Bold Steps & Big Swings

Babe Ruth hit 714 career home runs, a record that stood for nearly 40 years. Over that same period, the Babe also struck out 1,330 times—another MLB record, which stood for nearly as long. Whenever he would swing at a pitch, he would swing hard and give it his all. It would either be an epic triumph or an epic failure.

The fact is, you can’t have one without the other. You can’t have the triumphs without the failures, or the home runs without the strikeouts. That’s true of baseball, and it’s also true of life. You don’t get anywhere by playing it safe. In order to be successful in this world, you must be like a thief of oversized playground equipment: you need to take big swings.

So… How do you do that? How do you take those big chances in your life and in your art, and what will they lead to if you do? Here are a few questions to ask yourself if you want to start along the path of creative boldness that ultimately leads both to failure and success. 

What Is the Biggest Swing You Could Take Right Now in Your Creative Life?
Take a couple of minutes and think about this. Do it right now. What does “taking big swings” mean in your creative field? What does it mean for you right now, in your current situation? What would constitute taking a big swing for you?

Maybe it’s a big project that you want to take on. Maybe it’s a collaboration with someone you admire. Maybe it’s an application for something: a grant, a fellowship, a program that would provide new opportunities, or a course that would help you take your art to the next level. Maybe it’s uprooting your life and moving somewhere else that has more opportunities for what you want to accomplish. It could be anything at all… As long as it’s big. 

Of course, “big” is relative. So the next thing to ask is, what makes this such a big swing for you? What would going for this thing mean for you, for your art, or for your career? And what would you be risking if you went for it? There’s always risk involved. If it’s not a big risk, then it’s not a big swing. So what do you stand to lose by doing this?

The risk could be something concrete, like, “I’m putting a lot of money into this, and if it doesn’t pan out, I’ll lose it.” It could be something more personal, like, “If I submit my work to this organization now, and they turn me down, then I’ll lose any hope of working with them in the future.” Or it could be something as simple as, “If I put myself out there in front of all of these people, and I fail, then I’ll look really stupid and inept, and it will be embarrassing for me.” Which is absolutely a valid concern.

Now that you understand what you’re going for and what you’re risking… Is it worth it to you? Does the potential reward outweigh the potential loss? Is taking that big swing worth the possibility that you might strike out? And if it’s not… Why not? What WOULD be worth the risk? How far outside your comfort zone are you willing to step, and what will happen when you do? Once you have your answer… That’s your big swing. 

What’s Stopping You?
Often, when people ask this question, they mean it almost rhetorically. “You want to do that project? Well, what’s stopping you?” I.e., nothing is stopping you, so why not just go do it instead of standing around talking about it?

In the real world, though, there might actually be something stopping you. Lack of time, lack of money, lack of help, are all real problems that can stand in the way of your taking the swings that you want to.

This is different from the risks that we talked about earlier. The risks don’t actually prevent you from taking the swing. They just make it daunting. If they turn out to be too daunting, then YOU prevent yourself from taking the swing. It doesn’t make the swing any less possible—just a lot scarier.

But in addition to the risks, there may be actual obstacles standing in your way. For instance, say your big swing is bringing your work to some major festival, like Hollywood Fringe or Edinburgh Fringe. To do that takes money. Even if it’s just you, alone on an empty stage, there are registration fees, venue rental, advertising, and more. It adds up. For the sake of our example, let’s say your particular project will cost $5,000 to mount at the festival of your choice.

If you don’t have $5,000, that’s an obstacle. You can’t cover the costs, so you can’t go to the festival. If you do have, or can access, that amount of money, but it would be a difficult proposition, and there are a hundred different reasons why you shouldn’t… That’s a risk. You might lose everything, but you can do it. And that’s why they call it a big swing.

It can be a fine line between obstacle and risk, though. Sometimes, the thing that’s standing in your way, keeping you from taking that big swing, is just an excuse, because you’re not ready for the risk. On the other hand, sometimes you can go rushing into some new venture, only to find that you were vastly unprepared and didn’t have what you needed after all.

So how do you know where that line is? I’m not really sure. It’s a question I still struggle with myself. I’ve been known to do both. I’ll spend months, even years, making excuses for why a particular project can’t move forward yet. Then I’ll take another project and launch into it with everything I’ve got, only to find that “everything I’ve got” isn’t nearly enough to move the project forward.

People generally say, “If you’re not sure, better to err on the side of caution.” But in this case, I say err on the side of recklessness. Err with gusto. Even if you can’t do it, do it anyway. See how far you get before you fail—and then do it again and see if you can get just a little bit further. That’s what big swings are all about. If you take the swing, and it turns out that you couldn’t do it… At least you tried. But if you decide not to take the swing… Well, I say, it’s better to fail at doing something than to succeed at doing nothing. And Babe Ruth says that leading the league in strikeouts is a small price to pay for leading the league in home runs.