The Practice
“I can’t do this!”
My 4-year-old son sits next to me on the living room floor, doing one of his art “works” — coloring inside the lines of his stenciled rainbow. These works are always tough for him. His crayon slips just a little outside the edges his rainbow, and he roars, “I can’t do this!”
His pre-school teacher has told us we’ll want to build up his finger strength and dexterity before kindergarten. Before you rage out at that sentence like I would, she just meant he’ll get frustrated if he can’t do the things he wants to with his fingers — hence, the raging over artwork in our living room.
I grab the crayon he’d thrown on the floor, take his hands and say, “Hey, you’re practicing. It’s not going to be perfect right away. You’ll go outside the lines sometimes, and that’s okay. As you practice, you’ll get better at staying inside the lines.” He starts again.
In the middle of speaking, I realize that’s Seth Godin’s exact message in his newest book, The Practice. The entire book is based on the concept of not expecting to be good at something right out of the gate — a message I, and most other creatives, clearly need.
How crazy is it that 37-year-old creatives and 4-year-old creatives need that message equally?
This blog is my Practice. Do you have a Practice yet?