It sure would be great to be innately talented and skilled at everything we do. Right? Or would it?

At first glance it might seem wonderful to take the perfect photograph with every click of the shutter, for every new obstacle to just melt into a puddle and evaporate before our very eyes, for every sandwich we make to send us into a cascading weep fit at its flawless combination of mayonnaise and sauerkraut that instantly transports us body and mind back to the birth of the very first sandwich. But what would that do to you creatively?

Creativity is your expression. Expression is you sharing your point of view with someone, anyone other than yourself. If every photograph you shot, every film you made was based on a point of view that came to be without struggle to achieve, I doubt very much anyone would be interested in that point of view for long.

Maybe that’s a pointless point. No one is actually great at everything without working at it. Some people are better at some things than others, but anyone who is really great at anything worked really hard to get there. Really hard.

How about you? What are you really good at? Who cares. This articles is about getting good at stuff, not being good. Therefore a more appropriate question is what do you want to be good at?

There’s a really boring argument about Nature vs. Nurture as to which is more important. I say it doesn’t matter. Quit your moaning about how you weren’t born knowing the inverse square law, or that creativity doesn’t come easy to you. We have an expression in my house that fits in right here. “Tough Titties!”

If you suck at being creative, or even just if you aren’t as creative as you like, get out there and learn how to be more creative, or a better director, or a better blind date. But don’t just learn it. Do it. Otherwise you’re just getting good at learning how to do something. I’d rather get good at doing it. Yeah, I know, doing it can be more difficult than reading about doing it. Difficulty and struggle can either wear you down or hone your skills to give you an edge. That’s really up to you.

I say take at least one day a month and do something you want to be good at instead of something you are good at. Start nurturing yourself instead of resting on your nature. Or better yet, make nurture your nature. Make it a habit to take on new challenges. Oh, and that one day a month… make that day today.

Nice!

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