Are Your Standards Different

Are Your Standards Different?

By Chris Tester - British Male Voiceover Artist

Tom Hanks seemed to be in every other film in the 1990s.
He worked with all the big directors.
He won consecutive Oscars for Forrest Gump and Philadelphia.

Yet in a recent interview, he said that he made just four 'pretty good' films.

Such a statement needs to be taken with a huge pinch of salt. Film stars rarely come as self-effacing as Hanks.

But that little line chimed with me about the creative endeavour.

Your clients can be delighted.

Your collaborators can be be blown away by your contributions.
(or not).

But when building a body of work, it's vital to have your own set of standards to hold yourself to.

Tastes may change.
Styles go in and out of fashion.
But you need to work from a place of awareness as an artist.
You need to be constantly interrogating your work.

How are you growing?
Are you stretching yourself?
What are your weaknesses and are you working on them?

It's this aspect of the creative life that keeps my own fire burning. I never want to be satisfied with doing the same thing again, just because it worked last time.

Because if you're not growing, you're stagnant.
Do you have a personal set of standards you hold yourself too?