Every creative project looks delusional until it works.

Every Essay is being written with an album in mind, which is playing at the same time we are writing what you are reading right now, so for full experience we highly recommend going to your music provider and play “The Universe Smiles Upon You ii” By Khruangbin as you are reading this, promise it’s worth it. Ok back to the topic now!

“Delusional” is an interesting word.

It started appearing in dictionaries around 1850, and it’s safe to say it became a pillar word in our society, for good or for bad.

Creative-wise, being delusional can mean a few things: It can be an internal conviction without proof, the kind that might make you look “wrong” to your surroundings, the kind that pushes you to build something no one asked for (yet), or some complicated mix of all three.

This thesis will rely on the first idea presented.

There is something beautiful about building something that’s hard for people to fully grasp.

Something almost funny. It’s that feeling that hits you in the gut. call it energy, call it trust in the solar system, it’s written in the stars. It’s that moment when that awakening happens, and the urge to create something out of this world becomes alive (quite literally). Once you see it, the potential, the fulfillment it gives you; nobody can turn you down. Some people lost their mind chasing their dreams and creative goals.

Conor McGregor once mentioned the following during an interview:

“I’ve lost my mind doing this game. Like Vincent Van Gogh. He dedicated his life to his art and lost his mind in the process. That’s happened to me. But fuck it. When that gold belt is around my waist, when my mother has a big mansion, when my girlfriend has a different car for every day of the week, my kid’s kids have anything they ever want; then it will pay. Then I’m happy I lost my mind.”

Materialistic achievements aside, Chills.

Projects come to us at specific times, and if we don’t act on them, we might watch someone else create them.

It becomes our responsibility to act when a creative idea arrives. If the idea chose you, then it must live somewhere, and that “somewhere” is you.

Think about it for a good second, if you weren’t compatible enough to even digest that idea, why would it show up in your head in the first place? It’s there for a reason. Everything you’ve been through has prepared you to bring this concept to life. Everything you learned, listened to, consumed, watched, rewatched, then watched again, all left cues for you to act on something bigger than yourself.

Think of the movie you watched whose aesthetic shifted something inside your brain (the color grading on Amélie??? That long Steadicam shot in Goodfellas??). The signs are literally there. You just need to believe it, to believe it enough to know you can create something. because it’s your duty.

But not everything is shining bright (besides When Jay-Z Had the cable with the anchor when Jaz made ‘Sophie‘.), Because a few things need to live together for that “delusional” to actually mean something, instead of becoming another project sitting on a shelf after months of inconsistent work. Delusional also means clocking in. It means putting in the work; not halfway, and not only when it’s convenient. It means being dedicated. It means losing sleep (not in the hustle-culture way), losing time with friends, missing events, all because the idea is bigger than your comfort.

You see, once your craft meets the vision, that harmony generates greatness, in your own way. Some people have no choice but to be delusional. They start with no connections, no introductions, only self-belief, and the knowledge that they can achieve anything they put their mind to. And what people say is usually just a projection of what they couldn’t do in that field.
Still remember that story that Clint Shared on instagram about carrying hoodies on a bus in London just to make Corteiz work, matter of act - not just that story - go check Clint’s Twitter. But scroll. don’t stop at 2022. Scroll to 2017–2018 Clint. The one starting Corteiz from his sister’s sofa. The one pushing through with nothing but belief. And now? Corteiz is that streetwear brand that literally redefined brand marketing, fully independent, with pop-ups in London, Paris, New York, Australia, and more coming.

DELUSION IS NEEDED.

With dedication, hard work, and trust in self, your “delusion” today might be someone else’s blueprint tomorrow. Without being delusional, Kanye might have never reached the heights he reached. Steve Jobs might’ve never created Apple. Roger Bannister wouldn’t have made history by breaking the “impossible” four-minute a mile back in 1954.
Trust your gut, put in the work, plan, and your delusional “project” might actually change the world.