In my last article, I explained the need for a daily schedule of time devoted to your creative efforts. I want to emphasize the value of this kind of consistency and commitment to promoting creative growth. Three books I have read give evidence of the importance of maintaining a working and growing attitude toward your creative art.
The first is Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. This book introduced me to the €Ten Thousand Hours€ concept. This concept holds that success depends on time spent on task and that time to become an expert is ten thousand hours. This is true for musicians, artists, athletes, actors, writers, chess players, yoga and meditation practitioners, and experts in many fields. Waiting for the muse to appear to inspire you just doesn't do it. The secret to success is practice, practice, practice. Add to the time spent a hearty dose of passion for your art and you are on the way to being an expert!
Some people think that talent is innate€¦you either have it or you don't. The second book I read, Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland, relays an example that defies that sort of thinking. A ceramics teacher divided his class in half and challenged one half to create one perfect pot during the coming semester. The other half had to produce a quantity of work. Fifty pounds of pots would result in an A for the semester. When grading time came the works of highest quality were produced by the students charged with producing a quantity of work. If excellence is innate wouldn't you think the quality group would produce more excellent products? The quantity group probably produced many pots that were flawed or imperfect, but in their ongoing process of producing they worked through and learned from their mistakes. That kind of learning can only take place through spending time at your art or craft.
The third book, Mindset by Stanford professor Carol Dweck explains what plays a critical role in whether we succeed at what matters to us, or not. She describes two mindsets: the Fixed Mindset and the Growth Mindset. Those people with a Fixed Mindset believe that their intelligence, talents, and ability to create are not open to change. They tend not to develop new skills but stay instead with well-practiced strengths. The result is that they fail to achieve mastery in what matters to them. People who exhibit the Growth Mindset believe that their intelligence, talents, and ability to create can be developed through the application of passion, practice, and persistence. They risk failing because they know that growth and change are possible. By developing a growth mindset, you will be able to tap into your passion, through persistent practice.
According to Akido Master George Leonard, €Mastery is the mysterious process during which what is at first difficult becomes progressively easier and more pleasurable through practice.€ If creating the success you long for will take ten thousand hours, can you think of a more pleasurable way to spend those hours than by doing what you love the most?