You’ve been bitten by someone hungrier than you

I went to a Muse show this week, and I’ve had a lyric stuck in my head ever since.

You’ve been bitten by someone who’s hungrier than you.

This lyric hasn’t left my brain because it tells the truth.

I talk to women all the time in coffee shops, in living rooms and in yoga studios. They talk about the magic they have in them. Something they need to create, write, launch but just… haven’t yet. Time, money, inspiration, there is always a reason it’s still in them. Magic rattling around in their brain, looking for a way out into the world.

And then the inevitable happens, someone else does it. Not exactly the thing, but something close enough. Someone else writes the book, builds the app, launches the company. Not someone better, more talented, or smarter— just someone who, instead of not doing it, did it.

You’ve been bitten by someone who’s hungrier than you.

Now, this doesn’t mean there is less opportunity left over. There is enough space in this world for everyone's art to live in it. Success isn’t a measure of intelligence, or creativity, or even talent. It’s usually just a measure of doing the damn thing. Working your brilliance. Sharing your gifts. Taking the scary and vulnerable step of letting your magic out of your head and into the world. It’s work, it’s a grind. That’s why the hungriest among us win.

The question you have to ask that art rattling around in your brain is: how hungry are you?