I was scrolling TikTok, and for some reason my For You will sometimes serve up artist content. Painters. Sculptors. That sort of thing. I’ve always enjoyed art, but I don’t have one artistic bone in my body. I loved drawing as a kid, but the talent…woof. Just not there. The same is true for singing. I love to sing, but double woof. I feel for my kid. I really do.
But back to the TikTok, this particular post was someone painting very simple circles grouped together. Simple, yes. But perfect. Perfect. If I’d seen only the finish product, I would think they were some type of artistic wizard (or that they used a stencil). But watching it from start to finish, a thought occurred to me.
They were using a technique.
One they probably learned when they invested in the thing that was interesting to them. Growing up, they probably liked art, too. Maybe they had talent. Maybe they didn’t. But either way, they probably started to study it in some capacity — whether officially with money changing hands or independently. And along the way, they learned techniques that helped them improve.
The number of hours I invested into learning how to properly do my nails back in 2013 is nauseating if you think about it. The motives were simple: 1) I was interested 2) I was broke 3) I wanted nice nails. I watched countless hours of YouTube videos, picking up one technique after another. I practiced religiously. I enjoyed every minute of it — but I failed a lot, too. While my Instagram at the time was nothing but one nice manicure after another, there were hundreds that never saw the light of day.
I’ve been on a mission for years to make chocolate chip cookies that come out like my sister’s. In fact, I spent my entire maternity leave making one batch after another. One failure after another. The recipe is simple. But for some reason, mine kept coming out all wrong. I made a disastrous batch for my son’s first birthday that required my sister to swoop in and save the day. “I don’t know how yours come out perfect every single time!” And that’s when my niece spat the real truth: because you never see the batches she throws away.
Oof. Truth.
We all have things we’re invested in. And when you invest in something, you improve it. But we get to do the work quietly, privately. We only show our best work. We show the results of what we’ve learned, the techniques we’ve picked up.
Some people are good at painting, others at drawing. Some are great singers. Maybe you’re a great writer. Some people are excellent salesmen. Others are brilliant teachers. Typically, what sets people apart, what earns someone their adjective is passion and investment.
It’s so easy to get discouraged when what you have to show doesn’t look anything like what you’re seeing online. But please, just know that what you see online is the result of investment. Time and energy. Passion and practice.
Investment = improvement
Just keep going.
*Oh, and by the way. I finally made a batch of chocolate chip cookies last week that looked and tasted like my sister’s. #improvement
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