How To Beat Your Competition

How can creative people beat the competition, share some beauty in the world, make a living and be free? It's been a big question for me for a long time. It's taken a while but I reckon I've figured it out. See what you think.

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Ok, so I'm going to give the game away right up front here. Just so you know this is not another one of those long winded BS marketing articles…

You have none.

Competition that is.

You have no competition save for that which you believe you have. Full stop.

I'm not talking some kind of esoteric nonsense here either, this is the truth. You have no competition!

Trust me I have been in business since I was 25 years old – I know what competition is. I know how it kills every last fiber of creativity in you if you let it.

The business world is filled with people, creative and inspired people, that believe they need to stay one step ahead of everyone else.

And they do.

They work their bollocks off trying to fit into somebody else's model of the world then wonder why they feel half dead.

The danger is we get caught in a false idea that there is one pie and if we don't get our share then we go hungry.

This is such a bullshit notion, driven into us from an early age I must add, that really doesn't serve us in the slightest.

Who The Real Competition Is

The only competition we have as creative people is ourselves.

Our thought about our ability, creativity, artistic integrity, originality and so on will determine how far we go in this world.

Think about it for a second…

If you believe that there's too many people creating the same art you do, then how much positive effort can you possibly apply to getting your work out there?

Not much, right?

And any concerted effort you do put in will be poorly focused.

Or what if you thought that there were thousands of artists who paint better than you, or writers who write better than you?

You might as well not create at all.

If you don't believe that your work is making a difference to people, or that there's value in it then how can you ever possible make a dint in the world?

The truth is our thought about ourselves creates our reality. The entire fucking thing is a subjective experience and does not exist outside the boundaries of our minds.

The first step in beating the competition therefore is to accept we have none, save ourselves.

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Everyone You Know Is A Creative Genius

It's helpful to note that everyone is inherently creative to genius level. It's just the system has trained them out of it.

It has convinced millions of us that we need to fit it, to be robotic, to conform, to produce for the machine.

For some people the system works pretty well because it's the game they were meant to shine in.

For most of us it's just about ok most of the time, just satisfactory enough so that we don't lose it.

But for the rest it's intolerable, detrimental. And for most of our lives we struggle to live in it. Some choose not to take part any more.

Off On A Slight Tangent For A Sec…

I've had a though and I think it's valid here.

I've got to tell you I have a fearsome disregard for authority. Anyone tries to tell me what to do I want to punch their light out.

Yeah I know, that could be a problem…has been a problem.

But that's my truth. I have no time for people who think there are lesser people in the world than them.

I have eventually figured out that I need to give people space to wankers if that's how they want to be.

It's the force of these people that we need to defeat. We need to develop the art of deflection rather than confrontation.

Their business doesn't have to be any of our business. The system doesn't have to dictate to us how to create our shit.

How To Be Creative & Sell More Good Shit

A little while ago I wrote this article about creativity where I highlighted the roadblocks and hurdles to creativity. There's lots of them we need to avoid.

The system we are born into is changing, albeit slowly. It's a shitty system in lots of ways and many people choose to put the head down and ignore it.

And that's ok, they'll figure it out just like you did.

You probably already know it's a shitty system and that's to your advantage.

Rather than focusing on the shitty system, begin instead to focus on what's good and right and true. The system is not the world.

Choose to see more of that and I guarantee your creativity will begin to come through.

Think about it…

Spend your time in nature, or art galleries, or working with kids, stuff you like to do that brings out the best in you. Before long there will be a change.

And we can start by revising our idea of ourselves.

Remember, these turkeys don't own us. They live in a world we know is bullshit, but that doesn't need to be our reality.

Bang your own drum, sing your own song, paddle your own canoe…

We have a choice.