9 Uncompromising Artists Who Taught Me How to Unlock My Creative Potential

I found the secret to my success. Here’s what I learned from Marilyn Manson, Keanu Reeves, J.R.R Tolkien, and Nikola Tesla. And something they all have in common.

“I must be fucking cursed.”

The hard truth is, if I don’t love it right away, I usually won’t do it. I thought writing on Medium wasn’t for me, and I spent over a year convincing myself with endless justifications that this was the irrefutable truth.

Turns out I was dead wrong.

Now I am engaging with Medium every day and the community has been warm, welcoming, unique, and indispensable.

I’ve had many experiences like this before. Being obstinate and then mulling things over is actually part of my creative process, so I’ve learned to accept it.

I’m allowed to be a stubborn idiot, it’s how I grow, and I’ll own that.

I don’t put too much stock into personality types, but I think they’re an interesting way to explore our tendencies, so this little dilemma brought to mind an article I was reading a couple of years ago. It was a comparison discussing the differences between the “rarest” personality type, INFJ (held by lots of people I admire), and INFPs (that’s me).

It went a little something like this:

INFJs have outward organization, and they’re thinkers. This makes them appear more structured and allows them to present a more impressive show of their creativity. They are much better at judging a situation based on facts, and getting organized comes easier, so their resulting successes are more readily seen and felt. They are also more prone to utilizing facts, feedback, and real information.

INFPs, on the other hand, run into a big problem. We are feelers, and often aren’t living in “traditional reality.” Instead, we retreat to individual, inner worlds fueled by personal values, phases, inspirations, and moods.

We can be highly subjective and prone to idealism and fantasy, so we more easily and willingly become tortured artists, dreamers, and wounded healers. To complicate things, we aren’t always action-oriented. Our motivations come from somewhere deep within, and our closely held values might interfere with seizing opportunities that others would consider a “no-brainer.”

As an INFP I can confirm that this is dangerous when left unchecked, and these habits are unconscious tendencies that are best handled with a good dose of gentle self-awareness. This isn’t exclusively an INFP trait though; lots of creatives out there can relate to the struggles that come with being connected to a deep inner world.

It’s okay for creativity to be a messy, even emotional experience. I choose to contemplate my own “creative cycles” and try to harness that irregularity to my advantage. It’s actually quite powerful. Following your own lead is an essential part of creating your own type of success , and finding confidence in your creative style and capabilities is how you do that.

Sometimes there’s an air of certainty that exists within the bardo of creativity, but like anything in that space in easily subject to change or transformation. When Medium didn’t fit into my worldview, I quickly cast it away (or so I thought), but I’ve learned over the years to pay attention to the things I discard that continue to nag at me.

It’s sort of my failsafe.

And do you want to know why joining Medium nagged at me?

I was looking for a creative outlet, a place to share my work, and Medium was an unexplored sandbox. It still feels like a mysterious and fertile land where my creativity can lay down its roots, and then cross-pollinate in an enriching environment.

I needed Medium, and I knew it deep down, I also needed the time to come around. The timing was actually perfect, because when I decided to join I wasn’t just ready to write, I was ready to write honestly and bare my soul, which for me is the purpose of doing it.

When I started, I could barely get organized enough to write and plan a blog post without getting overwhelmed and mentally exhausted. Now, you know who’s the king of pacing himself and getting into the flow of things?

This guy.

At least, most of the time…

I share that just to illustrate that if you’re an emotional creator, like me, there’s a place for you at the table. Sensitivity, vulnerability, and depth may not appeal to every reader in our drive-by, smash-and-grab internet culture, but as my marketing coach told me a few years ago,

“You can’t talk to everybody at the same time online, you’ve got to talk to somebody. And it better be somebody who cares about what you’re saying.”

Marilyn Manson Actually Cracked the Code

In the article I mentioned earlier (which I couldn’t find, so I’m still paraphrasing here), they used Marilyn Manson as an example of the “rare” INFJ creative genius. He can read the people and he knows what they want, he also capitalizes on what they don’t.

Despite major opposition (and because of it), he created desirable and relatable experiences for a supremely niche audience, expressing his creative style in such a way that he formed a dedicated “cult following” (no pun intended).

Manson knew when to be edgy and how to grab people’s attention, and by doing so he got people talking, thinking, and talking some more. He immortalized himself in our society where he was on everyone’s lips, for a period of time.

They talked about him at church, we passed around his tall tales, and he proved time and time again that there is no “bad publicity.”

The Marilyn Manson persona may or may not represent who he is in his private life, and it probably doesn’t, but he can treat his passion and creativity like a means to an end without feeling a sense of loss or creating an ethical dilemma. He knows what works, and he’s even been willing and able to recreate himself.

And I respect the shit out of him for it.*

Even if I outgrew his music in middle school, I still catch myself humming “The Beautiful People” from time to time without realizing it, and during certain blockheaded political eras, I would love to wipe my ass with our flag if it was more hygienic.

Who doesn’t love a little dash of anarchy in their dull, repetitive life?

Here’s the problem though, Manson’s strengths are not my strengths. I only know how to create from an intense, passionate, and frenetic inner world. If I’m honest, I make most of my decisions using this process, so why would my artistic side be any different?

I’ve learned to temper the destructive nature of those tendencies, but I absolutely do not have my finger on the pulse of the people.

I can barely find a popular hashtag, even with the help of the internet.

What I care about or find deeply interesting, most others do not seem to care about, at least not in the same way. I’ve learned the proper way to do things, but I also resort to my own unique methods, sometimes even successfully. I highly value recognition and success, but I won’t cheapen or alter who I am to obtain it, and when I decide to do something it has to feel like the “right thing” at the “right time.”

Yes, I’m aware that these are highly idealistic values, but they actually allowed me to build a successful business as a professional psychic medium ten years ago, ahead of society’s spiritual boom, and develop a lasting reputation that brings clients in every month with virtually zero advertising effort.

Not bad, right?

I still battle with myself every day about doing things the “right way”, but I am quicker to remind myself that I have my own way of doing things, and it ain’t half bad.

Still, the second time around, while building a writing career, I’m making adjustments. Mainly, I plan to dial down the idealism just a tad and embrace a bit more convention.

Edgar Allen Poe, Keanu Reeves, and J.R.R. Tolkien Walk Into a Bar…

So, who do we, the wayward and chaotic people of this society look to as role models? On the surface, Marilyn Manson would be the perfect weirdo, and I mean that as a compliment, but I find myself taking inspiration from the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, Nikola Tesla, and Vincent Van Goh.

Also, from fellow INFPs like Tori Amos, Keanu Reeves, Helen Keller, and the uncompromising J.R.R Tolkien (who hated cars, and once referred to himself as “like a Hobbit in all but size”).

Much to my surprise, Google claims that all of these talented and successful people are INFPs, save for Tesla (who Google says is an INTJ).

These are creatives who connect with their souls, they and their works are immortal in the hearts of the people. I admire them as role models, not just for their creative products, but also for how they handle their struggles, stick to their ethics and ideals, or teach me what not to do by example.

I’m looking at you, Tesla, a fellow dreamer who may have trusted people a little too much. Also you, Poe, and Van Goh, who showed me that proper mental health is not an option, even if a bit of crazy makes for a proprietary blend of creativity that’s impossible to duplicate.

If you compare Marilyn Manson, a “rare” INFJ, to Bob Marley, a fellow INFP, there’s a striking and obvious difference. Manson may be a magnetic firestarter, but we love Bob Marley for his heart, and he lives on in ours. His suffering and joy, which he brought to life through his music, immortalized him.

Unlike Manson, he was probably very similar in real life to how he presented himself on stage. Rather than using an alter-ego, he likely entered a “creative zone” instead.

Marilyn Manson’s impact could slowly disappear from mainstream society just as he eventually did from the media and we may not even notice, but try imagining a world without Bob Marley. For me, that’s like imagining salt without pepper, peanut butter without jelly, or toast without jam.

I don’t just think his name will keep floating around, I expect that it should in a world that is right. He will always be on somebody’s playlist, even when we live in space.

Especially when we live in space, and we’re missing home.

(Very Guardians of the Galaxy, isn’t it?)

Bob Marley is a bard for at least 3–4 generations of people. We connect with him to feel more human, not to bring life to an angsty and repressed side of ourselves that’s only welcome in certain spaces. That’s why his impact is lasting, he was not the flavor of the week or a decade.

Listening to Bob Marley’s music makes us feel whole, and if he was anything like myself and the other INFPs I know, creating what he was passionate about, sharing it, and touching the lives of others made him feel whole too.

Here’s The Big Question

Should you be a tuned-in Marilyn Manson and captivate the world with your sexy, thought-provoking, and eye-catching rise to fame? Or, should you attempt immortality as a deep and passionate Bob Marley, baring your soul to sing and write your heart out?

That really depends on you, and I’d say there’s no wrong answer. Why not a little bit of both?

It’s up to us to know who we are, and what works for us. You can embrace it and all the trappings that come with it, or ignore who you are at your core, cast it away, and take it for granted.

“Are we born who we are, or do we create ourselves?”

That’s the important, philosophical question, and my advice to anyone caught between who they are and who they might be is this:

You are not fixed.

Learn everything, try anything, but know when to walk away from what isn’t you. You can market the hell out of something you don’t care about and make a ton of money just to become totally and utterly depressed, an empty void of a person.

You can also stick to your values too rigidly, refuse to be flexible and diversify, never compromise, and end up bankrupt and homeless or living in your parent’s basement. If it isn’t working and hasn’t been working, no amount of good faith and “being true to yourself” will tip the balance.

Still, there is a “spirit” or a “soul” in the heart of every creative. It speaks different languages through different styles and personalities and it’s your job to give it life. It’s a mistake to think that because something has a spirit it means it is fragile.

In fact, something with a spirit possesses power, resilience, intrigue, and depth. It is capable of transforming itself and the world around it.

Grit is invaluable, and nobody worth mentioning rose to fame, found success, or gained fulfillment without making some compromises and tackling adversity. The things that don’t honor who we are make us into who we are meant to be, and there’s a balance you can find, it does exist.

You may be on your own individual journey, but you have not been left without a map. You have also been selected to forge a path for future generations and other creators of this era, to show that it is possible to articulate the language of your inner creativity into something tangible that touches people.

And I’ll if you still aren’t convinced, if like me you sometimes feel the weight of it all coming down on you, if your massive creativity and inability to “successfully” express it becomes way too heavy to carry, I’ll leave you with this:

You aren’t just figuring out who you are or tackling life’s myriad of impossible challenges, you’re making memories.

These are your formative moments, and if you’re young or going through a life transition, they’re your formative years. It’s necessary for creative people to negotiate with destiny. It’s gut-wrenching, you must do the impossible and balance the desires of your heart and soul with the realities of making it through the day-to-day, but one day you’ll look back on this fondly.

Here’s a controversial opinion:

You can’t ever totally know who you are, what you’re truly capable of, what will ultimately make you happy and bring you fulfillment without exploration, and that is why you must go and find out.

• Maybe you’d love an office job, a steady paycheck, and a corporate life.
• Writing online may just be a means to an end, but maybe it’s your life’s calling.
• Never having kids might feel like a total loss at first, but it could open you up to a bright and fulfilling future.
• “Settling down” and having a family could reveal your depth and open your heart.

My chronic illness destroyed my life, but it also opened me up to myself and reignited my passions. Life is full of plot twists.

Only lived experience will settle your doubts and inner conflicts. You can always walk away, but you can’t reclaim a lost opportunity. Don’t waste your time on what you absolutely know is wrong for you, it’s insane and deprives you of self-worth, but don’t rob yourself of the chance to consciously decide.

The truth is, we are mysteries, every one of us. Part of you knows how to drive down the road of life using its tendencies and habits, but you are in charge of navigating with wisdom and receptivity. Awareness of your habits, both your gifts and weaknesses is an important part of becoming who you are meant to be. Plus, there’s a unique creative genius inside of you waiting to be unleashed.

It may take years to develop it, coax it entirely out, separate from it all of your bad habits, doubts, and self-sabotage, but know this:

Your healthiest, happiest, and honest efforts are valuable, even if they aren’t rewarded right away. There’s a certain amount of faith required to live a creative life.

I’m not talking about faith in gods or supreme beings, you need a lot of faith and trust in your own creative heart so that you can access it fully and express it truthfully. Even what comes naturally to us requires self-investment, a confident hand, being honest with yourself, and learning how to step out of your own way.

As my journey into the heart of Medium taught me once again, authenticity takes work. There’s a lot of garbage to unlearn and beliefs to rewrite. That’s the inner work of a creative, who is often their own obstacle and most brutal critic.

There is an alchemy that happens in the heart of creatives who feel compelled to share bits and pieces of their deep inner worlds. That’s where life imitates art and goes forth to shape the world, influencing people in it to think, love, feel, and create for themselves what they will while exploring their own depths.

The best part? There are absolutely no rules. Except for the ones you discover as you learn what works for you.

*While writing this article I learned about several sexual assault and emotional abuse allegations (that Manson denies). I don’t respect the shit out of that, but I’m only using him for an example of unique creativity, not to praise him or his lifestyle.

Recognition for Some Fellow Creatives

Since this article is about creatives and my journey into Medium, it feels wrong to write it without mentioning a few of the people who have inspired and supported me here so far.

They have been good community members, but are also beyond talented. Sorry if for some reason you didn’t want a tag, let me know and I’ll edit you out.

Here we go:

Lucid Reality— One of my first followers, master of short form, cohesive, and always on-brand.

Praise Frank— A deep poet, friendly in the comments section, talented and thought-provoking.

Malky McEwan — Knows about all the “devices.” Writing devices, that is. Also approachable, friendly, and full of wit.

Franco Amati— Writer, poet, editor and skilled curator of unparalleled reads at Scuzzbucket.

My Sugar Poems— Imaginative, real, funny, all about the money (and that’s okay with me, honey).

Amanda Weir-Gertzog— Wrote this incredible piece, which I found to be both resonant and inspiring.

Bonnie— Who bravely shared her personal story alongside her unique and powerful writing.

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