Just spend more time, duh
This seems so obvious, but one thing I’ve realized again and again is how much time spent correlates with skill. How this usually presents itself is when I observe someone who’s incredibly good at some activity that I care about in which I’m far less skilled. For example, my friend Reese is really good at cycling. Top of his game. But that’s because he trains for hours each week and has been doing that since he was a small child.
Reese packs in 23x more miles per week than me
It’s not just cycling. One of my favorite Instagrammers is Essie Xu, whose feed aesthetic is #goals. Seriously, you should go check it out. And while you’re at it, go watch this badass choreography by Viet Truong. These people are incredibly talented, and I suspect also started photography/dance way earlier than I did and dedicated way more time and effort to improving themselves.
Essie Xu (@essssssie) * Instagram photos and videos
Soooo good
Of course, time is not the only thing at work. For the artistic talents I mentioned, it’s important to have a sense for good aesthetics. But that’s something that can be developed with time. And I point this out not as an excuse for why I’m less good at these things, but more as a reminder that if I want to get better, I just need to put in more time and do them more often.