A short story about time.
Here's the deal. Imagine you're taking a tour of a beautiful breathtaking winery in the north of Italy. After rushing the last entire 3 years, you've finally decided to travel with your family and enjoy life a little.
You're loving the way the guide explains how the grapes are planted, grown, and harvested. You learn the importance of the seasons of the years for the grapes, how the type of soil influences its growth. Then, the guide explains how the wine is made with absolute care and precision, based on centuries of experience from local producers. No other winery on Earth makes wine as they do.
After a beautiful, sunny afternoon of explanations, it's finally time. You reach the tasting room and everybody is excited to try every single wine, beautifully exposed on the shelves.
A man over the counter approaches you and starts explaining the difference between each wine while pouring a glass for you. The conversation is long.
You're still trying to remember what he said, but you couldn't listen to anything else after the said the words "20 years ago…".
He said 20 years. Like… 20 entire freaking years.
You then realize someone made the wine and store it in a giant wooden barrel for more than 7000 days so you could drink it today.
End of the trip.
Today, I can only imagine how much persistence and patience and commitment it takes to do that. Imagine waiting for years to see the fruits of our labor, right?
Great work takes time.
The truth is, great work takes time.
I mean, we don't have the luxury to wait years for everything. We don't live forever. We have things to do, work to be done. But maybe we should think more frequently about this.
It's very common to think that with experience comes speed. The more experienced in drawing you are, the quicker your draw.
I'm not sure about it.
You see, an experienced drawer might become quicker in general. But he knows that for a drawing to be perfect, certain details are necessary. Details you and I don't even know about. And these details take time.
Here are some examples:
- Maybe you're learning how to sell. And you suck. For now. But believe me: you will get better with time. You will start to understand people's real needs and better provide solutions for them (and sell more, both in quantity and quality).
- Maybe you want to become a chef. Maybe you start easy, probably following a nice Pinterest recipe. That's great! But once in command of 5-stars kitchens, there's no Pinterest. With time, you'll be able to create your original recipes. With time, you will know exactly how each ingredient smells, tastes, and does in combination with other ingredients.
- Real example: About 7 years ago, it used to take me 24 hours to design a logo. It was like "Oh, do you want a wolf in the logo? No problem, here it is. Goodbye!". Now it takes me about 3-4 weeks. Did I get slower? No, I got more experience. Now I take time to understand your business, your market, your competitors, and finally deliver you a unique solution that will make you stand out. Oh, and I charge more, of course.
Walk the extra mile.
Sometimes, magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.
Raymond Joseph Teller
My challenge for you today is: walk the extra mile.
Select one thing you want to be the best at, then dedicate time to it.
Time your customer didn't budget or paid for. Time they weren't expecting.
The time that doesn't make you the most efficient or productive person in your market, but makes you the better one.
Sometimes, the secret to great work is simply time.
