delusional confidence & why its important
There’s an episode of MARTIN, where the Notorious BIG was in Detroit running a contest for a background singer that was being hosted by Martin’s radio show. BIG ends up back at Martin’s apartment where everyone is vying for that spot BIG is looking to fill. The stand out moment is PAM’s audition.
She slid past Martin into the apartment like she owned it. Walking up to BIG like she knew him for years. The way she effortlessly flexed her skills and talent to hit those notes while calling out to Gina. It was a peak confidence and exuded ‘this spot is mine, ya’ll just don’t know it yet.’ I love it.
Did she get the spot. NOPE. The key is she believed she did before she got there. Unlike most creatives. We live at the intersection of Doubt and Insecurity Ave. Always doubting out self-worth and value. Even after we build up the confidence to believe in ourselves and move away. We always go back to our old block just to “see” what’s happening. Masking our self-doubt as being humble.
Be Like Pam
Did Pam care if she offended Martin and Gina by busting into the house to perform? She didn’t think about that for one second. I can see how that can be a bit arrogant and there’s a thin line between confidence and arrogance. Confidence is the ability to back up the shit you talk with an extensive skill set. Arrogance is an inflated ego that is all talk and no substance. They talk about it, but can’t really follow through. In order to stand on the confidence side and not be arrogant you need to know who you are.
Understanding who you are as person and as an artist is infinitely imporant and takes time. Its a lot of internal work to discover what your limits are, your strengths, weaknesses, and your trigger points. Its hard to dig past all the surface level stories you’ve collected over the years only to sort and discard them in a process to distill you to your core elements. The hard work has its benefits and will make being more confident tremendously easier.
The kanye paradox
The worst case scenario is the Kanye Paradox. Named after acclaimed musician, Kanye West. A man who is both confident and arrogant. A tremendously talented artist who’s confidence knows no bounds. Acquired so much admiration that his ego became inflated, he surrounded himself with friends who couldn’t keep him grounded and his arrogance exploded into the being he is today. Don’t be Kanye, be like Pam.
Being confident in our work is as important as practicing our techniques. The only way for clients, consumers, art directors, agents, or whomever you are looking for to engage with your work, it all starts with you. How can you expect others to believe in your work if you don’t believe in it first?
You started this creative odyssey not knowing what it had in store for you. Where it would take you. That’s the shit explorers have been doing for centuries and it takes an insurmountable amount of confidence to go out into the unknown. Bask in the gratitude of all the work you’ve done to get you to this point of your odyssey and use that as the fuel to propel you even deeper into the unknown. You made it this far, believe that you can go even further.
