]The late Steve Jobs is much in the news these days with the movie about his life recently released. There is no doubt that Steve Jobs changed our world. Whatever people may think of Jobs, the person, what he did for all our lives is now unquestionable history.
Carmine Gallo wrote an excellent article in Forbes Magazine (here) about how Steve Jobs followed his heart and encouraged others to do the same. Gallo quotes Jobs as saying, “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying, I’ve done something wonderful. That’s what matters.” Where would we be today if Jobs hadn’t followed his heart?
This doesn’t mean to say that Steve Jobs was always successful. He had many missteps and failures along the way. But he continued to do what made his heart sing and eventually he was immensely successful. The key was to continue to do what made his heart sing.
We don’t have to have the success of Steve Jobs to be a success. Being a success is doing what makes your heart sing, whatever that may be. For artists, art makes our hearts sing. But it is not always easy to jump through the fear and get to the place of the singing heart. Taking those first steps can feel like you are about to leap off of Pike’s Peak with no clothes on.
In a wonderful blog, Rachel Jepson Wolf describes the first steps she took to write her blog. Wolf states, “It was simultaneously, scary, thrilling and embarrassing to hit ‘publish’ on those first few posts. But I did it anyway.” She took those first steps because writing her blog makes her heart sing. Wolf’s blog is here.
For visual artists, it may be putting those first few slashes of color on canvas or paper. That first brushstroke is the hardest for me. For you, it could be the first few steps of whatever your process is. For some it is deciding what colors to mix. Others may first start an under drawing or under painting. Listen to what song your heart is singing and leap.
Artist Nicole Docimo has a delightful short video on listening to what makes your heart sing. Her blog is here.
In his Steve Jobs article, Carmine Gallo has an unattributed saying that states, “Don’t die with the music still in you.” Are we listening?