singer, dancer etc has NO CORRELATION on your income, fame, popularity or validation. None. This is a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way. I am good at a lot of things. Probably in the top 1% of a lot of them. Yet I am not a millionaire or famous.
I play the piano like a toy, and the end result -nothing. I’ve released 4 albums, 3 of which I released in the last year, mixed mastered and composed by me. And I know they are good. In fact I think they are great and still... nothing.
I have 300 videos on YouTube full of great content. I’ve barely hit 3,000 subscribers.
I do not go out. I do not party. I have little friends. I work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week at 100% efficiency and nothing
I personally know nobody that works as hard as me, and that produces the same amount of content in as many domains as I do.
Doesn’t make a difference. Nothing.
With this being said, I should hate the world. And sometimes I do wake up hating the world. I’m not where I believe I should be, even though I work tirelessly to improve. It’s a great miracle that you still see me smiling in public.
In the world of science, you might do something great. And for that, you might be awarded a Nobel Prize. Awesome! Your reward? $1,000,000 dollars. Great... that’s nothing. Similarly, if you work in NASA don’t expect your salary to be higher than the banker next door.
Artistically, the world wants to see simplicity done very, very well. They do not want amazing, mind-boggling, breathtaking greatness.
Take Ed Sheeran, is he the best singer or guitarist in the world? Not by a long shot.
But my god, he writes and plays pop exceedingly well.
And now... he owns that hierarchy.
It is sort of like in cooking, no one wants an out of this world dish. What we want, is what we already know done exquisitely to perfection.
As a pianist, I have secrets to share to make people amazing, very quickly. I am in the know.
Frustratingly, very few of my students take heed to these. The vast majority I’ve realised, want nice plain watered down lessons. Where the aim isn’t even to become a god on the instrument. But enjoyment.
The world wants enjoyment over knowledge.
If you look closely on Television, entertainment always makes more money; even though a talk show is cheap and easy to make requiring little talent.
I am into knowledge, and it’s funny that all the videos on YouTube that are surprisingly helpful and full of knowledge have very little views. Meanwhile, Pewdiepie sits at 80M subscribers drawing in 5M views a video... minimum.
As an aspiring presenter, I’ve worked out that I’ll need to do entertainment to make the big bucks. Even though there is no mental stimulation in it at all.
That’s fine in that domain though. Because that’s what I enjoy in that hierarchy.
However, as a musician and YouTuber, I refuse to dumb down my content to suit the masses.
Sometimes... cross that.. ALL THE TIME. I feel like I’m spinning my wheels. I do all this work and I’ve got pretty much nothing to show for it.
I don’t think people fully fathom how much work I do. I do nothing but work. I eat sleep and work. Allday, every day. And where I am now, compared to 6 years ago has barely changed.
It’s a sad way to live. Very sad.
Add that to the fact that almost all of my content gets hate. Plenty of videos, music and other content with more dislikes to likes. The prank calls during the night. The distasteful comments people shout at me in the streets.
The rude messages I receive each and every day. Putting in dozens of hours into one song or YouTube video for to be viewed by only a couple of hundred people. Life is pretty much... to be frank - a 'shit' existence.
You see it is no gift to be born a creative. It's a curse.
A creative has absolutely no choice in being creative. But the success of their creations, their babies. Their life is out of their control. Everyone wants to see their children grow up and do well, right? But for the creative, the realization that baby probably won't is hugely depressing.
And it's not like the creative only gives birth to one child either.
Most give birth 1,000s of times through out their lifetimes. A never-ending family, with not even one reaching adulthood.
People often tell me that one day I’ll become rich and famous. 'One day'... I hear this line all the time. I’m bored of the talk, I’m bored with the hearsay. I want results! Real results.
And don’t get me wrong - I don’t want to be rich and famous to be merely rich and famous.
I want to be rich and famous so that my work can be validated.
So that I don’t have to worry about bills and produce more.
So that I can do what I love, and spread the message more.
So that I make a difference to more peoples lives.
What I’m saying is: You can work as hard as you want. Become the best of the best. But still, have no reward at the end. Making money is a completely different game.
If you still insist on carrying on despite this fact. I respect you. You are truly a noble person.
Maybe the world will acknowledge my good work once I’m dead. In the meantime, I’ll keep producing.
The world does not reward creativity, smarts or genius. The world does not care. The world rewards necessity products and in the creative space superficiality.
Being the best actor, musician, artists, sculptor, director, singer, dancer etc has NO CORRELATION on your income, fame, popularity or validation. None. This is a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way. I am good at a lot of things. Probably in the top 1% of a lot of them. Yet I am not a millionaire or famous.
I play the piano like a toy, and the end result -nothing. I’ve released 4 albums, 3 of which I released in the last year, mixed mastered and composed by me. And I know they are good. In fact I think they are great and still... nothing.
I have 300 videos on YouTube full of great content. I’ve barely hit 3,000 subscribers.
I do not go out. I do not party. I have little friends. I work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week at 100% efficiency and nothing
I personally know nobody that works as hard as me, and that produces the same amount of content in as many domains as I do.
Doesn’t make a difference. Nothing.
With this being said, I should hate the world. And sometimes I do wake up hating the world. I’m not where I believe I should be, even though I work tirelessly to improve. It’s a great miracle that you still see me smiling in public.
In the world of science, you might do something great. And for that, you might be awarded a Nobel Prize. Awesome! Your reward? $1,000,000 dollars. Great... that’s nothing. Similarly, if you work in NASA don’t expect your salary to be higher than the banker next door.
Artistically, the world wants to see simplicity done very, very well. They do not want amazing, mind-boggling, breathtaking greatness.
Take Ed Sheeran, is he the best singer or guitarist in the world? Not by a long shot.
But my god, he writes and plays pop exceedingly well.
And now... he owns that hierarchy.
It is sort of like in cooking, no one wants an out of this world dish. What we want, is what we already know done exquisitely to perfection.
As a pianist, I have secrets to share to make people amazing, very quickly. I am in the know.
Frustratingly, very few of my students take heed to these. The vast majority I’ve realised, want nice plain watered down lessons. Where the aim isn’t even to become a god on the instrument. But enjoyment.
The world wants enjoyment over knowledge.
If you look closely on Television, entertainment always makes more money; even though a talk show is cheap and easy to make requiring little talent.
I am into knowledge, and it’s funny that all the videos on YouTube that are surprisingly helpful and full of knowledge have very little views. Meanwhile, Pewdiepie sits at 80M subscribers drawing in 5M views a video... minimum.
As an aspiring presenter, I’ve worked out that I’ll need to do entertainment to make the big bucks. Even though there is no mental stimulation in it at all.
That’s fine in that domain though. Because that’s what I enjoy in that hierarchy.
However, as a musician and YouTuber, I refuse to dumb down my content to suit the masses.
Sometimes... cross that.. ALL THE TIME. I feel like I’m spinning my wheels. I do all this work and I’ve got pretty much nothing to show for it.
I don’t think people fully fathom how much work I do. I do nothing but work. I eat sleep and work. Allday, every day. And where I am now, compared to 6 years ago has barely changed.
It’s a sad way to live. Very sad.
Add that to the fact that almost all of my content gets hate. Plenty of videos, music and other content with more dislikes to likes. The prank calls during the night. The distasteful comments people shout at me in the streets.
The rude messages I receive each and every day. Putting in dozens of hours into one song or YouTube video for to be viewed by only a couple of hundred people. Life is pretty much... to be frank - a 'shit' existence.
You see it is no gift to be born a creative. It's a curse.
A creative has absolutely no choice in being creative. But the success of their creations, their babies. Their life is out of their control. Everyone wants to see their children grow up and do well, right? But for the creative, the realization that baby probably won't is hugely depressing.
And it's not like the creative only gives birth to one child either.
Most give birth 1,000s of times through out their lifetimes. A never-ending family, with not even one reaching adulthood.
People often tell me that one day I’ll become rich and famous. 'One day'... I hear this line all the time. I’m bored of the talk, I’m bored with the hearsay. I want results! Real results.
And don’t get me wrong - I don’t want to be rich and famous to be merely rich and famous.
I want to be rich and famous so that my work can be validated.
So that I don’t have to worry about bills and produce more.
So that I can do what I love, and spread the message more.
So that I make a difference to more peoples lives.
What I’m saying is: You can work as hard as you want. Become the best of the best. But still, have no reward at the end. Making money is a completely different game.
If you still insist on carrying on despite this fact. I respect you. You are truly a noble person.
Maybe the world will acknowledge my good work once I’m dead. In the meantime, I’ll keep producing.
Why Celebrities Sometimes Often Come Off Arrogant
The more successful you become, the more you will alienate the people you love. Your friends, your family. Because you quite literally change into a different person.
A group of people my age were talking about how they couldn’t wait for the weekends. I simply couldn’t relate and had to leave the conversation. The concept of a weekend had been foreign to me since leaving high school. Similarly, I don’t understand what holiday allowance is.
Skating to work with shorts and a hoodie, a friend asked me where I was going. I told her and she thought I was lying. I said
“I can go to work dressed however I want. I’m self employed.”
When I tell my friends I’m going to work at 9PM. They often don’t understand what I mean...
People often think of the money in becoming successful. It’s not, it’s the small things that alienate you from your peers. So then you resign to talking to a small group people who can relate. Not because you want to, but because you have to.
Everything changes.
Playing video games begins to feel like a huge waste of time. Why spend time grinding on pointless pixels when you can allocate that time to studying and bettering yourself? Watching TV or going to the movies doesn’t compare to the hit you get from your work. And when I say work. It’s really not work. It’s having fun.
It is VERY hard to come down from the high of having a camera crew and producers follow you around the country to watching a film on NETFLIX. You don't want to watch TV anymore you want to be on TV!
Celebrity status is the most powerful drug one can take. It’s actually quite dangerous. But that’s nothing...
I often wonder how mega artists deal with playing to 50K people in a stadium to going home, putting on a cup of coffee and going to bed.
That’s why I understand celebrities (to a certain extent) who the public call arrogant. Because arrogance is VERY hard to control when you have your taxis and flights booked by your agent. (Seriously, it's awesome coming out of a gig or a video shoot and having your taxi just magically there, though you yourself had nothing to do with ordering it)
Meals at your beck and call. A personal bodyguard following you around, protecting you from the paparazzi as you leave your house...
Most people just aren’t used to that level of attention.
As much as people want to believe otherwise, if they had celebrity status for a day - I would say 75% of them would become arrogant...
it’s very hard to not believe the lie when dozens of people each day praise and treat you with such great importance.
Don’t believe me? Try it. And you see how quickly the word humble leaves your vocabulary. It’s VERY hard to control the beast.
Favours start to slip in, in the smallest places possible. I went to my local chicken shop and I was in a rush because the Apple Keynote was in 10 minutes. There was a huge que. Luckily they ALL the customers knew me from HezyTech and let me skip the line.
Answering what you do for work becomes a tricky question. You couldn’t imagine having one source of income. Being careful of how you comport yourself in public becomes of great important. A client or fan might see you.
You realise there’s a huge difference between the real you and the persona you put forth to the public. Regulating when and where to show who becomes an emotionally draining task. You may as well keep the public persona on 24/7 - you reap more benefits and get into less trouble that way. But what will this do to your mental health?
I can name at least 5 restaurants where I can simply walk in and get free food at anytime.
Often boss man slips me a free few wings and at least a dozen times a week - I get asked to take a photo. This makes for an awkward interaction when my friends are around. They never like it. Often we go into a shop, restaurant, event, anything really and a member of staff already knows who I am. Alienation occurs.
Intrinsically, I always knew this formula for life. Meet people. Be nice to people. Give value to people. Make money. Gain status. Get free things and better treatment. Simple
A group of people my age were talking about how they couldn’t wait for the weekends. I simply couldn’t relate and had to leave the conversation. The concept of a weekend had been foreign to me since leaving high school. Similarly, I don’t understand what holiday allowance is.
Skating to work with shorts and a hoodie, a friend asked me where I was going. I told her and she thought I was lying. I said
“I can go to work dressed however I want. I’m self employed.”
When I tell my friends I’m going to work at 9PM. They often don’t understand what I mean...
People often think of the money in becoming successful. It’s not, it’s the small things that alienate you from your peers. So then you resign to talking to a small group people who can relate. Not because you want to, but because you have to.
Everything changes.
Playing video games begins to feel like a huge waste of time. Why spend time grinding on pointless pixels when you can allocate that time to studying and bettering yourself? Watching TV or going to the movies doesn’t compare to the hit you get from your work. And when I say work. It’s really not work. It’s having fun.
It is VERY hard to come down from the high of having a camera crew and producers follow you around the country to watching a film on NETFLIX. You don't want to watch TV anymore you want to be on TV!
Celebrity status is the most powerful drug one can take. It’s actually quite dangerous. But that’s nothing...
I often wonder how mega artists deal with playing to 50K people in a stadium to going home, putting on a cup of coffee and going to bed.
That’s why I understand celebrities (to a certain extent) who the public call arrogant. Because arrogance is VERY hard to control when you have your taxis and flights booked by your agent. (Seriously, it's awesome coming out of a gig or a video shoot and having your taxi just magically there, though you yourself had nothing to do with ordering it)
Meals at your beck and call. A personal bodyguard following you around, protecting you from the paparazzi as you leave your house...
Most people just aren’t used to that level of attention.
As much as people want to believe otherwise, if they had celebrity status for a day - I would say 75% of them would become arrogant...
it’s very hard to not believe the lie when dozens of people each day praise and treat you with such great importance.
Don’t believe me? Try it. And you see how quickly the word humble leaves your vocabulary. It’s VERY hard to control the beast.
Favours start to slip in, in the smallest places possible. I went to my local chicken shop and I was in a rush because the Apple Keynote was in 10 minutes. There was a huge que. Luckily they ALL the customers knew me from HezyTech and let me skip the line.
Answering what you do for work becomes a tricky question. You couldn’t imagine having one source of income. Being careful of how you comport yourself in public becomes of great important. A client or fan might see you.
You realise there’s a huge difference between the real you and the persona you put forth to the public. Regulating when and where to show who becomes an emotionally draining task. You may as well keep the public persona on 24/7 - you reap more benefits and get into less trouble that way. But what will this do to your mental health?
I can name at least 5 restaurants where I can simply walk in and get free food at anytime.
Often boss man slips me a free few wings and at least a dozen times a week - I get asked to take a photo. This makes for an awkward interaction when my friends are around. They never like it. Often we go into a shop, restaurant, event, anything really and a member of staff already knows who I am. Alienation occurs.
Intrinsically, I always knew this formula for life. Meet people. Be nice to people. Give value to people. Make money. Gain status. Get free things and better treatment. Simple
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