What to do when your work plateaus
Oh, hi friends!!
I’m thinking about the difference in stakes — and how those stakes are tied to our audience.
Let’s say you finish writing a short story, and you send it to a friend who was asking to read it.
Do you triple-check that it’s the absolute best you could make it? Or do you think, ‘They know me, this is pretty good, let’s go from here.’
How would you treat it if you were sending it to a literary agent?
Let’s say you have an article idea, write up a pitch, and you send it to a very fancy editor at a very fancy publication.
How would you handle that pitch compared to one you were sending to a longtime editor who knows you, who might give you an assignment based off a couple sentences?
Now let’s say you’re making your Broadway debut tonight. (Yes, tonight!) The critics are coming, your entire family is coming.
How much would you prepare for that moment? I bet…a lot.
Our best work can often be connected to our audience — who might be consuming it. We want to impress the impressive people; we want to deliver the best in the most important moments. This isn’t good or bad. But it is a clue.
If you’re not doing — or delivering — the work you’re capable of, ask yourself: Who’s on the other end?
If you want to change that answer, one solution is to raise the stakes.
Seek out bigger, better, scarier stakes.
Your work will rise to the occasion.
And the best part? Their response doesn’t matter.
If your new audience doesn’t give you what you want, it's OK.
You’ve still created something bigger, better, scarier than before. You've raised the stakes yourself.
You’ve won.
This is reassuring. For today, for tomorrow, for always.
Something’s Coming, Something Good
I wasn’t able to see West Side Story before Broadway shut down (we had tickets for end of March!) but was very delighted by this version of “Something’s Coming” with Isaac Powell on vocals and the entire orchestra.
PS — If you'd like some low-pressure accountability in the morning, please join me and my brother Eric for the 10:11 Club — every weekday at 10:11am ET, we're starting our day together and working toward one goal until noon. Join us anytime with #1011club on Instagram or hit reply and share what you'll be working on!
Do you like these daily emails? Please share with a friend!
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara