The Top 10 Reasons the World Needs Even Your Art

The world needs your art. Yes, even yours. Just think if Steve Jobs had never introduced his art to the world. We wouldn’t have Macintosh computers or iPhones. What if Elon Musk would just sit on his ideas and never act on them? We wouldn’t have Tesla cars or Space X.

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In my upcoming book, Fully and Creatively Alive: How to Live a More Joyfully Fulfilling Life, I talk about a new definition of art provided by Seth Godin. He says in his book, Linchpin, that art “isn’t only a painting. Art is anything that’s creative, passionate and personal. And great art resonates with the viewer, not only with the creator…Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does … Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.”

I would add to Seth’s definition of art by saying that art not only changes the recipient, but it changes the one making the art.

So here are the top 10 reasons the world needs even your art:

10. It changes the world. Or at least your small part of the world. Determine what it is that only you can provide, then do it. The world will be a better place.

9. It changes you. Even if nobody pays attention to your unique art, it gives you an opportunity to think through things and improve yourself. There are days when very few people read the blog posts I put out three times a week. But even if no one read them I would still keep writing them because they give me the chance to think through things in my life.

8. It makes the world more beautiful. Good art, the kind Seth Godin talks about, may bring aesthetic beauty. But more than that, it may also bring the beauty of helping someone else, which is one of the most beautiful things this world knows.

7. It provides something somebody else may need. There are many times in my life that I need something you have to give. I don’t know how to use Adobe Photoshop or Adobe InDesign to create my own graphics. I have to rely on others to do that. I’m sure glad there are people in the world willing to help me with that, people like Megan Phillips and Lindsay Galvin.

6. It gives you purpose. There is a reason God planted in you certain gifts and talents. In the doing of them you find purpose and fulfillment. Why would you want to deprive yourself of that?

5. It makes you more courageous. The other day I received an email from somebody letting me know that they appreciate my writing. They thanked me for putting myself “out there.” It made me realize that there are times my writing is an act of courage. Simply putting my thoughts out into the world can be intimidating. I have to summon up the courage to be honest and to write about things that matter.

4. It brings exhilaration. Although it is, at times, scary to put art out into the world, once it gets out there it is an exhilarating feeling to know that something that never existed before, something I created, is now in the hands of others who often appreciate it.

3. It makes life interesting. If you’ve always got “art” to do you will never be bored. When you are in the mode of creating you will always be on the lookout for inspiration. There is never a dull moment when you make it your goal to share your art, whatever it may be.

2. It makes life more fun. When you are doing something that you have been gifted to do you find yourself in what artists and entrepreneurs call “the flow.” Those are the times when you love what you are doing so much that time slips away. It flies. Making art makes life fun.

1. It’s what you were created to do. The God who created the world, all of its intricacies, all of its beauty, all of its art, is the God who created you. You were created to be creative. Yes, even you. You’re unique and you have unique art welling up inside of you wanting to get out.

Please share it with us.

What is a reason you think the world needs people to make their art?

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

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