An artist’s effort, results, and skills

When you’re streaming a song, you care about how it sounds. Whether it took the artist five minutes or ten years to record it matters less than if it catches your ear. Sure, if you like it, then the effort that went in may make you admire the artist more. But if you don’t like it, tough luck for the artist. Next. It’s the same for writing, visual art, and all other forms of art. After Harry Potter, JK Rowling only sold 43 copies of her next book. Seth Godin writes it well: value and effort aren’t correlated. If you’re on the other side of that equation—you’re the person making the art—this is a reality you need to accept. Either you make peace with the tension that your results may not correlate with your efforts, or you find a different line of work. A day job can be useful for those of us who don’t like the commercial implications. Should you choose this line of work, you need to also simultaneously believe that your efforts will improve your skills, which will hopefully improve…