Every serious painter knows this hard truth: there are many stumbles on the path to improvement, and you must be willing to fall, and then pick yourself back up and start over. Progress can be sporadic (and that's an understatement). Many hours must be put in. Courage and perseverance are key.
I reflected on this truth while reading an article that discussed how babies learn to walk. Toddlers learning to walk are so determined that they travel the length of about eight football fields in ONE HOUR. During that hour, they fall an average of 30 times. It takes 2.6 million steps for them to become proficient at walking. As the article notes, this failure rate would be deeply discouraging (the article even said "catastrophic") for an adult trying to learn a new skill.
Toddlers persevere in learning to walk because faster, hands-free mobility is thrilling. Adults persevere in our endeavors because mastery of a new skill is nirvana.
Toddlers also teach us that learning is not linear. They often start to walk, and then revert to crawling for a while. Their progress is U-shaped. In other words, when learning a new skill, we often get worse before we get better.
Another important lesson from the article is that infants learn best "when operating near the limits of their current skill level." The takeaway for the rest of us is clear: Always be "at the edge of what you can't currently do."
I've written about the creative process before, and the example of toddlers learning to walk reinforces some of the notions I explored then. It's a nice concrete example to keep in mind as we start the New Year. Yes, it's frustrating to be at the edge of what you can't currently do--but oh, the rewards are great when you can push that boundary a little bit further!
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