Exercise Your Artistic Craft

Every spring we witness the same trend - Coming out of winter hibernation, a mob hits the streets and the gym, and makes a mad dash to dust off treadmills in an effort to get bodies into a healthy and energized state. They bend, stretch, and push their muscles to physical limitations against natural protests.  Yet, only a small portion learn to maintain this physical regiment, with the majority falling by the wayside and back into their unhealthy habits within a few weeks, some as fast as a few hours. However, the small portion that succeeds, are those who enjoy the full fruits of their labors, both physically and mentally.  The same concept applies to exercising artistic crafts.

It is insane for a writer, painter, sculptor, actor, musician, etc., to expect to succeed in the arts without exercising their talents.  An artist should always seek ways to stretch their abilities, improve their methods, and be in a continual state of learning about all aspects of the business and application of their craft. If minimal effort is applied, minimal effort will be achieved.

Yes, there are those exceptions who find great success with minimal to no effort, just as there are those who were born with excellent physical genes and don’t require much exercise.  The truly gifted are oftentimes the laziest, because they haven’t had to persevere or struggle to get what they want.  However, they are also the same ones who fail to maintain success through lack of understanding.

So, Artists, exercise your crafts.  Learn something new about your gift – how to increase your skill and understanding of how to achieve and maintain success.  Cut off the games, close the Facebook and spend a little time today learning at least (1) one new thing that has to do with your art.  Then tomorrow, increase that, and so on.

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray