FRANK’S FOURTEEN

14 pieces of advice I wish I’d given my younger self.

  1. Don’t just look. Take serious time to really engage in the works of art you care about.

  2. Don’t repeat yourself as an artist, especially with things you’ve done that people tell you they like.

  3. Read good books. Then reread them.

  4. Resist with all your might the inclination to take yourself seriously.

  5. Remind yourself that much or most of your so-called accomplishments come, directly or indirectly, from sheer dumb luck. You are not all that.

  6. Remember that your art matters more to you than it does to other people. To repeat, you’re not all that.

  7. In life, there will be this gap between what you think you should do and what you really want to do. That’s true for creating art too. And figuring out what you really want is more difficult than figuring out how to get some measure of it.

  8. Don’t get sucked in by hype, about anything. Especially yourself, see nos. 4, 5, and 6.

  9. Understand that what you know is very tiny compared to what you don’t know.

  10. Unless you really want to make bad work, don’t make art to show people how good you are or how smart you are. But if for some perverse reason you do want to make really bad work, knock yourself out: this is the way to go. You won’t be the first.

  11. Give credit to other people often. And when someone does something you like tell them so. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do. Nice when those two things come together.

  12. When you’re pissed off, try stepping back and figuring out if you’re angry with the world for something truly shitty or just unhappy with your own life. The two may be connected but rarely in the way you first think.

  13. Don’t wait to feel better, just work.

  14. But also enjoy the day as much as you can, because you’re on a clock. Tick, tick, tick.

And if you want to read the full version, go to A Letter to My Younger Self on Life, Art, and What Really Matters.