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An Artisan's Workbench

By Bamboo In The Wind

It is hard to not think about how to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. The gap often appears enormous. 

Unsurprisingly, you are attracted to easy tricks and treats to get past it!

Only to find that the shortcuts that should have helped seemingly don't work and then you are stumped...

The main issue is focusing on the result without control over it. 

While expecting results is always a dreamy desire, success depends on the route you take to get results.

The course involves a lot of original work with little recognition and reward.

It consists of working in quiet, dark, dusty corners and to get your hands in the mud.

Some days feel like endless early mornings and late nights, all starting and ending with a streak of mistakes and false hopes that ensue.

Learning by doing is a great way to provide real hope. The route appears marred with costly quest of unfathomable. Learning is time-consuming; costs time and money, and failures are totally humbling, ready to get you ousted in a blink.

And yet, following a long-term path of trying builds confidence by tackling the fear of inaction. Or even the disappointment of feeble outcome driven by shortcuts that raise our expectation of automatic success.

The careful, self-made, experiment-laden route is how we improve and get better. The course is unorthodox, uncertain, and lonely. It is slow and tedious and goes against the accepted norms.

And yet, if stay that course, before you know it, builds your future one brick at a time. Soon, each brick acts as a foundation reflecting the journey of how it came about to be rooted where it is. And that is worthy effort. Fulfilling.

Self-made experiments allow you to build the process that works for you - and often for others. Each one can be a small step that fits a piece of the long-term puzzle. You just don't see it yet. Nonetheless, it gets you focused on how to improve the reality of yesterday.

And when you make tiny progress regularly, you understand the results are beginning to blow your mind.

It is all clear then. You cannot expect results. You must never. You land those results because of the course you choose to take.

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