Nothing to Something
The gap between mediocrity and excellence is far smaller than the gap between doing nothing and doing something.
This thought captivated me when I read Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work! Here is the full quote: “Amateurs are not afraid to make mistakes or look ridiculous in public. They’re in love, so they don’t hesitate to do work that others think of as silly or just plain stupid.” “The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act,” writes Clay Shirky in his book Cognitive Surplus. “On the spectrum of creative work, the difference between the mediocre and the good is vast. Mediocrity is, however, still on the spectrum; you can move from mediocre to good in increments. The real gap is between doing nothing and doing something. Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing.” ― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
This resonated with me so much, I’m someone who wants to make sure that everything is perfect before I even start. I want to research until I feel like I should be an expert, which of course isn’t possible without at least trying. Feeling stupid is just not an option for me, therefore the best solution is to do NOTHING, right? Wrong! I tell myself that I just don’t know quite enough yet; a little bit more information that’s all I need. Throughout high school I often heard, “If only you applied yourself, do you know what you could accomplish.” At the time I was struggling to find some sort of semblance of control in my chaotic home life, purposely failing was the only control I had. Was it a bad idea? Yes, of course, but it was all that I had.
“If only you applied yourself….” became a joke in my early adulthood. My likeminded friend Daemon and I used to joke about it all the time. Then one day in 2009 I was listening to The LanternCast, a relatively small podcast about Green Lantern from DC comics. I was hooked, I loved Dan and Jim and had fun listening to it, posting in the forums, and reading the comic books. I wanted to help the guys however I could. So, I decided to see if I could get Chris Meloni from Law and Order: SVU as a guest for the podcast. He was playing the voice of Hal Jordan in the upcoming animated movie, Green Lantern: First Flight. Seriously, what are the odds that I could get a lead actor from a hit series to be interviewed by two guys with no interview experience? Turns out, actually pretty good.
This was the beginning of podcasts going mainstream, so the chances were extremely slim, but I was determined. I went online, did some digging, found out who represented him, then drew up a professional sounding email requesting him to come on the show. After a few emails with his agent and manager, I got his phone number and set up the interview. Episode #18 on July 29, 2009, The LanternCast had Chris Meloni as a guest speaker, all because I finally applied myself. I didn’t think I had a chance in the world to get him on the podcast, yet there he was. I wanted to try it again, so I got Phil Lamar to come on. It was a blast accomplishing something that I thought I’d never be capable of doing. When I told Daemon about what I had done he simply replied with, “Look at you. You applied yourself!” He was right, look at me and what I can do if I apply myself.
Then life moved on, as it does, time passes and the next thing I knew it’s 2022. Don’t get me wrong, a ton has happened since then, but here we are and I’m itching to do something, to make something happen. I’m tired of merely existing. It’s time to get out of my own way and start… something.
This is my very first blog post and it’s on my very own website, this is my something. I know this is pretty much a brain dump blog post, and I could have done better, right? Absolutely, but that’s the point, I’m not going to be afraid of starting something anymore, I’m just going to do it. I don’t know if this will resonate with anyone, heck, I don’t even know if anyone will start to read this, let alone get this far. I have no delusions of grandeur. It’s not polished. It’s not professional. It’s not motivating. It’s not going to change anyone’s life by reading it. It’s not going to create an “overnight success”. It’s not a lot of things, but you know what it is? It’s something.
Welcome to The Grice Life!
