Never create to please. Create to express.
There’s a simple truth hiding behind the noise of likes, shares, and polite applause: pleasing is fleeting. Creating to please other people is an endless treadmill. Creating to express yourself is how you make something that lasts. Call it creative immortality if you want — work rooted in honest expression lasts longer than the latest trend.
Pleasing is a short-term game
Pleasing asks a question: what will make people comfortable, impressed, or entertained right now? It tailors, it trims, it compromises. The result can be polished and pleasant, but usually it’s forgettable. Trends shift, algorithms change, and exactly what pleased an audience yesterday can be irrelevant tomorrow.
Expression is evergreen
Expression asks a different question: what do I need to say? What am I compelled to make? When you create from that place, you inject personal truth, voice, and perspective. Those elements survive shifts in taste because they carry meaning beyond surface appeal. Expression ages like a voice on a vinyl record — imperfect, characterful, and real.
How to move from pleasing to expressing
- Find the small truth you care about — Don’t aim for generic profundity. Tiny, specific truths are more relatable and more likely to stick.
- Work for curiosity, not approval — Let curiosity and obsession guide you. If you’re making to answer your own questions, others will be drawn to that honesty.
- Embrace constraints — Constraints force original choices. A limited palette, short time, or strange prompt can reveal your voice faster than unlimited freedom.
- Ship imperfectly — Waiting for perfect approval is a polite form of pleasing. Release work that’s honest, even if it’s rough around the edges.
- Keep a private laboratory — Not everything needs to be audience-ready. Experiment in private so you can fail without performing for applause.
Practical habits that create longevity
- Daily expression practice — Write 100 words, sketch for 10 minutes, or record a minute of voice each day. Tiny consistent acts build a body of work.
- Document process, not just product — People connect to why you made something. Notes, rough drafts, and behind-the-scenes show your intent and make the finished work more human and memorable.
- Choose authenticity over polish — A sincere, slightly messy piece will often outlive a technically flawless but hollow one.
- Build context — Story, origin, and repeatable themes turn isolated pieces into a legacy. Themes are the threads that make your work recognizably yours.
Examples that prove the point
Think of artists, writers, and makers whose work endures. Their output often feels like a conversation with themselves rather than a bid for applause. Their voice — not their attempts to please — is what people return to. That’s not to say they ignore audiences entirely; they simply prioritize expression first.
Final thought: make something that speaks to you first
If you want to create immortality, start by refusing to make everything tidy for strangers. Let your curiosities, contradictions, and obsessions lead. Pleasing will get you short-term attention. Expressing will build something that keeps speaking long after the crowd has moved on.
So next time you sit down to create, ask yourself: am I trying to please, or am I trying to express? The answer will change everything.
Want a quick exercise? Pick one small truth you noticed this week. Make anything — a poem, a sketch, a melody — that explores that truth for exactly 10 minutes. No polishing. Save it. Repeat. Over time, those honest pieces pile up into immortality.