High Performance Creativity
What it means to practice, and achieve it.
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High performance is a phrase we usually use with sports and athletes, but it belongs just as much to art.
Photographers, painters, musicians, even writers, all live in the pressure cooker of performance, whether we want to admit it or not. It’s hot in the arena.
Working at the highest level includes having some talent, of course. That is a given.
But there’s also resilience, risk, humility, and a steadfast refusal to settle for “good enough.”
Y’all gotta know it by now, “good enough” simply isn’t.
Mediocre is over, and AI has taken over that role.
Relentless Pursuit of Excellence
On the athletic field, the smallest error can ruin the strongest effort.
A ski very slightly out of alignment can cost a tenth of a second, and no medal.
A slight hesitation can lead to a dropped baton.
A turn of the head can mean a missed catch.
In photography, it might be a missed highlight, a sloppy crop, or a lazy concept.
Excellence comes from sweating the details until they disappear into the image.
The audience doesn’t see the effort; they never will.
But they can see and feel the result. Sometimes it is subtle, sometimes it is marked.
Resilience in Adversity
High-performance art is forged under the same pressure as high-performance athletics.
Long hours, difficult clients, and projects that fall flat are all simply part of the process.
And they aren’t little detours off the path, they’re literally the terrain we have to explore. And they are usually dirty, steep, and full of obstacles.
They are part of the process that leads to resilience, and man, is that important for all of us.
Resilience is the muscle that allows you to keep moving when the ultimate fatigue or self-doubt says quit.
Mentorship and Modeling
Every high performer stands on the shoulders of others. It is mandatory. It is not an option.
We mimic, we absorb, we refine.
We steal, remake, and study.
Then, once the patterns are internalized, we will innovate.
Imitate. Assimilate. Innovate. - Clark Terry
But high performance is usually never a solo act.
It’s usually more of a dialogue across generations of makers.
Work with the best.
As often as you can.
Learn from the best, not necessarily from the most popular.
Search out the people who expect nothing less than the best.
And do what they do.
Do. What. They. Do.
Risk and Jeopardy
Performance thrives on certain risk.
It just does.
Accept that and embrace it with all of your heart.
Without putting ourselves in even a little jeopardy, without the ultimate possibility of failure, we curl up and stagnate.
Try a new technique, approach a bigger client, or tackle a subject that scares you.
You won’t perish, you won’t be humiliated, you will grow.
And growth is performance.
Hard Work with Equal Humility
Effort, in fact, extreme effort, is simply the price of admission.
Hours of practice.
Hours of editing.
Revising.
Pitching. And pitching again.
I’ve been doing this a long time, and I promise you there’s no substitute.
But doing all the work and being arrogant is a terrible poison to your effort.
True high performance rests on the paradox of confidence built on humility: I know what I can do, and I know there’s always more to learn.
The Detail Enhances the Whole
In cooking, you taste before you cook.
In baseball, you hit the batting cage for hours on end.
In art, you pre-visualize before you make.
High-performing artists cultivate awareness.
Of light.
Of color.
Of rhythm.
Of gesture.
Every detail matters because it creates the whole.
Sustainability and Support
No one can sprint forever.
While high performance is a lot of hard work, it shouldn’t lead to burnout
Instead, it should lead to increased endurance.
Knowing when to delegate, when to rest, and how to build support systems that keep you grounded are the tools of the titans, my friends.
And without them, the brilliance may burn out quickly.
Embracing the Storm
The final marker of high performance:
You stop avoiding challenges and start seeking them out.
The storm - lightning, thunder, hail, and wind - the whole enchilada is where you find growth.
Pack that fear away in a shiny Haliburton, and focus your energy on consistently becoming better.
There is no guarantee we can be the best, but we can be the best possible version of ourselves that we can be.
TRANSFORM YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
And find your passion… fast.
It’s time to get serious with your photography and your business. Changes are coming fast and furious and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. Know that there is a path to follow for finding your freedom and building a creative business. Let me guide you.
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If you’re over 40 and still hungry to make, build, and create, stick around. This space is for people who aren’t done yet (and never will be). I’ve got five decades of wins, failures, comebacks, and creative battles under my belt, and I’m sharing everything that still works—and burning the rest.
No fluff.
No hustle porn.
Just real tools for building a creative life on your own damn terms.