It is important to take chances. I don’t mean the kind of chances where the risk is certain failure. I don’t mean the kind of chances where you efforts aren’t a factor in the outcome.
Don’t be afraid. One failure is not the worst that can happen to you. Put five pounds on the barbell not twenty. Doing what you know you can do because you’ve done it before, is not always what you should do today. A little beyond what you have done in your past keeps you growing. If you aren’t growing then you are diminishing. There is hardly any staying in the same place. Improvement is measured over a period of time more than a bad day. Or even a good day. Enjoy your successes but don’t rest on them. It’s like the high school athlete who goes back to the reunions to relive his glory days. Those games where he is the Herculean victor get grander with each retelling. Today is the glory.. and if you don’t live up to your expectations today, then tomorrow can be better. You have to say to yourself “I can do this.” Don’t use other peoples view of you as a measuring stick. I will say most of my heroes in painting are long dead. It is an unrealistic challenge when the other is deceased but it keeps me looking higher toward the ideal. Better than looking at the guy along side me.
Be determined to improve. Better is entirely possible. Excellent is made up of a lot of betters. It’s not one giant leap. It’s many steps.
You’ve got to redefine what it means to win. Winning is not beating the person next to you. Sometimes it is giving your best when everyone says how great you are doing but you know you have more in you..more that can do better.
My pep talk to myself before I go paint today.
Push the envelope.
Then lick it.
Wyatt