You Thought You Could Do It, But..Nah, You Can’t: On Skill and Creativity.

I don’t consider myself a polymath by any means. Sometimes I feel I don’t even have the mental capacity to focus on more than one thing at a time. However I have many interests, and I have recently decided to pursue some of them, as opportunities present themselves.

One thing I have learned in trying out new things is how confident we feel about our ability to succeed at these things at first try.

Everything looks easy when we’re observing it through the lens of the expert.
You see a well-designed book cover, and you think, sweet. I could try that. As far as you’re concerned it’s several photos, images, and text randomly put together, and voila, it looks stunning! Until you try to reproduce it but have no idea what tool was even used to create it. Then you finally get that tool (aka photoshop, illustrator or any other Adobe thingy that costs as much as your rental insurance) and realize all the blood, sweat and tears (aka time and skill) that went into the design.

Or if you’re like me you see someone riding a bike (which you somehow, unfortunately, never learned to ride as a child) and wonder; it must be easy to learn. It’s all about balance, right? Until you try it out and end up looking like a drunk bozo with a bad eyesight on a dark stormy night.

So all I’m trying to say is everything takes skills and some amount of practice. That should make us all appreciate every service we get from experts and amateurs alike. It takes guts to develop any skill or ability at least until it becomes second nature.

So tell me, what skill would you like to acquire if you had the time and chance to do so?

I want to learn to do graphic design. Real design not the Canva-like type for wannabes like me. (Love Canva by the way! Definitely Not an #ad)

Love,

Remi