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It became a hip thing during the Paris Olympic swimming events to comment underneath my blogs things like this: “Hey man, I saw the headline and I knew it was written by Hartley so I immediately skipped reading it. Saved me time; didn’t waste it reading his stuff.”
I am happy for all of you who got so adept at spotting my easy-to-detect headlines so you could share with other commenters that you are astute and know to not bother reading. This is not sarcasm. I am serious.
None of us should spend time reading anything we don’t believe is worth reading.
Time is precious. For all of us, including me. This is why right now I’m going to write what I think because you may find it to be a new way of thinking.
I read a book recently by Rick Rubin, one of the world’s most successful music producers, titled The Creative Act: A Way of Being. He writes: “In terms of priority, inspiration comes first. You (the artist) come next. The audience comes last.”
This is breakthrough and radical advice that I find exciting and liberating. We tend to think we need to focus on what our audience wants to read, study their interests and hot buttons, and deliver that to them if we want our writing to be well received. Rubin says he never thinks about his audience or what they want. All he concerns himself with is whether he likes the art he creates.
“The goal is not to fit in,” he writes. “If anything, it’s to amplify the differences, what doesn’t fit, the special characteristics unique to how you see the world. Instead of sounding like others, value your own voice. The reason to make art is to innovate and self-express, show something new, share what’s inside, and communicate your singular perspective.”
What’s inside me is joy and fulfillment that I am writing exactly what I want to right now regardless of whether SwimSwam publishes it or not; or if it does whether you like it or not.
You see, I can’t control how you’ll react. You’re different. All I can do is write what feels good to me, what I like. What happens from here is not on my mind. I like this writing. This is enough.
I have written about 15 articles that SwimSwam did not publish about Olympic swimming. I am not upset; it doesn’t really matter. I felt good writing those articles and that’s all I could concern myself with.
The great comedian Steve Martin says he often gets asked by up-and-comers in his profession what it takes to become successful. He says “You need to be so good they can’t ignore you.”
The fact that your comments imply you read my headlines and then decide to ignore what I write means I’m not writing well enough – at least for you. It could also mean I’m writing different-sounding headlines that stand out and that could be a good thing; at least they don’t sound like others so you can’t ignore them.
You are of course free to ignore me and you say you do. And that’s beyond my control. I’m at peace with that. Good for you. But I also suspect you kind of like my style and it’s fun to poke at it because it’s different, but again not in my control. Not my concern. What you like may not be what I like.
What does all this have to do with Olympic swimming?
I’ll tell you and feel free to stop reading if you’re not interested. Ignore me if you want; it’s fine. I think what I’m writing about here is determination and we have seen an avalanche of that by the American and international swimmers in Paris. Utter, unfiltered, undeniable guts and toughness. All of them, not just the medal winners.
They prepared. They had the courage to stand on the starting blocks with all of us watching and see how they stacked up against others. More importantly, they expressed who they are. They practiced their artistic craft. Ultimately, the audience came last.
It was really all about their self-expression, and doing their best. So is what I’ve written here.
Swim on. Comment on. Write on.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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