“It's not
that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.”_Albert Einstein
In matters
of excellence and creativity, the difference-maker has little to do with
natural endowment but a lot to do with doing the work. And doing the work is
not an event; it is a process: a process of toil and conscientious revision.
Excellence is not
about what we do once in a while, it is about what we do, again and again, for
a long period of time. This is what the theory of 10,000-Hour Rule unmistakably
describes.
That is, to become
a master in any field, we need to keep at it for a minimum of 10,000 hours of
deliberate practice. In order words, every expert has spent about ten years of labour
to improve and progress on the fundamentals of their craft.
Revision is the
cornerstone of true excellence; it is the ultimate difference between average
and extra-ordinary performance in all fields of endeavours.
To use writing as
an example here: know that amateur writers are the ones who manage to write their
manuscripts once or twice, but literary masters are the ones who painstakingly re-write
chapters, over and over on a granular level.
An author of the satirical
novel, ‘The Corrections,’ Jonathan Franzen boldly highlighted this point when
he said: “The (elite) writer’s life is a life of revisions.”
Furthermore, let’s
read what three notable modern writers have to say with regards to the concept
of revision:
1} A
Writer-in-Residence at the Harvard Divinity School, Terry Tempest Williams
says:
“Through revision,
I enter the realm of the unspeakable and find the words that have eluded me.”
2} A Russian
novelist and poet, Vladimir Nabokov says:
“I have rewritten —
often several times — every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast
their erasers.”
3} An American journalist
and short-story writer, Ernest Hemingway says about one of his best works:
“I rewrote the
ending of 'Farewell to Arms' 39 times before I was satisfied.”
If we can cultivate
the grit to stay longer with creative challenges, we will give ourselves enough
time to think and rethink until we can come up with something truly remarkable.
It’s through sheer
determination that the greats overcome the hurdles of discovery. And like them,
if we are willing to patiently revise and refine our approach for as long as it
takes, we will be surprised by the unlimited capacity of our minds.
In the words of the
British business magnate, Richard Branson: “Every success story is a tale of
constant adaption, revision and change.”
You see, in the end, patient revision is the simple secret behind true mastery and enduring excellence.
You see, in the end, patient revision is the simple secret behind true mastery and enduring excellence.
