I Hope You Fail
Anyone you admire used to suck. And honestly probably still does suck on a regular basis.
You want to know who was a failure? Michael Jordan, Stephen King, Ali Wong, The Beatles. We judge them for their end results but every one of them struggled and was unhappy with what they were doing along the way.
They are defined by their success. What they are remarkable for is getting past their failures.
In the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Mark Manson states, “At some point, most of us reach a place where we’re afraid to fail. Where we instinctively avoid failures and stick only to what is placed in front of us or only what we’re already good at. This confines us, it stifles us. We can be truly successful only at something where we’re willing to fail. If we’re unwilling to fail, then we’re unwilling to succeed.”
I am drawing my graphic novel Woodland Hills. Every page I draw, there are things I am not satisfied with but I keep moving. I do go back and fix the things that are truly glaring but I’m not fixing everything. That would be madness. If I focused on the failures, I’d likely still be on the first page.
As I chip away at the pages, I am improving at what I do. Becoming more skilled and knowledgeable as I move forward. So by design, if I did manage to be completely happy with page 1 at that moment, by the time I got to page 200, page 1 would look flawed.
I have let failures derail me in the past. I chose to learn the wrong lesson in those moments. Failures are opportunities.
A few weeks ago, my buddy Dennis randomly messaged me with a Grow Stronger gif.
It’s from the movie The 13th Warrior. When Antonio Banderas’ character complains about being given a sword that is too heavy, he is cheerfully told to “grow stronger.”
Dennis and I said this phrase to each other for years anytime one of us would whine about something. It’s not bad advice. Easy? Probably not. But what are your options when something doesn’t go how you want? Complain and stagnate or figure out a solution?
Set backs, inability, flops, falling short, disappointment, these things can hold you back or propel you forward to do better.
I Hope You Fail. I hope you are great.
Write on.
Favorite Thing I Drew This Month
I thought this panel turned out pretty well. I’m generally happy with most of the pages from this sequence.
Family Stuff
Hurricanes and earthquakes. I’m from Florida, so I am well versed in hurricanes. When Los Angeles was threatened with one for the first time in 84 years, honestly I was kind of excited. It had been downgraded to a tropical storm and looked to track further inland but we still got a bit of extra drinking water and filled the car’s gas tanks.
When the storm finally arrived, it was underwhelming. There was certainly a lot of rain (particularly for summer. Socal’s rainy season is winter). But it never came down heavy or even got windy. Midway through, we were so nonplussed we decided to go to the movies and see the new Ninja Turtles.
For good measure, an earthquake was thrown in but if it hadn’t been for the warning on my phone, I wouldn’t even have known. Exciting? No but I’ll happily forgo some excitement for a positive outcome.
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