--as with everyone else seeking to master a craft or trade--is not seeing the results of their efforts instantly. The age we live in is measured in milliseconds and any yield requiring more than 4 seconds of time is considered "dead air" and a soul-crushing defect of the product. It comes with the territory of technology, the internet, and our ever growing desperation for instant gratification. How many times have you downloaded an app on your smartphone (just to try it out) and deleted it not 2 minutes later because it took longer than 4 seconds to perform a basic function? I'm guilty of that crime on probably 30 counts. Its a breeding ground for mediocrity and satisfaction with completing jobs just enough to pass the bar. This KILLS organic creativity. I hate it when I sit down to sketch or write and all I get is the pang of impatience in my gut and the overwhelming desire to work on my Minecraft island summer home.
Obviously this shroud of impatience cloaks those born after the revolution of smart phones more than those whom witnessed it, but they're not immune to it's allure. Everyone--save for untouched, native tribes of various jungles, and perhaps some sects of the Amish--has been touched by it and can feel the itch of entitlement when their software doesn't perform to the specs projected by advertising. I actually consider myself half-millenial; I was born in 1985 and watched the internet evolve into the blindly convenient, hand-held era we currently take advantage of, and though I grew up with coloring books and climbing trees, I still find myself getting lost in the stormy seas of distraction and self-imposed misery of technological affluenza. I spent 17 years swimming back and forth in a pool, training as a competitive swimmer with Olympic dreams, so I am fluent in the art of relying on daily, consistent hard-work to attain a goal, and YET I still find myself giving up on certain tasks or responsibilities because I don't see the results as quickly as I want them to.
I suppose that is the moral of this blog post, to impose upon myself a structured, daily practice of slowing my thought trains down and allowing my creative juices to properly ferment at the right pace.
