Or, confessions of a creative at work
I get frustrated quickly. No value judgement with that statement, but it leads me to become disillusioned. I can give up easily, or more accurately, keep going half-heartedly. I’ll post, share or promote something, and if I don’t get a landslide response within five minutes, cue the frustration. Cue, what’s the point. Cue, well I won’t put as much effort into this anymore.
I’m not talking about social media likes for a photo, please I can be shallow but not that bad. I’m talking about my work, my art, my business, my life… how I survive each day in this money driven society. This is how I do, or do not survive. This is my hunter-gatherer. This is my smallholding. This is my 9 to 5, wage-slave existence. This is important, to me.
It is something inherent in who I am. I want things immediately and I want them perfect, which obviously leads to frustration because that simply isn’t possible. I’m not sure how much it is part of my DNA and how much is nurture. But, I can control it and work with it. I know that I can control my frustration with most things, and especially in this instance when the frustration is completely unfounded.
From my years in publishing, I spent many hours trying to understand marketing and why people buy and what they buy. I understand what motivates and drives markets, at least in a usable way. I know that very few (if any) purchases happen after the delivery of a single marketing message. Most sales occur after at least three targeted pieces of marketing. The way social media companies restrict sharing through their algorithms and other monetizing strategies, I am lucky to get one marketing message through.
So why do I get frustrated when my single tweet/Instagram/Facebook post fails to generate a landslide of support? As I said, it is me, it is part of who I am, but also something I can work on.
I can remind myself that I am not the former president of the USA, my tweet will not be liked around 3 million times. But, I can keep tweeting, keep sharing and be who I am. That way, despite the algorithms and the pay walls, my marketing message will reach my market… one… two… three… times.
My frustration is the result of a lack of patience. O wonder, is it a coincidence that I feel less impatient the more I work toward an objective?
Please share your thoughts...