Stand By Your Work

On being asked for advice for upcoming artists, Tyler (the Creator) replied: “Stand by your work.”

He expands on his point, explaining that a lot of artists put a ton of work into their projects, just to shy away from promoting it when time to do so.

It struck a chord with me because I’m definitely a victim of this self-sabotage.

For example, when I spend weeks on a YouTube project, I post the video, hoping that by some miracle:

1. Lots of people see it.
2. They all engage with the video and share it.
3. They realise and appreciate the work that went into it.

Sadly, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth:

1. Only a fraction of my followers will see it (some are busy, some don’t click).
2. Of those people, many will forget (or choose not) to engage with or share the video.
3. The final project gives no insight into the behind-the-scenes work that went into it.

In my mind, I’d be overdoing it by sharing the video multiple times. But in reality, people need reminding. A reminder that I’ve made something, that it’s available to consume, and that now is as good a time as ever to finally get around to watching it.

I’m never bothered by other people’s attempts at sharing their work. Either I skip past it or choose to finally consume it.

If I ever find myself averse to consuming someone’s work, I wouldn’t be subscribed to them in the first place.

We follow artists for a reason, so their ‘sharing’ is more than welcome, it’s expected.

Perhaps our hesitancy in sharing our work stems from our sensitivity to the reactions of others.

But that’s a good thing, because we still felt the need to create something in spite of this feeling.

Stand by your work. Share it with us.

Again and again.

We’re expecting it.