Thursday, February 2, 2017

Slowly Faster

Zestful Blog Post #196

Last year on my 59th birthday (and let us speak no more of such numbers), I began a journal with the intention of writing in it every day. So far, I’ve missed only about five days. Those missed days are a great lesson about happiness. You committed to do this thing; you have done it imperfectly; you can’t, today, write yesterday’s entry. You can write about yesterday, OK, good, but the past is past, and imperfection must be all right. Missed opportunities must be OK. Otherwise—what? Cut your throat? Yeah, no. Smile and go on.

In my journal last night I wrote about my midday swim. I’ve been surprised, lately, to find myself overtaking swimmers in neighboring lanes who’ve either been faster than, or about the same as me. I wrote, “Slowly, slowly, I’m getting faster.” I almost laughed aloud. Of course, ‘gradually’ would have been a better word than ‘slowly,’ but the point is this: Improvement is often so subtly incremental that you don’t notice it, especially after you reach some level of basic competence. You see where I’m going with this.



There’s a big difference between wanting to write, and banging out a complete short story. A big difference between a handful of short stories and a novel.

There’s a much smaller difference between a short story and a better short story. Or is there? What of the difference between a novel you’re grateful to have completed, and a novel the writing of which changed your life?

If you stay true to your commitment—even if imperfectly, and you will be imperfect—you may get better, but you will certainly and continually give yourself chances to get better. Yay for incremental improvement; don’t let it slip by unnoticed. Because those spaces between the small increments? That’s where the magic is.

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14 comments:

  1. This was just what I needed to hear. Thanks Elizabeth!

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  2. Improvement does come slowly, but it does come with effort. You didn't get faster by standing on the edge of the pool wanting to be faster, you got faster by swimming and swimming and swimming. I think the same thing is happening with my writing. The more I write and in turn get good feedback from my editor and publisher, the better. Unfortunately, we can't wish ourselves better, can we?

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  3. You're welcome, Kathryn. And BJ, yep, that's exactly right. I got faster by being mindful of my swimming, really, and I think that's also how you're getting to be a better writer. This post was a about keeping one's commitment to something, which in and of itself can be fruitful. But mindfulness is important too. Sounds like a new post coming up... Thank you so much for your comment, BJ.

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  4. Thanks for this. I'm all in favour of incremental imrovement. Much kinder than steep curve/plateau improvement, although I guess both have their place. I've watched my kids struggling with this model when they're training in table tennis. The key word is "struggle", which is rooted in the no-pain-no-gain approach. Applied to writing, and drawing, which I do to, I've always found it better to do a bit everyday at a comfortable pace. Then you have the eenergy and motivation for those mad bursts of intense activity:)

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  5. Definitely needed this post! I've been struggling with how long everything is taking me, how slowly I feel I am going - in writing, in running, in life. I love the idea of the magic happening in the small spaces between. :)

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  6. Unknown commenter, thanks for mentioning 'struggle.' Sometimes we can get attached to struggle at the cost of actual progress! And with a coach standing over you yelling, you can lose the feeling for how to best nurture your own competence. And Madeline, I'm glad this post resonated with you here. I really feel there's way too much emphasis in Western culture on fast achievement (and material success), which can be detrimental in the long run. The journey is the point. Every moment is the journey, goddam it.

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  7. wow. I read this last night before going to bed. I did not get right to sleep because I was Ruminating over one of the lines "you can't write yesterday's entry". And while I consider myself an amateur at daily journaling, this spoke to me in an entirely different way. It was such a wonderful life lesson. You always have wisdom to share (along with Humour) and there's always something I learn.
    Thanks, Lz

    Barrett

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  8. Barrett, thanks. An honor to hear this from you. XO

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  9. Hi again. I don't know why I was "unknown" before. I hope my identity appears this time.

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  10. Hi, Rob, it worked this time!! Dunno what happened before, but good to see you. I draw a little too; found Betty Edwards's 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' helpful. Do you have a fave drawing/help text or method?

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  11. Hi - I've read and used Betty Edwards's book. Her method is very effective.
    I worked for a long time with hand-drawn animation, which was fun at first but soon became very much like hack work - I felt I was part of a production line.
    Once I broke free I became very inspired by the illustrator Quentin Blake (he drew all the illustrations for Roald Dahl's books). I love his loose, free-whelling style. He has a drawing guide which I think is superb and such fun - "Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered". To paraphrase your own book, Quentin Blake's book is "A stress free guide to drawing."

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  12. Sorry, I forgot to add the link to my own site, where my drawings and doodles hang out: www.robingott.com

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  13. Rob, thanks for mentioning Blake's book; will have to check it out. Also thanks for sharing your web site!! Very cool.

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