This could be why people don't connect with your art.

There was a young guy about in his 20s, and he.

Did a lot of painting and drawing and just didn't really know how to communicate with people. Wasn't very good with people, very self deprecating, shy, Just didn't really know how to put himself out there. And, you know, he started to kind of get noticed. Some things started to happen and not much, just like a little bit. And it was a lot because of his brother. His brother was out helping him, but try to pitch his stuff and get his stuff out there. And during that time, he sold one painting. And just after that, he ended up dying. And then shortly after his brother died as well.

He was left or his widow was still alive. And she made it her mission to push his work, to really get more of his work out there, because she believed in it so much. And as she pushed his work and continued to get it out there and tell his story, she published his letters that he had written to his brother, which numbered in the hundreds. And what these letters allowed people to do is actually see his work in a chronological fashion, because you would see the work and you could tie it to a letter and know where he was at and what his head like where his head was at, what he was thinking about, all these kinds of things. And now his paintings are worth. And drawings are worth millions. And that artist is Vincent Van Gogh. Now, some of you may know this story, and some of you may be art historian, and you're like, lennon, you got it all wrong.

You're a freaking idiot. That's totally fine. But what I want you to hear here, here, here. What I want you to hear in this situation is how much more interesting think about Van Gogh's art right now. If you didn't know that story and think about his art, is there something different to it? Now I want you to go and actually look it up, see what you think. I believe that story is the thing that makes art. I don't think a picture or anything else is art without a story. And you may say, lennon, that's complete BS like it totally is just what it is. I completely disagree. And here's why. Because whether it is the artist's story that we tell or it's our own story that we tell, when we view it, the story is everything, right? We go into a art museum. How many times have you gone with one of your buddies who just doesn't even think twice about it? And they're just like, well, I could have done that. It's like, well, why didn't you do it you. You know, and what happens, we look at it, right? We see the plaque on the wall, and the wall tells us this story. It tells us what the artist was thinking about. And then we look at it differently. We think about what was happening, maybe what they were going through, you know, what was the process like? People love to think about process. They love to think about what, you know, what were we going through, what were we struggling with? And then we relate those struggles to ourself, and it's so cool. And so I think whether it's the artist story or the story that you make up on your own, you cannot have art without a story. And I think now more than ever, the artist's story is incredibly important. Because what used to be, I don't want to say less saturated, but let's call it that. A less saturated world, you could get away with more things, could stand out a little more. Now there is incredible art everywhere you look, right? You go on Instagram, and we're just going to use this as our opportunity here. You go on Instagram and you can see freaking cool images all day long. I can scroll and just be impressed after impressed after impressed, but I don't follow up with any of that because there's no story there to connect me to it, right? With some of it. They're really good at telling my story. Talk about anxiety, talk about struggling with something, struggling with creativity, those kinds of things. Like, now they're telling my story. Talk about my, you know, like, being a parent. Now they're telling my story. Now I'm interested right now. Those are the people that I may look up more. So there's three things here I want to talk about in terms of you starting to use your own story, starting to use your own.

Your own depiction of what it is you go through. It's actually three mistakes that I see most creatives having in the current landscape. And I want to start by saying, remind yourself that Instagram is not an art gallery. Instagram is a social media platform. And what is the purpose of social media? Social media is like a party. You don't show up to a party and just talk about yourself all the time, right? You start conversations. And so that's what social media should be all about. It's a peppering of not only your work and what you do, which, if you're thinking of it in an exchange of conversation, you start a conversation around something that you want your kind of person to also talk about, and you ask questions and you pose questions. You see what they say, and you respond and you have social interaction, and then you follow that up with some of your work and you talk about how that work relates to this thing that you've just, you know, posted about earlier. This anxiety or this fear or this joy or whatever, right? And how does those two things align? And then maybe we post some process of, like, how you did this thing and what it meant to you. Like, we need to know the heart behind it. And so I want to talk about three things that are just common mistakes that I see from artists. And the first one is that you assume people get it. You're making things for your friends and family, essentially. You assume that people get it. You assume that everybody that watches you is getting. They don't want to be burdened by, like, anything other than, you know, like, if I say who I am again, somebody's going to be like, dude, I get it. Like, stop. I just want to see the thing that's inaccurate. We have to allow ourselves to make stuff for the new person. Don't assume that they get it. Tell the story. Assume that they want to hear the story. And if they don't, then they're not your person anyway. Let them go. You don't need them. Right? What you need to find are your people. Quit trying to impress everybody. It's not about that. It's just about impressing the right few. It's about connecting with the right few. So stop assuming that somebody gets what your work is about and freaking tell them. Just tell them about it. Right? Number two, we assume that people don't care. We assume that people don't care. And this could not be more inaccurate, I would say, arguably, people care now more than ever before. They want authenticity. They want somebody to show up and care enough about what they do to get them to care. Right? What is the thing that I believe? I believe that there is no better time to be a creative person than right now. I believe we have more opportunity right now to connect and create feelings for people and change people's lives than we've ever had in the history of time. And I think that's an incredibly huge, huge power. We can change our own little corner of the world, and that can impact things on a global scale. And that's incredible, right? So don't assume that they don't care, because the right people will care. And then the third thing, you're afraid that you're going to do it wrong. I hear this one a lot. Like, but how do I do it? So tell me again, like, do I Need to make sure that at like the 32nd mark or like the second sentence that.

No, no, no, no. Think about it this way. Andy J. Pizza talks about it like this. If you don't follow Andy, you should. He has an awesome podcast called Creative Pep Talk that I listen to. He says that comedians go out on stage and they just workshop stuff in the places where like the small stages and they see how people respond and then they use that information, that data to go then and create the next thing to work on the special to create the bigger thing. Right. Eps are similar for musicians. Right. Instagram and all these other things on social media can be a great opportunity for you to have your little stage to perform on, to see what resonates, to tell these stories and see what people get excited about. And I think that can be an incredible opportunity for us to just quit assuming we're gonna do it wrong and just try things and then change it as you go. That's what this is for me. Like I used to edit every stinkin video. I did like 100 plus videos where I was editing and like making every, trying to make everything perfect and I decided to let it go. And I've published more videos in the last three weeks than I have in the last six months because I quit caring and now I'm just throwing things out there to see what sticks. What do you guys resonate with? Where do I get comments about stuff and then I come back and I'll change it. But I'm comfortable doing that because I now know fully that I don't need to be afraid of failing. What I need to be afraid of is not showing up, not succeeding, because I just didn't even try. And that's what was happening when I was trying. When I was afraid that I was going to do it wrong, I quit showing up.

So don't be afraid of doing it wrong. Be afraid of not doing it at all. That's why you want to be an artist in the first place, is so you can do it. So why would you give that up for fear of not doing it correctly? It doesn't make any sense. And we all do it. I've done it, but it doesn't make sense. So stop fearing that you're going to do it wrong and just start doing it and then refine. Look at the data. We got all these analytics, all this data. Look at the data and refine. Go do some more. Look at the data, refine. Listen to the audience, see what they think. Look at the data, reflect, refine. It's all we can do, right? But step out on a limb and make something happen. Tell your story and connect with your people. Because these are the moments where we get to say, I'm like, that person. I love her. She's exactly who I want to be hanging out with. I love that guy. The fact that he talked about that show or that movie or that thing that I also love. Now we're like buddies. It's like we're sitting on the couch just hanging out, right? So all these details matter. You may not think they do. You may think that people don't care, but they care because we're drawing lines, we're drawing connectors and making and building relationships. Whether you believe it or not, on the other side of the screen, I know that you're watching. And I think about you. No kidding. I think about you when I make this thing. I used to think about my friends, and I used to fear what they would say. Now I think about you and I see all these much nicer, more like excited comments that are saying, this really resonates with me. Why? Because I'm not afraid of doing it wrong anymore. Because I know I can refine as I go. Tell your story. It matters. Everybody needs to share it, and many people need to hear it. Sending you tons of love. I hope you found this helpful. Go watch this video about building your brand. If that's something that you're trying to do as an artist, like build the brand, take these ideas and stick it into this brand building exercise, and I think you'll find it really valuable. All right. Sending you tons of love and I'll see you soon.