Aim to Fail Forever
Creative longevity requires endless longing
The key to creative progress is failing a little bit less on every project. But the key to creative longevity is failing forever all the same.
The obsessive element of creativity comes from its core challenge: trying to manifest imagination in the material world. With every attempt, the artist inches their way toward the elusive intersection of internal and external world.
But there’s a paradox here. The artist wants to close this gap, but also fears what will happen if they do. Without the distance between our vision and execution, there’s nothing left to chase, nothing left to long for. And if the creative urge is anything, it’s one of longing.
This week, visualise an idea in your mind. This can be a sketch, a song, an outfit, anything. Hold onto this idea for a few days, and refine it mentally. After you’ve done this, bring the idea into the world with a sole focus on where it differs from what you imagined.
Instead of trying to fix these perceived failings, lean into them. Observe how they force you to engage in a sort of dialogue with your work, a dialogue that, more often than not, leads to discoveries that go beyond your original vision, rather than falling short of it. Use this momentum of always slightly failing.
Notice what shifts.
Alex in Wonderland (Paul Mazursky, 1970)
Paul Mazursky
Paul Mazursky was a filmmaker who dissolved the line between neurosis and enlightenment.