Day 21
When I started this blog, granted it was on a little bit of
a whim but it’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. My biggest
problem is one that I think effects all creatives to some degree. I spend a lot
of time working on my art, creating/writing almost every day whether it be
music based or something related to art in some way, but up until recently I
haven’t put much of it in the public domain.
For the longest time, a lot of my creations have just laid dormant only to be seen
by a select few family members, simply because I was worried whether they were
good enough to be out in the big wide world or because I wasn’t sure how to
release them. It wasn’t until my frustrations with the fact that the only work
in my name that is publically available is the songs and work I’ve done/am
doing in Ghouls finally caught up with me. As I’ve said before, I am proud of
everything Ghouls have ever put out and continue to put out (new single will be
on Kerrang! Radio tonight at 10pm, just FYI), but it is not a complete representation
of all the work I do, nor does it reflect the quantity of work I churn out.
It wasn’t until I started reading these Austin Kleon guide
books – “Steal Like An Artist” and “Show Your Work”, that I decided to take
action and start this blog as an incentive to quite literally “Show My Work”.
To get some regularity to it all, I am uploading a song/video to YouTube every
week that go live on Wednesdays at noon; today’s video is now live and posted
below. The other action I am taking is to continue this daily blog, posting
every day – after this 30-day challenge is up, I will be taking 2 days off to
get my website ready for launch and then Season 2 will start (this should be on
15th October) on a brand new www.benedictgolde.com.
This week’s video is a cover/original – the song Let You
Down is by NF, however the lyrics in the verses are my own. I actually recorded
and wrote this song back in February. I was days away from moving back to
Cambridgeshire having spent 8 years living in the North London suburbs, I was
feeling pretty nervous about the change. I have a tendency to make really sure
decisions then, despite knowing deep down that they’re the right decision, just
before crunch time my anxieties come into full play and I have a miniature meltdown.
It’s funny to listen to this song and recall how I felt about the change as its
been one of the best moves I’ve ever made. In hindsight, it’s hard to think why
I felt anxious at all, but I think it’s a pretty natural way to react to any
major life changes.
(throwback to North London living.)
Let’s talk about perfection.
Casey Neistat said a quote in one of his podcasts – “Don’t
let good get in the way of good enough”. Referring to that if you hold your
work back because you feel it should be better then you are delaying time on
getting yourself out there. People enjoy watching someone grow, develop and get
better throughout their careers – by holding back, you are delaying the start
of progress through process.
This week I actually recorded a different song; I’d
developed a bit of a saw throat whilst recording the vocals and didn’t feel it
was good enough to release. After making the decision to release Let You Down,
I recorded a video for it but, again felt it looked rushed and didn’t seem to
fit the song. The result meant that I sort of pieced together a video from what
I could – GoPro footage that I took whilst my girlfriend and me were on a walk.
I’m glad I made the upload but you can see how obstacles can get in the way of
putting work out there. I just kept in mind that its process and progress over
getting it exactly right. If I’m not fully happy with a video/song it’s okay because
next week they’ll be another, and another after that, etc.
(this is me outside my old flat on the day I moved out.)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video and can take something
from today’s blog post. Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel – 100 subs
by the end of the year?
Also, here’s a picture from this morning’s 9 mile run because,
running is the best.
Peace & love.
BG
benedict. 