Getting Over The Hump: “You have to be the biggest believer in your work” — by Kyle ‘TooTall’ Strauts

I want to explore the process of getting over the hump, because a lot of people seem to be at a hump right now.

Everyone takes a different path to get over it, through it, past it… but a lot of people seem to be at that point in their lives right now.

My personal hump is finishing artistic projects that involve more than me. I’ve been doing a lot of motivating. I’ve been trying to keep the focus going and not letting it fade – I don’t want them to think that I don’t care, because obviously I do care. I have a personal connection to many of these projects.

The bodypaint video (that’s almost done now) came from a dream. I have a personal connection to it, and it relates so much to my life. We were blocked with the music before, and now that issue is finally getting resolved… just as other things in my life that are also progressing. My relationship is another… I’m moving in with my partner, and that hasn’t happened before.

I think the first part of getting over the hump is practice. 

I’m practicing dance now at least 4 times a week. I’m practicing strength and agility while also having music going, and so I’m also practicing movement patterns and rhythms. I might practice a wave while holding a stretchy band. Practicing the moves with resistance – so that when I take away the resistance, it’s smooth.

My height has always been a criticism, and I want to make my dance so good that you can’t look at it and not think ‘wow, that’s amazing.’ And think ‘that guys mind is incredible. Look at how he’s portraying his ideas.’

I want to take my dance as high as I can. When I’m old and looking back I want to think ‘okay, I did everything that I could to be the best that I could be.’ If you don’t put your time into it, you’ll never become great. So yeah sometimes you do have to sacrifice other things. Especially at this point in your life, you need to work, pay bills, and develop relationships… but no matter what you need to get that practice in for the work you do – the art form you practice.

I don’t keep a specific ‘practice’ time. I slip it in where I can. And mixing it up invigorates me. Keeps it fresh. Keeping a strict routine doesn’t work as well for me. I try to play with my training. To keep the training going I have to always be innovating, otherwise I lose focus with myself and don’t really do it.

And the second part, is that you have to have that big idea in your mind. 

You have to have that solid fist. Whether it’s something you can do, or a big idea you have – as long as you have that solid core, it can’t be eroded so you can always move forward with it. And eventually the fist gets layered, layered, layered until it’s so big that people can’t look at what you’re doing without saying ‘WOW!’ And at that point everyone is supporting you.

I’ve always been stubborn. When someone told me that I couldn’t do something, it made me want to do it even more. So I’m almost happy that there’s people out there who doubted me because it’s made me get past those initial humps, WAY before the mid way.

You suck

You’re too tall

You didn’t start early enough.

You have to truly believe in yourself more than anyone else does. You have to be the biggest believer in your work. Always. Because at times there will be no one else. As long as you’re your biggest fan… eventually you will succeed.

I’ve always had that stubborn drive inside of me. I’ve built up a circle of people around me who have that same vibe. Everyone knows that the world is changing so fast now. There’s so much awakening and perspective changing. There’s so much art and creative things happening.

You can’t really teach self-belief. You can only show them the way that you do it, and hope that they find a way that works for them. Because everyone is such a unique being that you have to find your own way. I can only explain to you who I am and what I think using the words that we both understand – which isn’t very many. All I’m giving you is a very foggy perspective on what I’m seeing and what I believe in, and you just have to interpret that and take what you can.