This is how you get traction as an artist.

It is frustrating when few seem to care about our work.

All those hours poured into that project. Such a flimsy response.

We finally gave ourselves a moment to believe in ourselves, and it’s fallen flat on its face.

How can we expect to stay focused and motivated and build any momentum, if barely anyone seems to care?

We try to keep our chin up and complain less. But disappointment after disappointment can wear us down, whether we’re ‘strong and independent’ or not.

Should we give up?

Should we give it a rest and try something new? Again?

Let’s rewind a second and get clear on what ‘success’ is.

What do we need to be doing so that people take notice? How can we make people gather round; tell their friends; share our stuff and hand over cash for our creations?

How can we make things that others don’t just say they like, to be nice — but things that are truly loved?

There are two parts to the answer.

Firstly, we need to make art, products, content, writing, photographs, and films that inspire an emotional reaction in people.

“All of our actions take their hue from the complexion of the heart, as landscapes their variety from light.” ~Francis Bacon

Secondly — and this relates to the first point — we need to be believable. We need credibility. People need to trust us as artists, and they need to believe in the work.

We need to create with emotion, and we need to do enough of it so that we build credibility through what we repeatedly do.

Both of these will lead to traction.

Traction is when you start to see the world engaging with your work at an ever-increasing rate.

Every artist and entrepreneur needs it — for their own sanity if for nothing else. Traction leads to growth, and it is this sensation that we require to keep going.

I’ve been there many times. Many projects and plans lay abandoned because I didn’t pick up any traction.

But how do you find it within yourself to create like this and do it enough to see things take off?

You don’t need to get up at 5 am every day.

You don’t need to take cold showers.

You don’t need real-life mentors.

You don’t even need to be naturally talented, or highly intelligent.

These can help, but the answer lies in the creative process itself.

For your work to express itself in a way that will engage, you must get great at creating fluidly.

When creating, you can’t care too much about the outcome. You need to bring playfulness to your process.

But how do we create freely when we’re scared of every step of that process? How do we relax into our work when we know we must get it right; when it needs to be perfect or at least close to perfect?

What do we do to shake off that concern for being judged?

We create more.

We change our strategy from trying to be perfect, to producing in volume.

We don’t even try to be casual or ‘imperfect.’ We just switch our focus to the most important thing. That is: making a lot of stuff.

When we are committed to making many things rather than one thing, guess what happens? Suddenly the pressure drops, and we can breathe. We have space to flow.

No one thing holds as much significance when we are dedicated to making many, especially at pace.

Here’s an example. Try coming up with three uses for a paperclip, other than holding papers together and picking your nose.

Done?

Now come up with 20 ideas, and do it in less than 5 minutes.

You should find that you become more creative in your ideas because your strategy shifted from:

‘What are three excellent ideas?…to…’How many ideas can I come up with quickly?’

When we are committed to doing more; making more stuff, we might make a mess; we might come up with crappy ideas, and we will create excess.

But at the end of it all, we have two things:

1. Expressive Work

2. More of it

We create more playfully. It is through playing that our muscles loosen up, and we access our deeper levels. Emotion and spirit are unlocked.

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” ~Edgar Degas

This is how you create work that connects. When you create emotionally, users will sense it.

With more content that’s actually decent, you now have that ‘unfair advantage’ you need, to gain the traction you want.

Picasso demonstrated this approach well.

He produced tens of thousands of drawings, paintings, and sculptures in his time. And if you look at them, there was a thread of relaxed expression that ran through it all.

His commitment to prolific output led to work that was expressive, innovative, emotional and intriguing.

Did he throw away a lot? I’m sure of it.

But the depth in the work he chose to keep, combined with his sheer number of pieces, is what led to the success he had.

This was how he found his traction.

The same went for Leonardo DaVinci, Barbara Cartland (writer of 738 novels), Isaac Asimov, Yayoi Kusama, Frank Zappa, and countless others.

They all had a strategy of immense volume in their approach to their craft.

None of them acted like they had any time to lose.

Of course, there are examples of successful artists and entrepreneurs that took it slow (Harper Lee anyone?), and others who did not do enough to let the world know about their work (Van Gogh?). With the resources we have today for creating and sharing, this strategy is even better suited.

And this is how we need to approach our art.

Create so much they can’t ignore you.

If you cannot create things in huge quantities, like apps or movies, figure out which sub-elements of those crafts require an attention to volume. Story-boards? Writing? Sketches?

Other benefits of being prolific:

• You figure out what works and what to build on more quickly.

• You hone your skills and output, which inevitably leads to simplification and increased focus.

“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication” as DaVinci said.

‘Simple’ gets done quicker, and this amplifies the benefits even more.

• You gain traction more quickly.

• You find your style.

• You create more content for people to enjoy that will promote your name.

• You will gain self-belief and momentum.

To make this more feasible, we need to think about what we are focusing on each day.

It is much easier to be prolific with a narrow focus.

This doesn’t mean dropping everything interesting in your life, and it doesn’t require working 18 hour days. This is why narrowing things down will mean that you become prolific while still putting in the same energy or less.

This is how I write. I focus on writing a lot every day: five thousand words or more if I can, as quickly as I can. Doing this is my number one priority.

These are more words than I need, and a lot of it is junk, but it’s having this daily goal that leads to work that flows. At the end of it, I have more of quality.

“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.” ~Émile Zola

Figure out your focus, and turn up the volume.

People will notice.

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How will you turn up the volume? If you have 11 seconds, I’d love to read your comment.