Meet Justin Patton

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Justin Patton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Justin , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I developed my confidence and self-esteem through writing and performing spoken word poetry. Having always struggled with self-confidence, developing as an artist became synonymous with developing as a man. The more I wrote, the more I gained confidence in my work to share it. By going on stage to develop as a performing artist, I quickly learned that that before you excel at something, you have to be willing to be bad it. For me being bad on stage was the ultimate humiliation. Having been through forgetting my lines, having to compete for the audience’s attention, and dealing with hecklers helped me to able to develop thick skin to the point where I am able to deal with any type of embarrassment outside of the stage as well. Also, authenticity is a crucial ingredient in my spoken word, so not only am I being vulnerable and leaving myself subject to rejection, but I’m also sharing insecurities and other intimate aspect of who I am. In doing this time and time again, I notice that I started to become comfortable in my skin and comfortable being who I am flaws and all. As my writing and performing skills started to increase, I started developing an unshakable confidence to the point where I felt like I could walk in any room, and captivate people with my performance. And even if they were not captivated, I wouldn’t mind because I know my ability to inspire has been proven so many times that unengaged audience does not rattle my self-esteem in the least bit. Developing as a spoken word artists, and bringing value to people’s lives in that way ultimately helped me to find purpose in my life. Knowing that I can help people and inspire people just by being who I am and doing what I feel I have been called to do is what developed my confidence and self-esteem.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a spoken word artist, host, curator, and author from Atlanta, GA by way of Chattanooga, TN. Along with performing and writing, I host shows, and develop partnership with local businesses to bring spoken word poetry shows to their establishment. My work is geared towards individuals interested in self-development, and dedicated to being their best whether it be professionally, personally, and relationally. The Justin Patton brand is about providing a platform for poets to tell stories that inspire people and let them know that it’s okay to be themselves. I come from being afraid to embrace who I was and not feeling comfortable in my skin, so it’s important for me to help to get people to believe that they are enough. I also want to show that spoken word poetry is necessary right now. There is a lot of death and destruction happening in mainstream music, so I want to combat that with promoting honest and positive messages through poetry. I want to be one of the catalyst that help put spoken word poetry to the mainstream, so that people unfamiliar with the art can experience the transformative power of storytelling through poetry. With depression among Americans higher than it’s ever been and suicide among the youth at all-time high levels, it is my belief that writing poetry can help that individual identify and manage their emotions, while sharing poetry provides a space to let others know that they are not alone in what challenges they might be experiencing.

Currently, I host a poetry show every Tuesday at Trap City Cafe and every 1st Thursday at Urban Grind. My book ‘Poetry for the Hopefully’ is currently for sale, and I have a new book slated to be released early 2024 entitled ‘Deeper Than Black’. My monthly show in Marietta, ‘Soul Therapy’, will return in January 2024.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Consistency: The ability to continue writing and continue performing has been a big part of my success so far. Just showing up to the blank page, I write enough to where I don’t always have to generate new ideas. I can flip back in my notebook and develop an old idea I may have had at one time and can make it new now. Just showing up to the stage time and time again has allowed me to be comfortable and confident on stage, and allowed people to become familiar with who I am just from consistently showing up and giving quality performances.

2. Persistence: The ability to continue even through challenges I believe is what has separated me from the casual poet who just performs as a hobby. Even when I put on a show and only a few people showed, I still delivered the best performance I could. Even when it felt like no one was paying attention, I continued posting my work and marketing on social media. Even when I wasn’t feeling my best physically or experiencing personal problems in my home, I still continued showing up to the page and to the stage.

3. Self-Awareness: Evaluating who I am, what makes me different, and analyzing why people may choose me over another spoken word artist is an ongoing process that keeps me honest. When I’m writing and performing, it’s important for me to stay true to who I am because the audience can sense when an artist is not being authentic, and part of my brand is letting people know it’s okay to be who you are, and often it’s the things that we’re insecure about that make us unique. Understanding that my story of growing up Catholic, climbing the corporate ladder just to be fired, and going from being plagued with asthma to a marathon runner are all part of what make me unique, and the way I choose to express these experiences are what separate me as an artist.

For anyone trying to develop these particular skills, I would say start by doing something that you genuinely enjoy doing. Whether your goal is to make money from this endeavor or not, through being consistent and persistent in an area that you enjoy can translate to other areas so that you can learn how to be consistent and persistent in any endeavor. A byproduct of pursuing a goal is that through the lens of this pursuance you will learn things about yourself like who you are when faced with adversity, how others perceive you, and/or why people may choose your product over a competitor.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
One of the most valuable books that’s helped me on my journey is ‘War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield. 3 impactful lessons I got from this book are:

1. Be a professional – As an artist, there is no one over your shoulder telling you to write, draw, create, etc. However, there are principles that are applied in our “day job” that can be applied to our creative life like:
-showing up on time no matter what
-we work for money (amatures work for fun, professionals work for money)
-always seek improvement (even Stephen Curry, the greatest shooter ever has a shooting coach)

2. You are the brand – My government first and last name is Justin Taylor, but as an artist, I go by Justin Patton (Patton was my grandmother’s last name who wrote poetry). Justin Taylor may be nervous to do public speaking, but Justin Patton is not. Justin Taylor may be too scared to walk up to people to promote himself and what he does, Justin Patton is not. Justin Taylor may not be bold enough to ask for the sale, but Justin Patton, the businessman can do it without hesitation. You are the brand, and if you can’t embody the brand, create a persona that can.

3. Leave room for the magic – There is power in starting and staying consistent at something. Just starting a project can build momentum, even if it’s a small start, it’s a start nonetheless. For me, the only chance I have to write something good, is to simply write something.
The same goes for being consistent. There will be days you don’t feel like doing anything. If you can find a way to still persist with that thing even through times you don’t feel like it, one day you will be able to look back at the body of work you created. Even if the quality needs to be finetuned, you still have a framework.

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