The Unfair Truth About How Creative People Really Succeed http://ift.tt/1Pv7Qdq @jeffgoins #blogging

Last week, I was invited to a dinner hosted by a friend. Those in attendance included some of my favorite writers, bloggers, and communicators – people I have admired for years before knowing them personally. Halfway through the dinner, I silently asked myself, “How did I get here?”

Photo credit: Jeremy Cowart

For years, I watched people, mostly online, talk about their influential friendships and subsequent success, and seethed with jealousy. It just seemed unfair. Of course those people were successful. They knew the right people. They were in the right place at the right time. They got lucky.

Years later, I would discover how success is borne of luck (I don’t think any honest person disputes that), but that luck, in many ways, can be created – or at very least, improved.

The truth is it’s not fair. For creative work to spread, you need more than talent. You also have to know the right people and get exposure to the right networks. And as unfair as that may seem, it’s the way the world has always worked.

The Systems Approach to Creativity

What makes a person creative? Of course, as human beings we are all endowed with the ability to create. But what is the difference between that kind of “little c” creativity and the world-changing “big C” creativity?

In his decades-long study of how creativity works, Mihaly Cziksentmihalyi describes what he calls a “systems approach” to creativity. Since creative work tends to be subjective, he posits a model that includes three “systems”

Domain
Field
Individual

In order for a work to be considered Creative (in the sense that it offers some kind of enduring work that the world remembers), it must satisfy all three of these areas. An individual must master her craft in a given domain (such as art, science, mathematics, etc.) and then offer the creative work to the field of “gatekeepers” who decide if the work is worth pursuing.

As much as I initially winced at the words “gatekeepers” when considering what makes creative work succeed, once I started to read biographies of artists, musicians, and authors whose work endures, it began to make a lot of sense. Talent is only part of the equation.

Hemingway and Paris

When he was just a young man in his early twenties, Ernest Hemingway moved from Chicago, Illinois to a poor artist district in Paris, France. He had just returned from a short stint of serving with the Red Cross in World War I and wanted to pursue his creative writing.

In Chicago, Hemingway met the writer Sherwood Anderson who encouraged him to move to Paris to meet Gertrude Stein. There, Stein was leading a community of novelists, poets, and artists that were all sharing their ideas and growing in their respective crafts. Plus, it was cheaper there, and as newlyweds, the Hemingways could live modestly and still have free time to travel and wrote.

In Paris, Hemingway did meet Stein, as well as Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and many others who would help shape his work. This included a connection via F. Scott Fitzgerald to Scribner’s, the publisher that would go on to publish all of Hemingway’s future writing and contribute to making him the most famous writer of his time.

Once you understand the story of how this environment uniquely shaped one of the great writers of the 20th century, it’s inconceivable that such a development could have happened anywhere else. In other words, without Paris in the 1920s, there is no Hemingway.

Finding your own Paris

So what does this mean? Are we doomed to failure if we don’t live in the right place at the right time? Of course not. But it does mean that networks matter.

This is why Van Gogh’s work matured much more quickly once he met the French Impressionists. He now had a field of gatekeepers who would vouch for his work. Similarly, when I started reaching out to influential people in my own backyard, I started to see unprecedented momentum in my work.

But how do you apply this if you don’t live some place like Paris, or even Nashville for that matter? Well, you could do one of two things:

You could move. According to Csikszentmihalyi, it’s easier to move somewhere new than it is to will yourself to be more creative. So try that, because it’s now easier than ever to transplant yourself some place new and start a new life (I did it eight years ago).
You could let go of your excuses and realize there’s a network available to you right now, wherever you are. This may come in the form of an online mastermind you create or an event you attend. But the truth is there are networks at your disposal and you just aren’t tapping into them.

How I got a seat at the table

Five years ago, I made a decision to let go of my cynicism about writing. I reached out to dozens of influencers, even though I considered myself a shy person. Once I met the people who responded, I followed up and did everything I could to help them.

I tried to be the kind of person they would want to invest in. I followed every piece of advice, did everything they told me to do, and didn’t question any of it. And maybe some of that was instrumental in my invitation to that dinner – I don’t really know.

What I do know is this: you will get lucky. It’s naive to say success doesn’t involve luck. But at the same time luck can be planned for, anticipated. And though I can’t tell when or where I’m going to get lucky, I do know the more I put myself in the company of great minds, the more likely some of that greatness just might rub off on me.

Of course, every person’s journey is their own. But what I am now more certain of than ever before is that success in any creative field is contingent on the networks you are a part of. The question is, will you embrace the power of networks and put yourself in the right place with the right people…

Or will you keep thinking those people are just lucky?

Join my network (for free)

But maybe you just don’t know where to start. That’s understandable. It can all feel so overwhelming and intimidating.

This was why I started Tribe Writers three years ago. It was a way to create a network of people who could help each other. And now, three thousand people later, we have published authors, award-winning bloggers, and world-class communicators who have come out of the community. It’s amazing.

When I tell people this, they are blown away. It seems that most people don’t appreciate how amazing a community like this is until they become a part of one themselves. So if you’re still wondering where to begin, I have something exciting, if not slightly crazy, to share with you today.

For the next 24 hours, we’re giving away a 7-day free trial to Tribe Writers.

With this membership, you’ll get seven days of free content, and on the eighth day you’ll have an opportunity to buy the full course. There’s no credit card required up front, no social security number, retina scan, or anything fancy like that.

This is a completely free trial with no strings attached. All you have to do is register for a free username and password to get started. You just have to act now.

My hope in doing this is you’ll see Tribe Writers for what it really is: a 3000-member community of writers unlike any on the Internet, encouraging each other to pursue their dreams of writing. And maybe it’ll give you an idea of how powerful a network can be.

I believe every story of success is a story of community. And the way you’re going to find your path is by walking alongside others on theirs. So what’re you waiting for?

Get your free trial to Tribe Writers here.

Other resources

To read more about Hemingway’s formative writing years in Paris, I recommend the book Hemingway: The Paris Years.
To read more about the systems approach to creativity, read the book Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
You can listen to any of these books on Audible for free when you sign up for a free trial.
To get access to my Tribe Writers community, claim your seven-day free trial (offer expires August 18 at 3:00p CT).

How has a network helped you succeed? Share in the comments.