I remember a Dylan quote from years & years ago, that he could always have arranged & recorded his songs better. The implication was that, if you keep trying for perfection, you won't achieve anything!
I am reminded of this story from David Bayles and Ted Orland’s book, Art & Fear:
[A] ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Lovely explanation of shraddha! And I could not help but think of pool in the advice to follow through. It is the gross version of what you discussed but it is a physical action that totally shows the power of what you are describing.
Reader Lesley appreciates your thoughtful response! Your 'start small' suggestion is really sound and has been really helpful in reviewing the mountain of Stuff I set myself, so thanks for that, and another quality piece.
This is a good one Neil, pleased I followed through with reading the whole thing 💓
You are a constant inspiration in terms of following through, Ellie!
I remember a Dylan quote from years & years ago, that he could always have arranged & recorded his songs better. The implication was that, if you keep trying for perfection, you won't achieve anything!
I am reminded of this story from David Bayles and Ted Orland’s book, Art & Fear:
[A] ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Lovely explanation of shraddha! And I could not help but think of pool in the advice to follow through. It is the gross version of what you discussed but it is a physical action that totally shows the power of what you are describing.
Yes! Humility on the baize!
Amazing but makes sense!
Reader Lesley appreciates your thoughtful response! Your 'start small' suggestion is really sound and has been really helpful in reviewing the mountain of Stuff I set myself, so thanks for that, and another quality piece.
Thank you Reader Lesley! Looking forward to seeing your projects grow!