Ambition & Failure: What Should Artists Really Focus On?
By Guest Contributor: Mia Lyndon of auditionquest.co.uk
As artists, we strive towards constant achievement daring ourselves to accomplish more and more. We survive upon outlined goals and struggle until we reach them. So when we don’t achieve what we desire, we feel like we’ve lost everything.
Planning and aspiring is healthy. These are positive notions that can ultimately lead to success. Applying pressure and forcing career deadlines on ourselves, however, are certainly not.
Artists often struggle to deal with failure because they strain themselves towards achieving everything. We drill ourselves into set timelines and crumble when they fail to materialize. But If there is no focus upon enjoying the curves and bends in the road or learning from errors, then how can we survive failure?
Even without added pressure, failure is tough. Likened to a physical pain, rejection stimulates the same area of the brain as being stabbed in the chest. When we’re rejected by an audition panel or snubbed from a job prospect, our brains activate the same areas ‘as when we experience physical pain’, according to science-giants TED.
If failure is already proven to be so detrimental to our mental wellbeing, then applying more pressure onto ourselves can only lead to increased mental decline. So, it is paramount to understand that plans change and opportunities come and go. The only consistent goal throughout your career should be self-belief and enjoyment because if you strive towards happiness, you can never truly fail.
I had always hoped that, at this point in my career, I would be dancing professionally on stage. Injury, failed auditions, and poor mental health left me broken, yet I remained curious. I chose a new path in writing - an opportunity that I never envisioned I would pursue. If it wasn’t for failure, leading to a twist in direction, I would never have reached where I am today.
Failure allowed me to find happiness again, and it can help you do the same, if you let it. Here are a few tips to help you give it a try.
1. Set Healthy Targets
Remind yourself that careers do not operate on set timelines and that ‘plot-twists’ are natural. Try to work towards more generic targets, rather than becoming transfixed on one specific goal. Happiness, a higher salary, or developing a new skill are excellent accomplishments to work towards, as they don’t depend on a time-limit or a specific opportunity. If one particular endeavor fails to materialize, then you can still carry on working towards your healthy target, without pressure.
2. Change Your Perspective
There is still such a stigma surrounding failure. Considered by many as an excuse to believe that they are unworthy, failure has the ability to make or break artists. However, it's important to realize that failure often isn’t personal and that it can actually be more beneficial than being ‘successful’.
Utilize failure as a method of exposing new options. Missed opportunities often lead us to think creatively and explore new pathways. Remember that, as an artist, you are creatively intelligent, so use this gift to explore something new. Often, when one opportunity barricades its doors, an abundance of new ones appear - you just have to be determined enough to find them.
3. Hold Happiness Close
The only constant throughout your career is you. Often, the arts and entertainment industry can sap away at our happiness, leaving the less-desirable feeling of frustration. Meanwhile, as artists, we typically fine-tune every element of our craft except our minds. A happy and positive outlook will allow you to see reason, remain optimistic, and propel you forward into new opportunities. If you remain content, it won’t matter what you are or aren’t achieving because external sources can’t make you truly happy anyways. The only person with the power to do that is you.
Regardless of what you achieve during your career, you are the one who gets to decide what success looks like for you. Construct your career around setting healthy targets, changing your mind about failure, and holding happiness close. Whatever you achieve, whatever path you decide to follow, whatever happens, you can always count those as accomplishments.
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