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October 16, 2012
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Is it lack of 'Grit' or Laziness?
Two recent episodes of B2W addressed "Grit" (ep 87/88). I can align with a lot of what Merlin was saying in these two episodes. For instance, the learning to draw example - going out and buying the supplies, the pencils, the box for the pencils, the box for the pencil box...
I've done that a lot with things I wanted to do, learn, or accomplish.
So then I start thinking that I didn't do some of those things, not due to a lack of "grit", but more a feeling of laziness - in the "this is hard" or "it's going to take FOREVER to get where I want to be" vain.
It's not that I'm stuck and need to be unstuck. It's not that I don't know how to go about doing whatever it is. It's kind of a "forward apathy" as in "what if I put all this time and effort to this, and it still sucks?"
...and then the whole thing just disintegrates.
So what is your deal? Is it lack of grit, laziness, apathy, or do you just expect too much to quick?
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I think about this a lot. As in, probably too much. Merlin's said this on the show, but whatever you're working toward, it's not enough that you'll enjoy having accomplished it or arriving at the end. If you don't enjoy the process, you're less likely to stick with it to get to that point. In the case of drawing, you enjoy the process of getting setup with all the accoutrements, and in theory, you'll enjoy being able to draw well, but if you don't enjoy the process of learning to draw-learning about line, composition, light sources, etc-and the small joys of incremental progress, you'll fade quickly. If you can't enjoy the challenging and frustrating but necessary steps of doing blind drawings and figure drawings from those creepy faceless models, I'd wager your enthusiasm will flag and you'll quit. You don't go from Dick Blick to M.C. Escher.
When I was learning to write apps for the Mac, I made the mistake of trying to learn more about programming by downloading an open source Mac app's source code and studying it. The gap between where I was and that code was simply too great and I got discouraged. But what I ended up really enjoying was the incremental improvements I made in writing my own app and the satisfaction of seeing it mature over some time and then the high of actually shipping made it clear that programming really was something I could enjoy throughout the process of successes and joys.
Those two disparate paragraphs connect together by one other phrase: the adjacent possible. What can you do from where you are? You don't start out trying to draw a breathtaking landscape or perfect portrait of your lady friend. Unless you're some sort of freak (If you are, stop reading this and go draw something already…), the squares for neophyte and world-famous ass-kicker are nowhere near each other and all you'll be able to see is what's literally right next to you. You don't get to expect that because you haven't paid your dues.
And if you *are* awesome out of the gate, then you're probably not reaching the potential you could reach if you sweat a little bit.