I believe in the power of reducing importance.
The more inflated the importance of something is, the more pressure it generates and the more it negatively interferes with our performance.
We jam-up or “choke” as it’s often called in sports. Our natural self-expression and movement is stunted and even things we’re quite familiar with become challenging.
I like to think of it this way.
Imagine a ten foot plank laying on the ground, and your task is to walk across it.
No problem, right?
You’d effortlessly walk across it without a second thought and reach the other side.
Now imagine you take that plank and raise it five-hundred feet into the air.
Walking across the same plank now becomes very difficult.
Imagine the pressure. Imagine the fear. We might not even be able to take a single step.
This is how I think of raising and lowering importance.
These days I use this strategy less because I find most things to be unimportant. That doesn’t mean I don’t care, it simply means I tend not to make a big deal of things.
However, today I became aware of how inflated importance was impeding my creative process.
I have an art event in the Hamptons next month.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been wanting to create a new piece for this show. Bigger than I’ve ever done before.
I found myself being careful. Precise. Thoughtful.
And every time I put paint down on the canvas, I disliked it.
Careful. Precise. Thoughtful.
In too high a dose, these are the things that kill my art.
And I could tell. The result was flat. Lifeless. Dull.
Compared to the other stuff I’ve done—the raw, energetic, messy, expression—this kept looking like a knockoff factory made version of my art.
Why?
Importance.
I was making this Hamptons piece a big deal.
So today, before I even picked up a paint brush, I became so present that I forgot the Hamptons event even existed.
I freed my mind, and so I freed my body, and so I freed my creativity.
The result?
Reduced Importance, 2025
Acrylic, charcoal, and oil pastel on canvas
60 in x 48 in
Wow! Loved it! I have to share something similar that happened with me. I think I’ve mentioned I wanted to do my book signing at this gorgeous local bookstore but the owner told me I could only if I had more than a thousand followers on social media. I got nervous about it and it blocked me from getting on camera and making videos. Then I gave up and decided to do it at the library instead, no pressure and it was great! Then two weeks ago, the bookstore owner invited me to a book signing event next week! 😊
Your words are so true, and you set a great example of focusing on the process and tapping into your artistic gifts instead of focusing on external validation from the people in the Hamptons. That resulted in a work of art that you can be proud of (instead of some derivative garbage). Kudos!!
Reflecting on your personal (and professional) triumph can help me through my own journey. I'm in the middle of a mess where my rights under the FCRA are being violated by my state government, it is stopping me from getting jobs, and I can't afford a lawyer. I literally had to borrow $1200 from my 17-year-old to pay the rent! The whole situation had me climbing the walls until I tapped into my faith that things will work out as they always have: I have been poor my whole life, but I have never gone without food, clothing, and shelter. I'm a very capable person in general, so I just reframed the situation and made the authenticity I display in the battle more important than the outcome. That restored my ability to think things through in a positive way and keep moving forward.