Can't Buy Me Skills. Why Practice Is The Magical Answer You've Been Looking For.
THE NEED FOR PRACTICE
This week I had an experience that really got me thinking. I was talking to a woman I know who has been trying to learn hand-lettering and who has taken several lettering classes and workshops from me. When I asked her how things were going, she told me that she was discouraged because her lettering just wasn’t getting any better. “Hayley,” she said, “I’ve been having such a hard time! I guess I just need to come take another class.” When I asked her how much she had been practicing she said “Hardly at all. I haven’t really practiced since the last workshop I took with you.”
The problem with this sweet woman was not that she needed to take another class. The problem was a lack of practice. This might sound like a funny story or an unusual example, but the fact is, I hear this same story over and over again all the time.
THE ERA OF INSTANT EVERYTHING
We live in an age of instant gratification where we can find answers to any question on our phone in two seconds and where we can order things online from our couch and have them show up the next day. Everything is convenient, and it’s easy to buy things that will instantly fix our problems. I believe that this quick and easy mentality is what is causing many people to look for ways to get really good at something without actually practicing. If you are one of those people who is looking for that one secret thing that will make you an amazing lettering artist, an efficient business owner, or an instagram star overnight, I’m here to tell you that IT DOESN’T EXIST. There is no class you can take, no conference you can go to, no podcast you can listen to and no product you can buy that will make you better at something WITHOUT PRACTICE.
WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES
Let’s talk about the thing that most people spend money on in the hope of perfecting their craft: workshops and classes. Don’t get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of investing in an education, going to college and taking private workshops on specific niche topics as a way to learn and grow. Learning from others is the best way to gain solid knowledge from people who know what they’re talking about and to avoid learning bad habits that you will end up having to un-learn later.
Gaining knowledge is so so important, but knowledge isn’t skill. At the end of the day, understanding the theory behind something is much different than doing it. Workshops and classes without out-of-class practice are useless and will get you nowhere fast. Which brings me to another idea: the idea of purchase gratification.
PURCHASE GRATIFICATION
Sometimes BUYING the workshop or the class is enough to make us FEEL like we are making progress. Investing in yourself is super important, and so the act of making a purchase in hopes that it will transform our lives makes us happy and proud inside. This feeling of purchase gratification is the reason why so many people buy tons of online workshops and never ever finish them. The act of doing the work is hard. The act of buying the workshop is easy, so by buying lots of classes and workshops we can trick ourselves into feeling like we are making progress without actually getting anything done.
WHAT PEN ARE YOU USING?
This idea of purchase gratification goes beyond just buying classes, and workshops, it also applies to stuff. One of the biggest questions I get asked is “What pen are you using?” Whenever I get this question, I always think it’s funny because I’m the one making the art, not the pen. When an artist is making art and things aren't looking quite the way they want it to, the first thing they tend to do is blame the equipment they’re using. “My paint is too cheap,” “My ipad is too old,” the list goes on and on. There’s always this idea that if I buy the new, better equipment or tool that my work will suddenly get better.
My uncle, Guy Francis, is a children's book illustrator. Once when he was in college, he had a teacher who liked to rant about how important it was to use only very high quality paints, so (because my uncle wanted to be difficult) he decided to do a painting for one of his classes using a set of crappy watercolors with a tiny inch and a half long brush that you would buy out of a toy machine at Walmart for 50 cents. When the class met to look at everyone’s paintings, the teacher praised the work that my Uncle Guy did, not knowing he has used the lowest quality watercolor paints known to man.
The fact is, at the end of the day, YOU are the one making the work, not the tools. Having the right tools can be a big help, but buying a fancy new tool will never be a substitute for real practice.
TIME
The last thing I want to talk about is time. Your time is a HUGE ASSET but it can be easy to use up our time doing things that won’t actually make us better. You can spend hours watching Youtube tutorials, listening to business podcasts and reading about ways to get better at things, but until you take the time to apply that information, it’s not doing you any good.
4 TIPS FOR IMPROVING PRACTICE
So how can you get better at practicing? Here are a couple of ideas that have helped me:
Schedule time in your day to practice. Giving yourself a set time everyday to practice makes everything so much easier. Plan it into your day and don’t let other things leak into your practice time.
Follow a prompt. Can’t think of something to draw or to work on? There are tons of prompt lists online that can give you ideas so that you don’t spend your entire practice time trying to decide what to work on. I also keep a list of ideas on my phone so that when I need one, they’re always there.
Work on things you love. Practice time should be about doing things that you are genuinely interested in. If you are excited about what you’re doing, practice will be fun!
Stop. If you’ve tried practicing and you still can’t seem to find the time or the desire to practice, then it’s probably a good sign that you aren't passionate about whatever it is you’re doing. And that's OK! A lot of people feel bad if they choose to give up learning about something, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of. If you just aren’t excited about what you're doing, then don’t do it and move on to something that you actually enjoy.
CONCLUSION
Practice makes perfect. It’s hard, it’s rough, sometimes it’s even tedious, but you can’t buy skill and you can’t rush learning. Take your time, power through it, and enjoy the results.
If you have any thoughts, ideas or experiences related to practice I would love to hear them! Please leave a note in the comments below!