entitled to the fruits of your labor?
It's hard to argue now that social media has become a performative medium; if we want 'success' on social media, we have to play the 'game'. That's not to say that what's on there has to be poor quality, but there is an expectation that you produce work that is suited for whichever social platform you're on.
For creatives, this can be tough. Your work may not be suited to the platforms that you need to succeed on, you may not get 'lucky' with algorithms or find that break to go viral and start seeing success that seems to come so easily to others.
In short, it can be completely demotivating.
Now, some will say that it shouldn't matter if you're not getting the 'vanity' metrics, you should be doing it for the love of creating, almost like wanting people to see (and appreciate) your work is a form of selling-out.
A translation from the Bhagavad Gita states "You have the right to work, but for the work's sake only. You have no right to the fruits of work. Desire for the fruits of work must never be your motive in working."
Essentially, you're doing it for the love of the work, not the results that come after. I admit, it's a lovely thought.
But if we're honest, in a sea of 'content', does this thought really become feasible?
I'd love to rally against the commercialisation of creativity and speak up for how we should be doing it because we love it and that it feels like to do anything less than creating for the love of it is a dilution of who you are.
But this starts to become very close to the 'starving artist' mentality. After all, why shouldn't we want people to view, like and appreciate the work that we've spent a lot of time crafting? And more importantly, get paid for that.
Perhaps it's about values, compromise, objectives and expectations?
Are you prepared to stand for your values? Are you compromising on your creativity to be seen? Are you doing it purely to be seen and what is the end point when and if you are seen?
Perhaps like with all things creative, it's down to the individual rather than the group to decide.