Output Speaks Louder Than Words
On the act v/s the commentary of living meaningfully, in a social media age
Is it just me, dear Reader, or do you also feel that we live in a time where the commentary about living, seems more important than the living itself?
Merely a decade or so ago, it was enough that each of us sought to make something meaningful of our own lives, through our work and relationships. Then, social media blew up.
And now, the pursuit of making something meaningful in our own lives seems somehow … secondary to the showing that/how we are making something meaningful.
It appears, we must not only do what matters for us as individuals, but also talk about how we do what matters to us. We are both; player in the game that is our individual life, and curator of our own highlight reels. Doing the task that is living well (though we’re all learning on the job), and talking about the task that is living well.
Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of it too, writing about writing and all of that. :)
What’s worse, we seem to incentivise this behaviour collectively. As though we’ve decided that the commentary of life is as important if not more important, than the act itself. Like a corporate culture that promotes not the person who does the job best, but the person who best showcases how/that the job was done. We all know someone hard working who missed a promotion for a reason exactly like this.
All of which begs the question:
What’s more important, the “output” (the act that is living meaningfully) or the commentary (of the act itself)?
I find that this question is best resolved by an anecdote form the book, Art & Fear: Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, by David Bayles and Ted Orland.
Perhaps you’ve heard it before; in a context of ‘Perfection is a myth’ or something to that effect, but I wish to look at it from the following lens:
To Act, Or To Theorise?
The anecdote goes as follows:
A “ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorising about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.”
I share this with you as there are two A-ha!-moments (or insights if you prefer that label, dear Reader :) that jump out at me from this anecdote / experiment:
#1: Produce More. Learn From The Mistakes.
As the original authors put it, “the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity.”
Producing more is the best lesson there is.
In the creative act that is building a meaningful life, I guess the best thing we can do is to do more — whatever that doing is in our individual lives — make the mistakes that need to be made in the creative act that is building a meaningful life with intention, learn from said mistakes, iterate, do better.
I guess the big question for each of us is; “What are my pots?”, in other words:
“What’s the singular creative deed that I need to do more of, which is intrinsically linked to my most meaningful life?”
That could be anything for each of us. Build the side hustle. Work out. Make music. Draw. Seed the earth with plants. Meditate. Read. Spend time with the family & kids.
In sum: Do more of the deed. Break some pots. The lessons are worth it.
#2: Everything else is mere externality!
The original authors’ words describing the group evaluated on quality, put it best: “(they) … had sat theorising about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.”
What if this group had written an undeniable paper on making the best pot ever, or made a highlight reel dubbed the “The Making Of The Near Perfect Pot”, would it matter to their grade at all? Certainly not!
In the creative act that is building a meaningful life, comments about the act of living, ideas on how to live well, the highlight reel of one’s process and outputs, are each themselves external to the act itself.
One can tell; as the medium, that is doing what’s meaningful in one’s life is different from the medium that is talking about doing what’s meaningful in one’s life.
The act of doing what’s meaningful in one’s life may look like building the hustle, writing that code, working out, doing the creative act, reflecting on one’s self, taking care of one’s health, creating value for others, making time for loved ones … among other infinite possibilities.
The talking about doing exists only in only one possibility: language, written or spoken. Thus called commentary, theory, or social media updates. Same same, but different.
In any case, not the act itself.
What’s this gotta do with you and me, dear Reader?
Working with Alan Watts’ metaphor: In the buffet that is living a meaningful life, it’s easy to forget about the meal itself, and focus on the menu.
It’s easy to spend time reading and learning how-to live well, how-to hustle better, or how-to … do our respective creative deed “better”. And just as easy, to get lost in the commentary broadcast of our tasks, rather than the acting out of our tasks.
We’re either studying the hell out of our menu, or waving our personal menus around, instead of enjoying the unique experience life has set before each of us.
I know I’ve been there myself. It’s a fine line, especially for a writer whose meal exists in the same medium as the menu. It takes producing a lot more to tell them apart. And in reality, that’s all I’m doing here.
Enjoying my meal. Making my pots. Doing my creative deed. I decided to make this one a menu, as I hear you like reading menus. :)
And what about you, dear Reader?
Is reading this your creative act toward building a meaningful life? Or is this an act of commentary on how to live well, or some other grand theorising?
Of course it’s the latter! I just told you it’s a menu, after all.
Though I’m glad you made it this far, I’m gonna stop writing now, as this menu is nearly over. I hope you don’t pick up another one right after. It’s on you to get to your creative act, whatever that may be.
#3 Bonus: Perfection is a target that moves. Produce more.
Cliche’s are cliche for a reason, nonetheless:
Don’t let the desire for perfection cause paralysis of action. Produce more instead. Your idea of perfection evolves, as you create. Odds are, you’ll make something near perfect.
I’m saying it for both of us, of course.
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Song for the day: Baina — Clinton Cerejo, Vijay Prakash; Coke Studio India