Smart creatives don't win. Stubborn ones do.

Do you know what I learned from creating a startup? How to fail.

There was a period about three years ago, bank accounts were empty, investors weren't calling us back. So we sat down our staff and gave them an option. Either ride it out or go find another job. Teresa, no one left. Do you know why? Because it's not a failure until someone says it's over.

In my experience, hope only dies when you decide to fail.

- Saskia, Class of '07

Everything you want is on the other side of the decision you’re afraid to make.

So often, the things we want feel infinitely far from us. Like we landed on one planet, while our dreams shot to another.

I imagine that’s what 1968 felt like to some as NASA. They saw the goal, but the pathway there was just…murky. Could their crazy idea really work? Could they do the “impossible?” And could it really happen so quickly?

I’m not a fan of murky moonshots. I like numbers. Proof. Evidence that the work I’m doing today will pay off tomorrow.

A lot of creative people think this way. Even more people who used to be creative think this way.

But so much of what creativity is comes down to the willingness to interact with the unknown and the uncertain. You have to enter the murk. And in the murk is where the trouble begins. 

You see, the murk doesn’t just make it difficult to see where you’re going. It also makes it difficult to move. The cloud is thick, and it weighs you down. It’s also loud. The echo of a thousand alternatives dance around your head as you try to think through what to do today, now.

So much of the difficulty we feel is simply getting to the work itself. Nevermind actually doing it.

But what if I told you, there’s a way to make the murk disappear. All of it. The weight, the dark, the noise.

How?

You decide. 

Decision is the ultimate anti-murk. 

When you decide, you tie yourself to an unknown lamppost on the other end. This isn’t your goal. It’s not a prescribed destination. Whatever this thing is may not even exist yet. It’s being created as you pursue it.

Holding on to the rope attached to this thing is how you feel your way forward. The noise quiets. The fog lifts ever so slightly. And in front of you lies a few more steps.

The trick is to not let the future murk scare you out of present action. That too will disappear when the time comes and when the decision is made. For now, you move.

Confidently. Consistently. Calmly.

Because that is the secret. The secret to all of it. To achieving the success or transformation or reputation you’re after — you just don’t stop. 

You remove off-ramps as an option. You redefine failure as a choice, not a result.

And then, eventually, you win. Because there’s no other option.