Meaning

Think about why you do what you do?  Ego?  I want to be the world’s most famous, fabulous, richest [designer, photographer, sculptor, baker, etc.] on the planet.  Love of the art?  I would just die if I could not [design, take pictures, sculpt, bake, etc.].  Or some combination of the two?  But maybe it is something more.  To make a difference, to define a moment, to change people’s minds.

Lost in the every day of serving, producing, doing business is the notion that art simultaneously has no purpose and is everything that we are as human beings.  Nobody needs his or her picture taken, a pretty logo, fancy copy, cool furniture, a blowout party or a beautiful cake.  Yet, when we permit ourselves the luxury of self-expression, the world benefits from the spirit of creation.  We are simultaneously inspired and grateful for the statement.  We see beauty through your eyes as an artist, the way you would have us see it, the way we never could alone.  In the freedom of your expression, we may be able to know ourselves differently, even if only for a moment.  And in that moment maybe lies transformation.  The impossible possible.

When, as a creative business owner, you become jaded with the work, you lose the underlying notion of your purpose.  You knock out your thousandth wedding, your millionth picture, your gagillionth floral arrangement.  No matter the accolades (peer and/or client), the light goes out behind your eyes because you now have a job, with all of the headaches that come with it – bills, payroll, employees, all things corporate.  You do not bother to really see the client, employee, colleague across the table from you other than as a means to an end – what do they want and how can you give it to them as easily and cheaply as possible.  It will become very easy for you to say that the art you create is not like brain surgery, insulting your client and yourself in one shot.  If you have not lost it already, the notion that you make a difference gives way to the idea that you provide a great service.  Again, insulting both you and your client in one shot.

If this is you or becoming you, consider this – you are tasked with creating a defining moment or series of moments.  In that moment, the depth of meaning your client seeks from you is no less important than brain surgery.  Whether it is the moment they walk down the aisle, see your images, hear your music, experience your design, they want everyone (themselves included) to blink their eyes to the reality you are showing them.  If you miss the moment, it is gone forever.  You might be able to go back to fix things, but the original moment is gone.  In its loss so to is your client’s ability to experience your grace (your gift, your vision), to be moved by something beyond their own comprehension.

If you lived in 1912, an IPad would be magical, godlike in its creation.  You would be hard-pressed to believe that it was something humans created.  So how do you think we got from there to here?  Moments when impossible was no longer.  Knowing that your art and your creative business are the ones primarily responsible for these moments, why would ever allow yourself to become jaded with what you do as just another [you fill in the blank]?

No one needs to take themselves too seriously, even brain surgeons.  Just honor the responsibility you have been given as something more than a task, a service.  In the responsibility are meaning, integrity and faith that you and your creative business are paid to make a difference.  To create.