I came across this bit of encouragement from Ira Glass, host and producer of NPR’s This American Life. It’s abridged a bit from a video of his about storytelling and is primarily for writers/broadcasters but certain bits of advice and inspiration, such as this, cross over easily to most of the creative fields. And whether you write, draw, sculpt, sing, dance or play the accordion, one thing is true: You must do a lot of work to get better.
This seems almost too simple and I think that’s why its the kind of thing that is sometimes overlooked by people as they start working in a new field or medium. We all want immediate results, want to have the tangible result of our efforts match that version of it that resides in our mind. But it is never that simple and there’s a wide gap between our desired outcome and reality. As Ira points out, you must do a lot of work to close that gap.
A lot of work.
And that is where most people draw the line. Sometimes it’s just a lack of will and they move on to the next thing, hoping that new thing will meet their need for quicker results. Sometimes it’s just life and a lack of time that keeps them from continuing ahead.
But if you can stick with it, fight past the stumbling blocks and frustrations, you will improve incrementally, getting better and better with more and more effort.
And the better you get the better you will want to be, the more you will push your own personal goalposts out in front of you. In my time working alone in my studio I have spent well over 50,000 hours trying to close that gap and there have been times when I have thought I had reached that point where the reality before me matched the vision in my mind. But I soon realized it wasn’t quite there and I needed to keep at it.
Just keep working and fighting through.
I’ve got to go do just that right now.
Redtree Times 
Thank you! Just the inspiration I needed this morning. I’ve got a lot of work left to do …
Glad to help. That was written as much for myself as for anyone else.
On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 8:13 AM, Redtree Times wrote:
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THANK YOU for sharing that. So obvious, but SO important to remember. Truly words to post somewhere…. on a kitchen cabinet??….for those times when we need to be encouraged to keep on keeping on!!!!
Yes, even after years of working I still need to tell myself these things. It’s all too easy to get complacent.
On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 8:13 AM, Redtree Times wrote:
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I’ve always believed that the way to learn how to write is to write. Just this weekend, I found the same convinction expressed, in almost exactly those words, by John McPhee. You’re right: the big truths are the simplest.
It’s interesting to see Glass mention the one-week schedule, too. That was the goal I set myself in the beginning, and for the most part, I’ve kept to it. I want to do better in this coming year. For one thing, if ever I were to seek a columnist’s position, I’d have a track record to prove that I can keep to a once-a-week pace.
Yes, I think the schedule is important. Making something a habit always seems to aid progress as well as giving you tangible work, the data that shows your growth.