Life is Art and Art is Life
Business = Art
For a long time, I used to think that business and art are distinct from one another.
Business to me, seemed to be about being go-go. It epitomized the personality of the startup founder who is in execution mode: running meetings, being loud, responding in 2 minutes, being cut-throat, doing whatever it takes, ignoring all other areas of life, and constantly thinking about work.
Art, on the other hand, is the practice of slowing down, paying attention, noticing the overlooked details, and stopping to savor the roses.
However, now I’m beginning to think that business is more like art. All creation is art. Art is a way of being, a way of doing, a way of taking delight in the creation itself.
The true delight in business comes from the building, from the creation, from the painting of the canvas the way you see it. Not from the rah-rah, the PR, and the ego that typically surrounds business. Good business people are good artists. They delight in the creation itself.
I used to think that when you are running a business there are certain aspects you ‘have’ to do even if you don’t like it - the meetings, sales calls etc. But to someone who is running their business as an artist, these aren’t aspects he doesn’t like. They’re another stroke of the paintbrush. They are painted to complete the painting. The entrepreneur approaches these aspects like an artist - what is the best possible creation I can make?
True artists don’t listen to society. They don’t run companies the way others tell them to or the way other founders do it - following certain schedules, talking a certain way, following ‘best practices’. They listen to themselves, to their own ideas, and to their own artistic inclinations. Because true art and true business is an expression of who you are, not an expression of doing things the way society imposes on you.
This is why when you do a business true to who you are, you don’t care what critics say. You march to your own beat. You are the business. You are it. Genuine is how others describe it. You is how you describe it.
In fact, art is in the daily acts of living - in the everyday movement, in the eating, in the cooking, in the dressing up. It’s all art when done for it’s own sake, for the beauty and purity of it. Art is in the living. The distinction we have about art being transcendental vs. real life being harsh is a false one. It is society’s distinction. Living your life is art - it’s about painting your own life, your own thoughts.
Life is Art, and Art is Life.
I’m Aastha, and thanks for reading my world of words. I write about education, human creativity, and any other words I bob my head to. I also write a longevity and health newsletter called Live Longer World.