Today is September 14 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you do what you can’t do in order to learn how to do it?”
People who navigate the chaos gravitate towards doing those things that they are unable to do.
Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, arguably among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art, made this observation in an 1885 letter to painter Anthon van Rappard.
At that time van Gogh who was immersed in the creation of the landmark canvas “The Potato Eaters.” Van Gogh wrote “The work in question, painting the peasants, is such laborious work that the extremely weak would never even embark on it. And I have at least embarked on it and have laid certain foundations, which isn’t exactly the easiest part of the job! And I’ve grasped some solid and useful things in drawing and in painting, more firmly than you think, my dear friend. But I keep on making what I can’t do yet in order to learn to be able to do it.”
If one of the greatest painters the world has ever known recognized the value of doing what you can’t do in order to learn how to do it, perhaps you should consider such a strategy as well?
How often do you do what you can’t do in order to learn how to do it?