Be careful about how you measure growth.
The quiet message came to me at 4:30 this morning as I awoke, almost fully, from sleep. The thoughts I was trying to grasp yesterday came quickly now.
Money is not always the marker of whether or not we are growing- as artists, as creatives, as people.
We live in a society where most things are measured by the "how much factor."
How much money did we make?
How much have sold?
The more, the bigger, the larger the better.
If that mentality is the main driver of our days and deeds, it can be the death of us.
First, let me say one thing. As a business loving capitalist I have no issue with making money! I want to make money. I take Rabbi Daniel Lapin and Dave Ramsey's convictions and exhortations about money very seriously. Making money and being profitable is good. Business is good. The exchange of money for products or services of value is very good. Incomes allow us to provide for ourselves and our families, get out of and stay out of debt and invest in other people and worthy institutions. Money is a tool.
Today I'm arguing against the mentality that my worth and growth is only defined by money.
You May Be Growing More than You Think
It takes time to grow- personally and professionally. My uncle and I often talk about growth and the concept Malcolm Gladwell discussed in his book, Outliers, called the 10,000 hour principle.
The theory states it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in an area.
I don't know if it takes an exact 10,000 hours or not. I do know that I've never done anything well without putting in the time.
This applies to cleaning the house to cooking Asian cuisine to learning a new language to raising kids to writing to learning the publishing process to painting and photography.
Growth takes time.
And during that growth time, we don't typically make a lot of money.
But that doesn't mean we aren't growing.
It does mean we need to persevere through to get to mastery and profitability.
Too many of us- and I've done this many times- give up before we make it to the point of providing real value to ourselves and others.
We lack what Andy Andrews calls, "a decided heart." (see The Traveler's Gift).
Look at Your Body of Work to Gauge Growth
Only you can identify if you are growing.
Many times in the beginning days, months and years the creative is growing exponentially yet there may be nothing to show for it except their body of work.
Here might be a measuring stick: what have you done in the past year?
Are you skills getting better?
Is your body of work increasing? Pages, sketchbooks, photographs, designs, creations, canvases, crafts, experiments, recipes.
All is progress.
Practice produces results.
The Gift of Time
Here's another thought about growth and time and another conversation with my uncle, a brother, a friend, a mentor.
We have a limited time (and the annual birthday is a good reminder) and as we get older we are given a gift: we receive the gift of gentle urgency.
It's the quiet whisper of, You just have a number of years here and they go by quickly. Enjoy them, savor them, appreciate them, don't squander them.
The birthday gift with this sometimes disturbing reality: We get to decide what to do with the time we've been given.
The buck stops here.
What are we working towards? What do we what to do with the time given to us? How do we want to spend our lives.
So, let's do it.
Let's commit to growth personal and vocational and relational progress while the time is ours. Let's really savor the time with precious family and friends. Take the quiet walk in the autumn evenings, leaves crunching beneath our feet. Commit to the work of mastery in our craft; in the gifts that make a difference and will leave our mark.
And for those of you who needed the gentle reminder that growth is not always measured by monetary success let's ease up on ourselves. Monetary lack is a push for progress and achievement but the line can be very fine between healthy motivation and frenetic frustration.
The anxiety and frustration block up the creative spirit. It doesn't matter if the creativity is finishing a degree, finding a job or developing your design voice as an artist: any negative spirit hinders, blocks, stops.
One last thought: there are no shortcuts on the way to real mastery. As Robert Frost said, "The best way out is always through."
Or, as a musician said recently, "Every overnight success takes 7 years."
Let's go through friends.
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