I’ve been struggling to prioritise which story or drawing idea to work on next. They all have interesting bits within them so choosing based on ‘interesting-ness’ isn’t going to work this time.
Same goes for learning. One would improve my drawing skills, another would improve my comics skills, another would improve my colour skills – so choosing by what skills I want to improve won’t work either.
Then I started reading “Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression” by Bruce Barnbaum. In the context of choosing which subjects to photograph and how, he writes:
“The first thing to look for in determining your interests is enthusiasm. I cannot overemphasise the importance of enthusiasm. I once heard that three human ingredients will combine to produce success in any field of endeavour: enthusiasm, talent, and hard work, and that a person can be successful with only two of those attributes as long as one of the two is enthusiasm!”
It struck me light a bolt of enthusiastic lightning. When I’m enthusiastic about a project, it dominates everything inside me. It’s as if every other project I had in mind drops away (forgetting to eat and drink properly included). In a rational world where we’re supposed to weigh up pros and cons of everything before choosing a course of action, I realised there was another, more emotionally-drive way – might enthusiasm work for choosing my next project?
With this lens, the choice became much easier. I simply picked and began.
The problem with enthusiasm, of course, is that it can be fleeting and inconsistent. Enthusiastic one day, not enthusiastic the next. Most ideas I work on begin with plenty of enthusiasm and I think “this is the greatest idea that ever existed!” Then, at some point, they get difficult. I get stuck or I realise I’m lacking a skill to progress it. It’s important to remember that this moment happens in almost every project and is a natural part of creative work. The challenge for most of us is to know that it will pass and get better – overcoming those challenges, improving skills is fundamental to the process. It’s what Bruce would call the second ingredient (for those without talent): hard work.