The Art of D-O-I-N-G
?I can?t draw to save my life.?
?I don?t know how to program a website.?
?My email just isn?t working.?
These statements annoy me. Even though I can often be found saying things like this, they still annoy me. Why? Because even though they may be true (maybe you aren?t a very good artist at this moment) they somehow imply the person is INCAPABLE of improving or finding the answer. This. Is. NOT. True.
Every person is born into this world not knowing how to do anything, but as humans, we have an amazing capacity for knowledge and learning. ?Can?t draw? actually means you don?t know how to draw YET, but if you took a class or practiced a little, your meager skills would inevitably improve. Yes, there will always be the savants who seemingly know how to play piano at age 3 without any formal training. Good for them. However, for the average person, practice makes improvement.
Want to learn how to draw? Take a class, buy a book, even borrow a book from the library and start from the beginning. Learning to draw (or dance or program or sing or play guitar or cook or run a half-marathon or ANYTHING) is a process. At the beginning, you don?t know much if anything, but after a while of doing, you learn. That first step is always the hardest, but you?ll never improve unless you take that step.
If, however, you don?t want to improve, you probably won?t. I thought I wanted to run, but didn?t like it so I stopped. No improvement. A friend didn?t stop running and she?s entering her first half-marathon next month. Go Ashley!
At Moxie, it is a competition to find the answer to any question asked in the office. Seriously, we have almost a compulsive need to learn. If you present us with a problem, we will stretch ourselves to the limit to find the answer, the BEST answer, for YOU!
? Post written by Cristy Wiza.
According to Steven Pressfield, Muse favors the working stiffs. She hates prima donnas. I honor your attitude and your commitment to fight against or engage the resistance. The resistance says, ” Show me a writer who’s too good to take job X or assignment Y and I’ll show you a writer I can crack like a walnut.”
Moxie has the guts to get into the ring and not sit on the sidelines being critical or making fun of those who so. And whether or not Moxie wins (according to others’ standards), what I like about Moxie is that the gloves are bloody when they are finally taken off and hung up at the end of a working day. Moxie engages and that in itself is winning. If you don’t show up to get into the ring, don’t be telling Moxie how well or how poorly Moxie performed. Many show up with both lips flapping. Few engage. Moxie engages and is better for it.
Correction; those who “so” should be those who “do”.