Embrace uncertainty.
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Chapter 7: How to Draw an Owl
For important work, instructions are always insufficient.
Reward comes from uncertainty.
“It’s about throwing, not catching. Starting, not finishing. Improving, not being perfect.”
Thoughts
Seth is building on the previous chapters—particularly the ones about recipes and juggling. It’s bringing things into a little better focus for me: Seth both explains and expands the concept of throwing by tying it to starting and to improving. In the first case, finishing can only happen if we start—and god knows that I can delay starting with the best of them. In the second case, there is no perfection—but there is always improvement.
And I will say that I’ve felt the rewards of uncertainty—not knowing how to do a thing, but diving in with curiosity and (too cautious) optimism; not knowing if I will be able to finish, whether complete or (à la Valéry) abandoned; not knowing if it will be good enough, let alone perfect; not knowing how it will be received, if at all. In fact, I can imagine that there would be an emptiness that might come from certainty—from established artists, for example. Maybe imposter syndrome somewhat perversely defends against that.
Anyway: I have started genuine work on my album. I’m developing the arrangement for each song so that I can lay out the structure in Cakewalk. (I think this is throwing, too….) And I’m enjoying both the uncertainty and the learning that comes out of addressing that uncertainty—not to banish the uncertainty, but to discover what the uncertainty can generate.
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.