The present is big with the future.
–Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
It never ceases to amaze me. Lesson’s that we can apply as entrepreneurs to our small businesses are all around us.
I was listening to Fresh Air the other day on NPR. Terry Gross was interviewing the painter Chuck Close. Close is most famous for the very large scale photorealisitc portraits he does of his subjects.
His process is such that he takes a photo of the subject, puts in on a grid and then use the grid pattern to scale the image to to the 9+ foot canvases he works with.
The process itself is not anything new, it’s how the Egyptian’s built the pyramids. But I found his thoughts on the power of incremental work inspiring.
Close focuses on one grid at a time. Each is a building block towards a completed portrait.
“Every day builds positively on what I did before.”
It’s the type of work where he can pick it up and put it down. If he thought about how much work lay ahead, he’d never complete it. But this way he has victories in completing each of the grids
Close continues, “I get a little piece of pleasure, a little piece of completion over and over and that’s one of the wonder things about the way i work.”
I found this very inspiring in my own work towards the goals I’ve set out for myself and my business. If I look at my goal sheet, my project lists, and my related next actions, I see how I’m incrementally making progress to the vision I’ve painted for myself.
Good luck and have a great week!
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