“The only thing in our power that no one else has is yourself,” Neil Gaiman insisted at the 2012 graduation at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. “Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision,” he went on to say after having recommended, in all circumstances, making good art, doing what only you can do.
I reach Gaiman through my favorite blog, Brain Pickings, and I leave it here for you to take the time to listen to. Better yet, so that you take note and don’t let an idea pass without its space, because this message could well become one of the most important in life.
Gaiman invites us to write, design, sing, paint, dance, draw, compose, create as only one can. And then he adds: “the moment when you may feel like walking down the street naked, with perhaps too much exposure of your mind, your heart and your feelings, is perhaps the moment when you have started on the right path”.
In this beautiful exposition, he argues that you get free-lance work because you do the job well, because you deliver it on time and because you are good people. However, he stresses that two out of three is more than enough. In fact, they might tolerate how unbearable you are if the work you deliver is good and on time. They might hire you if you are late with your work, as long as you are good people and your work is good! And yet, it could be that your work is not so good, as long as you deliver it on time and it is always a pleasure to see you again. Nice reality!
As I translate and down into these paragraphs on my blog Gaiman’s words, I realize how they penetrate my heart. Perhaps because I’m giving them my full attention, and perhaps because they resonate as part of my life, and surely, our lives. In fact, it is not strange that he tells us that the best advice he ever received was “enjoy what you do”, and for this reason, I emphasize it: enjoy what you do. So much so that the day never comes when you have to work, so you can simply make good art.
Whether you are a financier, a dentist, a banker or a street sweeper, make good art. Because when you take what you do to the level of art, surely that is where you will be able to do what no one else can do. And this is possibly the point of your greatest contribution, your greatest contribution.
On a peaceful Sunday morning, when everything connects and nothing interrupts, it has been a delight to hear words so full of sincerity, inspiration and honesty. In case you don’t get to listen to the whole message, and because this is how I review the morning’s learning, here are his final words of advice:
“Go ahead and make interesting mistakes, make fascinating mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break the rules. Make this world more interesting for having been in it. Do. Good. Art.”
If at the end of listening to these words you happen to want even more, here I recommend you to CLICK and go to the Five and a Half best commencement speeches. I promise you that you will enjoy them, they will turn you on and they will surely detonate.
Cheers!
