Seth Godin

 

I drew this quote from Seth Godin at the end of 2019. I've tried my best to follow this advice for the past two years and it has worked well for me. Using this mentality I started the first incarnation of my Spare Parts Press website, I was able to get started on my comic Bored in Space. More recently it helped me write and draw a new 32-page autobiographical comic (more on all of these things soon).

In all cases, I tried to achieve good over perfect. In the process of doing so, I was able to allow myself to make new work. And by allowing myself to make the work, I was able to make real progress.

Update: For far too many years I have done almost the opposite. I have tried to make a small number of perfected works. Whereas making more imperfect works would have been much more beneficial. I've heard the story about the ceramics teacher that divided their class into two groups. Group A only had to make one perfect pot in the year, to be graded at the end. Group B had the objective to make as many pots as possible in the year, which they would then be graded on their best one. As it turns out, group B ended up producing much better pots than group A. When you look at it like this you can see why. Having the experience of making hundreds of pots and not being precious about it pushes your work to be better by having the opportunity to learn by experience.

I've known about the ceramics parable for many years, but the way Seth worded it in his podcast Akimbo, seemed to make the idea click into place for me. Another factor in this is also the addition of using an iPad. I know have unlimited paper and ink. I have the freedom to experiment and create lots without worrying about which paper I should use so I don't run out, or remembering to order special inks online.

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