I like to think of myself as someone who likes to bounce around ideas and as someone who is open to feedback.
But I also like to think of myself as someone who knows what he wants and stands up for his work. That's a difficult balance, however. I'm also super worried about hurting people's feelings and stepping on toes. I'm worried about coming off as a complete dick.
And it seems that I've always been worried about this. When I was in college, I had a playwriting professor, who's the nicest person on the planet, give me great advice. I was worried that I was coming off as too controlling, which at 22 meant that I was. But what he said to me was, "Eric, no one cares about how the work gets done as long as it gets done. If the result is good, no one's going to care how you got there." And that always has stuck with me. Even though I still worry about it.
I am working on a project right now and I had to take care of my own voice. I had to "quiet down" and get rid of some of the "noise" I was hearing about what people thought I should do. And the end result was a truer version of what I wanted than if I had listened to everyone else. And I stuck to it. I also knew that we were in a part of the process that if I was wrong I could turn back. But I trusted my own voice. I validated myself instead of looking around the room for people to tell me my ideas were okay.
So now, we're at the next draft of this project. And I got some notes from folks. But I decided to take on the next part of this process alone. Because I have such clarity on what I want this project to be. I love hearing ideas that excite me and inspire me. But if it's not serving what I'm writing, then it's not helpful. It has taken me a long time to get to that place of being polite, yet firm.
Not that there still isn't much to discover. But the discovery has to keep us moving in the right direction.
I am grateful for my voice.
I am grateful for inspiration.
I am grateful for sunshine.
I am grateful for spin class.
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