The best of Brett Harris's advice to young creators.
part 2
Brett Harris summed up some of his best advice to young creators in his speech at the Author Conservatory Graduation earlier this summer. I began to write about in part one, but that post became long enough to split into two. Here’s the second part of Brett Harris’s advice to young creators.
“Choose a good reputation over great riches.”
Brett talked about valuing your work and says there’s nothing wrong with charging or monetizing for your time and skill. However, make sure to always put your reputation as a person over your bank account. In the end your good name will pay the best kind of dividends.
“Aim to be respected most by those who know you best.”
It’s easy to put on a good face to people you only interact with on occasion, but the truest judges of your character are those who are close to you and see you at your worst. Family, mentors, close friends. What do they actually thing of your character?
I personally know I put on a good face for Flight Patterns, and my mom sometimes calls me on it when I don’t live up to what I teach.
“Bless people's socks off.”
You’ll see this statement on Flight Patterns quite a bit because I attended this particular Brett Harris class.
Before this class, I created stuff that made me happy and just expected everyone else to love it. Or I created stuff that I knew I could sell. After this class, I developed an attitude of doing everything in service to others. (Not that I’m perfect yet, but it was a huge perspective turn around.) What value do my posts hold for people other than I wrote them? If you are profusely serving, complementing, and interacting with others in genuine, them-oriented ways, you’ll be enriched and they’ll be blessed. (this is one way of building an above-mentioned good reputation.)
“The one who brings blessings will be enriched and he who waters others will himself be watered.”
“Health comes first.”
“Health” was one of my words for 2023. I struggle with prioritizing my health (one of the reasons I talk about it so much.) Exercise, sleep, and eating properly are a constant struggle for me even though I know they help me feel less pain, work better, and remain in a good mental state.
“Rest is one of the most productive things you can do.”
I feel called out by this because I struggle to rest well… I’m not used to functioning below a certain amount of stimulation. I always want to feel like I’m doing something, even if it’s a illusion of productivity.
“Be willing to go slow now so you can go further and faster later.”
Does anybody else have so much enthusiasm for new projects that then leads to burnout? Or is that just me? I’m not inclined to sit and plan things out; I’d rather jump in and see where passion takes me. But sometimes I need to plan things out so I have the time and resources to do it.
“You are capable of so much more than you realize. You have only scratched the surface of your potential.”
God uses ordinary and weak people to do great things, so being ordinary isn’t an excuse to slack off, instead, we need to use the time we have and do
“Faithfulness is more important than success.”
Continuing on what I said above, ordinary people are called to be faithful with the talents they’re given, even if they don’t see immediate success. It’s why I keep on, even though Flight Patterns is so small and not seeing a ton of success. God has called me to be faithful in me writing, which is why I show up each month.
“Embrace the uncertainty of the future, focus on being adaptable, keep your timeline open.”
Not knowing what’s ahead scares me, and not reaching anticipated milestones discourages me. But my writing journey has taken turns I hadn’t expected, and my milestones aren’t going to be the same either. Keeping your timeline open means you don’t have to have a book published at 18 or 30 books published at 30. Keeping your timeline open lets you see how God’s arranging your life.
“You can't do it all at once, but you can do more than you imagine in a lifetime.”
Could you write 7 books in a year? Theoretically, if you were able to write 1000 words every day, by the end of the year you’d have the equivalent of 7 novels. In 10 years you’d have 70 novels. While you might not be up to writing 7 novels a year at the moment, you are setting up the baby steps to get there.
“Just because it's hard doesn't mean it's not worth doing.”
When I was little my parents didn’t understand why I made things harder for myself than I needed too. I still don’t understand why I was like that, but at least I’m not afraid of hard things. I talked about this some in my post on AI, but I have more to say.
This world puts so much stake on quick, easy, and convenient that they don’t understand the value of hard work. I’ve sewed quilts and bags by hand, some that I still use today, and people would ask why I didn’t use a sewing machine. It was because I enjoyed handsewing and using a machine took all the fun out of it for me.
Any worthy creative process is going to be hard at some point, that’s what separates the wheat from the chaff and forces us to refine our skills.
“The name of the game is to stay in the game until you win the game. The only way to fail becoming an author is to give up or die. You cannot lose if you do not quit.”
Have any of you seen Facing the Giants? When Brady has a bad attitude at practice, Coach Taylor makes him do the dreaded death crawl blindfolded. Brady doesn’t think he can do it, but his coach tells him to keep going until he has nothing left. He’s not allowed to quit until he’s done his absolute best.
Rest is important, but there’s a difference between being tired and assuming you can’t go any further based on your feeling of being stuck or tired.
Have a good week! And if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see on Flight Patterns, drop a comment below!