Let’s listen to each other like we are all Ernest. Freaking. Hemingway.

There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know. Like ALOT of stuff. It’s not that I forget that… or that I actively think that I do indeed know all the things. It’s just that I act as if what other people (Peers, colleagues, family, other creatives) have to say is somehow not going to help me. Not that it’s not important but as if I don’t need to hear it. “This is not for me. I know what I’m doing. I’m a professional.”

Well, I don’t know what I’m doing sometimes. Sometimes it’s a big huge fail.

In fact, if there is one thing I (and you) can be absolutely sure of: I don’t know it all.

So maybe it’s time I start listening to people who might know something that I don’t.

Because the truth is, we all have unique life experiences that make us all totally different. You see the world different from me. You can make stuff differently, or even better, than me. Why shouldn’t I pay attention to that? How completely caught up in my own stuff do I have to be to ignore such an obvious truth?

Just because we’re creatives, doesn’t mean we have to go it alone. Let’s learn from each other.

Let’s treat each other like a good piece of timeless literature. Like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dickens, or Melville. What if we pretend for a moment that we all are writing a piece of literature that will influence readers for generations to come. With stories so compelling, people will read it to their children and their children’s children.

Now, Doesn’t that sound like something worth reading? Doesn’t that sound like something we might need to pay attention to?

I’m not saying to let everything you hear into your life. I’m simply suggesting that we (I) swallow our pride, suck it up, and listen to what people are trying to say. Not everybody thinks like you do. It’s time to expand our thinking by learning from each other.