Be Patient and Keep Practicing

You’ve probably seen the ShamWow meme. You know, the classic, cheesy infomercial guy.

A couple of years ago, I had the idea of drawing that meme for one of my tech talks, as a transition to a demo.

I was so proud of it. And, it always got a few chuckles from the audience.

I was recently going through my slides for an upcoming conference, and decided I’d try drawing that image again.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s an improvement.

Once I started drawing for my talks, I got hooked. It became one of my favorite hobbies.

For the past year, I’ve drawn something almost every day. Usually no more than 10–15 minutes. You may have seen some of my silly stuff on Twitter or Instagram.

I’ve determined that drawing is a skill, no different than any other skill. A new skill takes patience and practice.

Is there anything you wish you could do or become? Art? Photography? A musical instrument? Programming? Design? Public speaking?

What is holding you back?

Here’s what you need: some determination, consistent incremental practice, and a whole lot of patience.

Unfortunately, as I’ve said in my talk, Public Speaking without Barfing on Your Shoes, there’s no shortcut to success. But, if you keep on practicing, little by little, one day you might wake up and realize how far you’ve really come.

Do something that makes you happy. And, every chance you get, add a little more to it.

Get out there and be awesome!

In case you’re interested, here’s an article I wrote on captivating your audience with simple, hand-drawn illustrations. I provide some ideas on how you can get started.

Here are some recent caricatures and profiles I’ve drawn for folks. Contact me if you’re interested in one!

Originally published at reverentgeek.com on September 15, 2017.