Why Great Artists Struggle With Self-Discipline

I have been trapped as a has been flop “pop star” for over 10 years. I no longer want to spend the rest of my life punishing myself for not succeeding the way those around me expected me to do like other artists they hear on the radio. Today I paint figurines and ride my BMX. I make money sometimes and sometimes I don’t. I make a song a month and release it to anyone who will listen. Does creativity scare me still? Yes. But failure no longer does. I have failed as bad as anyone can fail in music by being publicly humiliated with the old “getting dropped” situation. But the pursuit of making money in creativity is a cancerous concoction. I’d rather make less and feel free and spend as much time as possible with my two boys than chase fame and fortune and never see my family. Is this just a cope? Possibly. But I no longer have panic attacks and can sleep every night with a clear conscience. I’m 38 and have no real plan. I just make art everyday in one way or another. I’m not trying to be profound. But just letting people know they’re not going crazy. Just take one day at a time.

This “tough” Self discipline is living from the mind not from the heart. Living From the heart is called “Conviction”. Finding the balance is called Wisdom.

It hurts to see so many people just fall into a pipeline that’s purposefully keeping them in a grift of shame & humiliation , cause that’s exactly what abusive relationships are

I wrote the first two drafts of my first two novels over a year and a half or so, with fives pages a day. Ultimately trashed them as they were pretty raw. But I learned the rudiments of writing which is invaluable. I’ve completely reworked my worldbuild, and with the experience I’ve gained, the two will hopefully coalesce into something viable. I wrote those drafts six years ago. In between wrote a lot of music, practiced instruments, played basketball, lost 40 lbs and gained it back, read some great series (Brandon Sanderson is the man), went to my sisters wedding, went home for the first time in ten years. Not all who wander are lost. Y’all got this

I honestly think discipline is an overall good. But on the extreme end you are basically just torturing yourself and being abusive to yourself. Balance is everything

We are own best friend so remember to be kind to yourself during the process.

Balance... The key to literally EVERYTHING in life is balance...

You are doing a huge act of service to all artists by creating these discussions. I feel compelled to write my first YT comment, because this was important! Your content is important!

in gratitude for this video. i’ve felt so ostracized for continuously maintaining a beginners mind in so many aspects of my work, approaching with heart above all else. refusing to sell things i no longer love, make for consumption or cater to market demands makes me unbankable. i continue to simply make things that feel meaningful to me… but also feeling like a failure the entire time (as far as external success is concerned). this video reminded me i’m doing it exactly as it should be done, and it’s not my business what anyone thinks, assumes or judges. just keep making. just keep exploring. just keep caring. thank you.

I think balancing between delusion and living a healthy lifestyle is important for any artist. Be delusional enough to make something you didn't think you had in you, but also live your life and apply yourself to just existing. A lot of inspiration could come from those moments and they will feed into each other. I've been on this "self help" journey, listening to the same guys (Goggins, Jocko) and it's something I really need to hear because the people I'm around are not supportive in the same ways. My philosophy is something I want to call "playful hustling".

I made about 125 public affairs documentaries as a salaried TV producer over 17 years. More or less it was one every six weeks, and I needed 22-24 minutes of content for each. My idea, my research, my interviews, my transcriptions, my script, my voice - I did pretty much everything but the filming (and sometimes that too), video editing, and post production. The boss always wanted me working on a second story at the same time so I could seamlessly transition from one to the next. I could never quite do that. What I learned over the years was that there were optimum times to tell a certain story and that actually I was keeping an eye (quietly) on all sorts of things at the same time, and as I moved from one story the next one would emerge because it was a good time to tell it. I could never begin to explain that process to my boss. She wanted an earlier commitment to an idea for the sake of certainty and scheduling, I suppose. I preferred an idea that had been brewing, sometimes for years, because it allowed me to learn along the way instead of hitting the button fresh and counting down from six weeks. During those years on that job, everything I did amounted to research and everyone I met was a potential resource. And I can say that I never did plateau.

I’m so happy you made this video. I’ve been feeling like this for a while & no one seems to talk about it ! I’m so happy you touch on these subjects as I truly relate. All this self - centered pressure is eating me up & im not alone. Thank you This needs more spotlight ❤️

This hits home!! ❤🔥💯 because as an artist this is what I am coming out of, now im finding balance between quality work that matters to the heart. A balance between my creative nature and its ebb and flow with life and its circumstance. A lot of hustlers now will tell you that, you NEED to get your work out there and all, narrowing your worldview by using words like, discipline, motivation, and worst of all CONTROL and all those terms that ACTUALLY take away your awareness to your being and creative force, into a more machine like being. They made me feel like the only way to produce work is to make something out of it and most of the time, the end is a financial one. It made me create a lot more but I became more distant from the artistic plane and more attached to what or who is consuming it, therefore losing all self perspective and connection to the flows of my creative being. We are being hustled to produce because we live in a world that it governed by mass consumption, and the worst part is those who consume, can't relate. Its just pure consumption, on a mass scale, eventually what falls is the quality of the work. Its not just in art, its everywhere...in our food, technology and general production of anything these days. Its sad because, it all lacks HEART. Thank you for what you do, its REAL and speaks to who we are and not what we think we should be. Big Up All the way From South Africa💯.

I decided to resign from the career and comfort I had to devote to the things I always loved without any certainty I would ever be able to sustain myself with it. I made radical changes in my life to have the chance to work more closely with artists and culture. Very often I'm overwhelmed by the thought that I broke a path of progressive growth to divert into something that is not practical or productive. --- Thank you for posting this video ---. It has helped me to reconcile with the idea that something had to be done for the sake of expanding the frontiers of my own vision and creating some space for new things to develop. Even if it means doing things that seem illogical in this economy. I have no idea if the time and money I'm spending on this will ever pay back, I can't say I sleep at night with a clear conscience. But I'm trying really hard to stop beating myself for diverting from the discipline of building a productive career and reaching the "expected achievements" of someone my age. If you are out there trying to express yourself by any means, don't stop because it doesn't fit our existing limited real world. Give others the chance to expand into your creation.

In YouTube there is a problem with everything and everyone wants a perfect solution.

As someone who is going though a sort of creative battle right now, I always love to hear how other creatives have weathered the storm and made it out the other side. KEEP CREATING AND GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

I think this topic is actually super important. I am doing music since a long long time now and up to this day I am super surprised if a song is doing well where I didn't have 5 mental breakdowns in the process of creating it. It's kinda manifested that "if I don't suffer I don't deserve it". And this is so wrong. On so many levels. The worst part is: Literally all of my few musician friends feel the same.

Discipline is great, and its necessary. But is it worth it to sacrifice everything else to be great at 1 thing? Balance is better than obsession.

So many gems in this... "It took time to see a space for yourself and extend a limb into that space." This one particularly hit me hard. So many times, whatever the setting, it can feel like intense, controlled mechanisms are the answer, but actually taking the time to observe and sit in said space for a while shows a great deal of self love and self respect. Love this video. Half way through and i think this is the best storytelling you've done so far. Great to see the progress and thanks for doing your part here.

Self discipline is a bunch of lies from the positivity movement cults. It is done in a way that when things don’t work they will always lay the blame on you and it will never be the bad advice given by the coaches. I’ve had horrendous experiences with this where these same people that claim they want to make you better have damaged my mental and emotional wellbeing and have caused me trauma that I didn’t have before these people got involved in my life without my consent.