Fame as a by-product: Steve Martin

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Here’s one more paean to finding your own glorious unique path:

I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a by-product. The course was more plodding than heroic: I did not strive valiantly against doubters but took incremental steps studded with a few intuitive leaps.

~ Steve Martin, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life

Our culture rewards flaming originality. All the things we fear most when we’re young are the very aspects that make us sought after when we’re older:

  • Nonconformity
  • Self-expression
  • Standing out from the crowd
  • Being different
  • Being weird
  • Thinking for ourselves
  • Taking untrod paths

These are your strengths now. This is what people will pay you for. After you’ve become comfortable enough to let it shine day in and day out.

It’s as true of celebrities as it is of creatives as it is of your favorite Starbucks barista.

It took Steve Martin years to hone his unique view as a stand-up comic. It took that wild and cosmic novelist Tom Robbins till his mid-thirties to figure out his writing voice. (Part yodel, part Yoda.)

That’s really good news. Because only you can be you. Start now. Let you through! In everything you do. Let you through!

For you —

Evan Griffith
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Click here for (occasional) notes at the intersection of creativity and spirit. Once a month, maybe.

Death by a thousand opportunities
An idea about time whose time has come