You don’t know what you don’t know.

There is something about that statement that I really like. It makes me reflect back to my younger days in the film industry, the days when I had a huge opinion on anything and everything with absolutely no experience to back it up. That never stopped me from saying things mind you. To this day I still don’t know what I don’t know but will spout opinions regardless. Mind you the difference now is that what I say has a bit more weight behind it. Weight derived from experience. Experiences both in the sense of doing things and making mistakes from doing them as well as finding out that my opinion, although very heartfelt at the time, was completely and utterly wrong. That always makes me feel good when that happens and it happens all the time.

Here is another tag line that I like; the only thing that I can be completely sure of at this very moment is my opinion but that opinion will not be the same tomorrow or even an hour from now.

You may be asking yourself, what is the relevance of this statement? Why is that Rob guy writing about this? It’s a good question and one that I ask myself often. In this particular case I am trying to create a sense of not knowing. I don’t have a clue as to what I am doing right at this very second other than putting words to this doc. What I am sure that I am not doing is hesitating as to what I am writing. I will type words down in the knowledge that I will make mistakes. What I can’t allow myself to do is hesitate. If I stop to think while writing a first draft of anything it tends to stall. This happens when I do anything that is slightly creative. I let that inner voice speak and it starts saying things like; “ are you sure you want to do that?” or “ that sounds stupid.” This might end up being the case of course but when I allow myself to just steam ahead and do it until what I am doing is done then I can walk away for a minute, stretch my legs and get a coffee, then sit back down and take a look with fresh eyes or ears. At that point I can start refining and removing or adding elements that will help create a more solid item. In this way I allow myself to get caught up in the moment of creating with no fear of being wrong. If it turns out that I am wrong after the fact then so be it. Own up to it and change the writing/editing/opinion and move on.

I know that most of us have that little voice in our heads that makes it hard to deal with failure or criticism and sometimes we listen to it a little too much. When that happens we get into a funk. You need to fight it off. Be accepting in the knowledge that no one is perfect let alone you can be liberating when you really think about it. Have conviction in what you do even if it ends up like crap. It’s only the first draft, be it animation, editing, writing or any other creative endeavor. Don’t ever try to make your first attempt the only one. No one is that good.
Having a creative opinion is a marvelous and powerful feeling especially when it comes from an emotional center as all things creative come from. Have the conviction to spout the opinion and the humility to accept when you are wrong and you will grow both as an artist and a professional in this industry.

Back from a coffee and several edits later I bid you have a good weekend.

I lurk here.