Sheer volume

Beginning a new craft in many ways mirrors the experience of learning to walk — there are all kinds of trials between losing balance, stumbling, and falling that occur early on, but eventually you figure out how to get somewhere (literally).

The first time you try walking might be decidedly great (no stumbles), the second attempt you might end up falling, the third attempt might being a little smoother to start but then you lose balance a few times, and so forth. Proficiency is never achieved in the first attempt.

It’s persisting through a large enough volume of trials and absorbing lessons along the way on how to better balance, how to recover from a fall, and how to rise more quickly that we end up being able to walk confidently without hesitation.

All new endeavors — whether it’s learning how to walk, pursuing a new profession, or creating change — follow the same principle of sheer volume: the more you do, the more you learn, the more refined your taste becomes, more empowered you are to to turn the dials on the quality of your work and consistently perform.