The Benefit of...

                                     …Knowing the Size of your Belly

 

My mother used to say “Elaine, your eyes are bigger than your belly”

Babies and their bellies

 

I didn’t have to look in the mirror to see that my belly was way bigger than my eyes. But that wasn’t the point.

Another cliché: “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”

Then there’s cliché plus metaphor: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

 

Clichés become cliché by over-use. Sadly, we hear them so often; in so many different instances, we forget what they meant in the first place. What is the difference between a cliché and a metaphor?

One difference is:

The cliché becomes corrupted by repetition. 

The metaphor by being dismissed as fantasy.

~~~~~~

My favorite short, sharp object comes from the author of

7 Habits for Effective People, Stephen Covey:

“Sharpen the saw”

How did the saw get dull? By using it.

How do you sharpen it? by learning.

There are many ways to learn. Learning is basically problem solving.

We have a need we need to fill, what do we need to fill it?

“Location, location, location” 

“A horse, my kingdom for a horse!”

“Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.”

“You can’t see the forest for the trees.”

“The devil is in the details” aka “The Money is in the Details”

 

“Perfection is for Publication” 

 

The lesson is true of any endeavor, but especially of classic fiber disciplines. 

The history of man using fibers in his battle

 to survive goes back to the days before history was recorded.

Context is everything.

Learn their code, then write your own code.

Young and Idealistic

When we know too little, every idea is grand, every thought profound. Eventually, we become aware something is lacking. Yet, we don’t know enough to know what we need. That is: Our eyes being bigger than our belly. In the early days of the journey, our vision exceeds our ability.  

Sometimes, we give up. The best times are when we rest, with an air of persistent uncertainty.

I may not know the answer, but if I ask the question, the answer might be provided. If I never ask the question, the dilemma fades along with yesterday’s clouds. We only discover the appropriate question by studying the problem and asking: What if I did this...what difference would that change make..?

Asking the wrong question is choosing the wrong tool. We discover our error all too soon and make mistakes. We stop – do we give up or do we rest, with an air of persistence?

We’ve been taught that mistakes happen. They can have consequences that turn our best efforts into a quagmire, or they can be happy accidents. How do we know the difference? Do we give up, or do we rest persistently, in the knowledge that science will prevail.

Science has checks and balances. Unlike ideas, science can be proven by more than one idealist coming up with the same answer using different perspectives. The more checking and balancing, the more precise science becomes. Sometimes the consequences of the wrong question are so insignificant, the best place to put them is among a great many facts. It won’t make them true, but it will make them so difficult to see, they don’t change the overall outcome.

Pure science doesn’t put food on the table. We forget ideas, while ideals are sustainable.

By applying those ideals to present day problems, creativity happens.

That is the time

 when mastery is discovered

 to have developed.

Then you publish.