Well, whaddya know? It’s 2023 – and I, like many of us, am ruminating on the subject of “resolutions”.
As a business owner and a creative, I’m always looking for ways to level up, grow my client base, and take on more projects that I love. Over the years, I’ve been a big proponent of the “hustle hard and you’ll reap the rewards” mentality. But, with eight years of business-building and freelancing under my belt, the evidence actually points to the contrary – I think I was wrong.
I’m starting to think that resolutions are nothing more than a shiny thing we get distracted by every January; that adding more things to our to-do lists isn’t actually all that beneficial. We get overwhelmed, ditch most of our resolutions by February 1, and wallow in guilt and shame about our inability to stick to our guns.
None of this is helpful. In fact, I strongly suspect that the hustle mentality I’ve touted is nothing more than another misleading element of capitalism that encourages us to work until we drop, consequences be damned.
But the consequences are difficult to ignore. Burnout is very real. Creative businesses shutter their doors every day because the pace owners set for themselves is unsustainable. We aren’t machines, after all, we’re creative beings.
As creative beings, we have very human limits and needs that exist alongside our desire to build sustainable businesses to support ourselves by doing something we love.
So the question is: how do we maintain and grow businesses without succumbing to burnout?
Well, it’s only a theory at this point, but I think we have to cheat the system. We rebel. We fight back. We do less. We take care of ourselves first. We take on fewer projects. We learn to say no and set boundaries. One of the things I’ve learned while building my business is that the only way things get done is one day at a time, in small steps. Little by slowly.
Michelangelo’s marble masterpieces weren’t created by an excessive amount of caffeine, scattered sleep, and a 24/7 work ethic. They came into existence one tiny chipped piece at a time. Michelangelo famously claimed that he wasn’t sculpting, he was freeing statues from the stone. He just kept showing up and doing his part. He trusted that eventually, the marble would reveal the masterpiece within.
As creatives in 2023, we are allowed to do the same. We can trust the process: we strengthen our creative faith by sending in auditions. We take classes, invest in ourselves, and sharpen our skills. We show up each day to do our part, and we let the universe take care of the rest.
I say this not based on blind optimism, but through years of evidence that my “biggest breaks” have come from the most unlikely places. I’ve found collaborators online by chance, by accident, by responding to emails and messages, and by watching partnerships develop slowly and naturally.
So this year, I’m not making any resolutions. I’m staying the course. I’m showing up each day. I’m sending in auditions and answering emails. I’m committed to caring for my mental and physical health before completing client work. Because I know that, in the long run, this will make my work better and my clients happier.
Caroline Turner Cole is a voice-over artist, writer, yogi, and coach based in Dallas, TX. Connect via Instagram @carolinecolestories.
