3 Things I Learned From Kanye West And Donald Glover
Everyone had their heroes when was growing up. Mines were Kanye West and Donald Glover. I looked up to them, especially when I was in my teenage years. They particularly inspired me to give the clear direction of the activities and projects that I was involved in. Their influence shaped me, most notably in high school.
Considering how positively impact they have had on my life, I decided to analyze their biographies and works in order to draw some conclusions about principles they follow. I hope that they can inspire you in some way as well.
So what exactly can we learn from them? Here are my rules.
1. Be your best friend and biggest critic
"You can't change a lot of things around you and a lot of people are going to tell you a lot of things. You have to have faith in yourself. Be good to yourself. Believe in yourself, do what you want, and be good with it"
- Donald Glover
This is my favorite point, but it also seems to be the most tricky. It's hard to find a balance between being the best friend and biggest critic. You don’t want to fall into irrational self-praise from worshiping yourself too much, but also you don’t want to be beaten because of critique that you put on yourself. So you want to find that “sweet spot” when you rely on your intuition and strive for perfection, but in a healthy way. Intuition, like any subjective thing, can lead us astray, but it is better to rely on ourselves than on something external that is beyond our control.
The best position you can find yourself in is one where you separate your ego from the things you create (game changer for me, really). It allows you to be as a person your best friend and as a creator your most passionate critic. It's also a good way to deal with pressure and self-doubts.
It’s a remarkably powerful tool that allows them to be unstoppable in their actions. All the creative foundation and attitude come from within them, they don’t look out for permission outside. This is how real power works. And this is the ground rule on which they are based, so it’s easier for them to do “scary things”, things that many people may consider too risky or unnecessary. But it’s all possible because of all the support that they have in themselves.
Being your best friend or a person who strongly believes in yourself allows you to break new barriers because no matter what, you will still believe in yourself and go even further, so love yourself.
"Would you believe in what you believe in if you were the only one who believed it?"
“I believe in myself like a five-year-old believes in himself”
- Kanye West
Kanye, who is also known for his extreme behavior, is also no different when it comes to self-confidence, comparing his self-belief to a 5-year-old child.
Of course, it is not about being an ignorant and self-absorbed person, but a certain degree of self-confidence and faith in our abilities is needed to even start creating something at all. Being your best friend is, in my opinion, one of the best, if not the best way to deal with failures. Because failure is not that entirely objective thing. Mainly it is something that exists only in our minds. So if you have the right attitude, is a failure even considered as a failure at all?
Since the issue of friendship is settled (even if it occurs within one person ;) ), let's look closer at the issue of criticism.
“Criticism can bother you, but you should be more bothered if there’s no criticism. That means you’re too safe” - Kanye West
Criticism is the natural course of things, it occurs when we do something that is outside the norms accepted by society. The most important question is how we react to it. Criticism is needed, even desirable in order to grow.
Criticism from other people should show you your weak points so that you can know which elements you should work on more, while self-criticism should motivate you to try to get better every day. Self-criticism should be some kind of message to you that you know you can do better. It is information that makes you feel unsatisfied in a healthy way. It stimulates the hunger to strive for greatness.
Again, you should find that “sweet spot” that shows you - “maybe you play too safe?” but it shouldn’t put an extreme amount of pressure.
The first point brings me to the conclusion that testifies to their successes.
Recipe for success = combination of:
The right attitude that comes from within yourself (best friend concept)
The hunger that drives you to make unordinary things because you know that you can do better (biggest critic concept)
separating your ego from what you create (to have peace of mind for God’s sake)
Combining these three elements really puts you on the right track. Love yourself but also be critical of how you think. Self-love with self-awareness is key.
Let’s wrap it up.
Recipes for life:
1) Real power and freedom come from a point where you don’t have to ask for permission.
2) Best friend + Biggest critic + separating your ego = success with peace of mind
2. Don’t put labels on yourself
This is a conclusion that speaks to me strongly because I can identify with it. It seems to me that from an early age we have been programmed to be specialized in something because otherwise we could get lost in the chaos of today's dynamic world. I assume that you exactly remember that kind of question that our parents or close people asked us when we were kids - "Who do you want to be when you grow up?". They required one specific answer (a doctor, lawyer, football player, fireman, and so on).
Later we go to school which requires us to specialize. I'm not saying that is bad, but very often it confines us to certain limits. Such frequent identification of our specializations makes us lock ourselves into the box.
"I realize, that’s my superpower. I’m not a rapper. I don’t want to be a rapper. Rappers can only get this far. They can only go so far”
"I guess the worst thing that could happen to me right now, would be if I just couldn’t make things anymore."
- Donald Glover
At first, the fact that I had trouble specializing in one thing I was considered as something negative and unproductive. But now I see it as my superpower, I strive to be a polymath and be able to look at things holistically. I am now in such a place in my life that it is difficult for me to define myself in some rigid framework, I'm just doing myself and various amounts of things.
I design, not to be a designer, I create websites, not to be a web developer, I read and learn a lot, not to be a philosopher or scientist, but so I can think holistically and see things purely. I'm trying to do my best to see a bigger picture.
Something that I perceived as a disadvantage, that I could not specialize myself, is slowly turning into my advantage. And the living example of it is my "Play For Thoughts" project ;)
3. Look out for challenges and don’t be scared to redefine
“I know how to make perfect, but that’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to crack the pavement and make new grounds”
- Kanye West
Changes are often one of the scariest things in life because they pave a path for unknown grounds. Humans are designed to operate within known habits. Sometimes breaking a small element of a habit can already make us stressed out, e.g. being late for a well-known bus to work and trying to look for another bus that will take us to the same place.
No wonder we are afraid of the unknown, unfortunately, to our disadvantage, looking for the unknown is a great chance for growth.
Looking at the careers of Kanye West and Donald Glover, we can easily see how often they redefined themselves.
Donald played in the series “Community”, but when he felt that acting was like a full-time job, he left the show and focused on music, a completely new ground. His mother couldn’t understand why he left such a well-paid job. It seemed to him that this was the only way to grow.
In 2010 Kanye released the album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” that immediately received critical acclaim. Many people consider this album to be one of the best albums in rap history. At that time, Kanye was on the top. He created an opus magnum. What he did next was he came down from the top and in 2013 he released the album "Yeezus" in which he turned upside down the order that existed in the music industry.
These examples perfectly illustrate the growth mindset. For sure, It would be much easier in their place to stay in their safe positions, but they did the opposite.
The chances and possibilities are limited, they carry many risks, but also the benefits of them are often incomparably greater than staying in your safe place. Sometimes they are the only opportunity for growth, let's do everything to take advantage of them.
My example of when the risk paid back almost immediately was when I quit law school and started studying graphics. People thought I was insane because these are completely different areas. However, I found a well-paid job, started adding value to my projects, and that was just the beginning. So, definitely don't be scared to do scary things ;)
Hope you find those three lessons valuable.
Summary:
Be your best friend and biggest critic
Don’t put labels on yourself
Look out for challenges and don’t be scared to redefine
P.S. It is possible that if it weren't Kanye West, I wouldn't have been into the design at all.
I am also leaving below a series of my posters which I called "Role Models". If you would like to cooperate, please contact me via email. You can also follow me on Twitter.
