Growth, Learning, Frustrations, and Faith

Walls and Faith

We had an interesting conversation last night in class about the frustrations of working and working and working and feeling that NOTHING is working, e.g., we're not getting cast, we don't feel we're getting any better at what we want to so desperately get better at, and in those times, I always try to rely on a couple of insights to help me get through those frustrating times:

The first is a very short story about perseverance that I heard long ago, and it's always made sense to me.

Second, and definitely related, is the "punctuated equilibrium" theory by the great American paleontologist & writer, Stephen Jay Gould. It's a new and now widely accepted theory of evolution that basically states that change, evolution, is not smooth and continuous but instead is a process of nothing happening for a long time, and then suddenly, you get a big change

It turns out this idea is also a great model for just about any type of complex system that evolves and grows, from businesses, to technological breakthroughs, economics, our careers, and -- I suspect -- to artists trying to grow in their craft.

Perhaps 99% of the time, it always looks, in the moment, like "nothings happening" (in the sense that we don't feel a big jump forward), but this is the difference between appearance and faith: it looks like you're not getting anywhere, but you have to have faith that you are -- because it's true: you are.