Michelangelo's Cringe Mountain

Hey Climbers. This week —

• ✨ Why Cringe Mountain examples are sometimes hard to find

• ⛰️ Michelangelo's Cringe Mountain

• 🤔 Michael Cera’s soft, soft skin

Michelangelo’s Cringe Mountain

Sometimes, it’s hard to find cringe mountain examples. Why?

Most famous people want you to think they were born with talent.

When they ‘make it’, they destroy any evidence that they used to be cringe. Poof. Gone.

And I don’t blame them. There’s a societal pressure on ‘talented people’ to pretend that they were always that way.

I saw that first hand in the music industry.

(That’s why I’m so passionate about unwinding the narrative.)

But I can assure you; every creative person looks back at some point and cringes at what they made 1 day, 1 month or 1 year ago.

I’ve come to understand cringing at past work as something to be grateful for - because it means I’m improving.

But there are many creatives across the centuries who would disagree, and in fact destroyed their own work because they couldn’t handle the cringe of it.

Michelangelo

In the 16th Century, Michelangelo took a hammer to Christ’s left leg and arm, then walked away from the sculpture forever. Dramaticcccc!

Monet

Used a knife to slash at least 15 of his waterlily paintings in 1908. His friend & former French Prime Minister Georges Clémenceau said, “Monet would attack his canvases when he was angry. And his anger was born of a dissatisfaction with his work…”

Kafka

Put a large amount of his writing in a pile and burned it. Then at 41, when he was dying of tuberculosis, asked his friend Max to destroy the rest of his work after he was gone. But when Kafka died, Max went against his wishes and published his works instead (wtf Max?). One of those was The Trial - which is one of my favourite books (so I guess thanks Max).

So this is your reminder that:

• If you look back at what you did yesterday and cringe, good. And,

• Even if you hate it, there might be some lady named Erica in 100 years time who calls it her favourite.

Cringe Mountain Academy students are killing it already.

Cringe Mountain Academy is up and whirring. My students are creating & posting with flow, learning viral engagement techniques and understanding their sticky difference. And they’re kicking ass.

If you wanna make 2024 the year you build your community on TikTok, change your life and impact people with videos that feel like you, I have some capacity to take on a handful of new students in the next week.

Creative Inspo of the week

In the 3 weeks leading up to the Superbowl, Micheal Cera and CeraVe set out to convince the world that Michael was their secret founder.

In a 360 campaign including his own website, a TikTok stunt where he walked off an interview with Bobby Althoff, and heaps more, the campaign earned 6 billion impressions, most of which were organic.

When working with influencers and celebrities, so many brands refuse to relinquish creative control. And the campaigns always suck as a result.

But this campaign has Michael Cera’s sense of humour all over it.

Until next time!

Keepin Climbin’

Eri out xx