Quantity leads to Quality

I think for the most part we can all agree that quality is super important. That less is more. Time is scarce and that it just makes sense to spend that time doing work we enjoy and being with people we love.

I completely agree with the above, but I am also going to offer up a counter argument. Well, a kind of counter argument.

Personally I think quantity is unbelievably important and often underrated. Quantity is what leads us to quality. Quantity helps us find tune our skills, it is us actually doing work, actually practicing and actually making mistakes.

Quantity helps us discover what we are good at.

By actually doing the work, we can figure out whether or not we really do enjoy the task or just the idea of it. By putting in the work we can improve our skills, we can make mistakes and more importantly — we can learn.

And we only learn things when we make mistakes.

Sense starting on my hand lettering adventure just over two years ago I have done well over a thousand drawings. Yes, some days I didn’t want to show up, some days I just wanted to stay in bed and sleep and pretty much everyday I questioned what am I doing and why I was doing.

In saying that, by actually doing the work I have improved 10 fold. It has been incredibly rewarding to see the progress and there is no doubt in my mind that without the quantity of the work I have produced the quality would be far worse off.

I know I still have a long way to go, especially in the quality apartment. But without doing the work I would be a much worse off place.

Every time I sit down to draw I improve. I improve my skills, my approach and my techniques. I’ve established workflows, routines and processes that allow me to work efficiently and effectively.

Now don’t get me wrong — quality matters. It absolutely does matter. But I am saying is that you don’t get to quality without quantity.

Your skills will not improve if you only make one drawing a month or only draw when you are feeling motivated.
On the other hand, your skills will improve if you draw everyday for a year. Even if it is just ten minutes a day, at least it’s something.

So stop making excuses, stop complaining and start making.

Quantity leads to quality.