Learning is doing what you don’t know how to do *while* you still don’t know how to do it.”
These past months I’ve been heads down, building. I’ve been building the New Orleans Chamber Players. I started the Exponentially Empowered Podcast. I’m writing weekly. Results are gelling.
But I’m constantly learning on the job.
I’m a kid learning to ride a bicycle, or playing t-ball. I’m have conceptions for the end goal, but I’m constantly falling over, swinging and missing.
I hadn’t previously founded an arts organization. Did I read books until I had all the prerequisite knowledge? No. I picked a concert date, and started figuring it out backwards. I bought a notebook, and on November 24th, I began doing 1 thing per day to move the concept forward, even if that 1 thing was send a single email. Booking players, soliciting support, creating a logo, promotion. It hasn’t been predictable or breezy, but I have definitely committed to Non-Zero days. Momentum feeds momentum.
Building a website from scratch on WordPress? Had no idea how to do that but started jumping in and playing in the sandbox. Google searches, WP Beginner, phone calls to Bluehost.
Speaking into a microphone for 10 minutes straight without stopping, and sounding coherent? Never had done that before. But I dove in and began swimming. I scratched my first one or two episodes, but then I continued to commit to hitting “publish.”
(Hitting “publish” is a damn good feeling).
Doing an interview? Contacting people I’d never met asking them to do an interview? Asking semi-interesting questions? Pacing conversations? All new experiences. But I kept acting, and breaking down projects into tiny actions.
“Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs”
–Henry Ford
Not to mention, struggling to make time for self-care, sleep, meditation, fitness, nutrition in the process. Not to mention, the constant self-doubt, the questioning of my choices.
All of this untidy action has and will continue to manifest. I’ll keep leaning forward on the brink of failure. That’s where the juice of the growth process lies.
That’s where purpose and meaning are cultivated.
