When I was 3 years old, my kindergarten teacher asked us to draw our home.
I drew a house, some trees next to it and a heart.. except halfway through, I forgot what a heart was supposed to look like.. And what colour it was supposed to be.
So I drew it green and skewed..
"hold my baby bottle.."
It was a pretty average drawing for a kid that age.
But when I ran home to show my dad..
He took the paper, looked at it for a few seconds, then looked at me and said:
“Wow son, you are an incredible artist! This is such a work of art!”
But he didn't leave it there.
The next day when I came home, he had bought a frame almost five times the size of the drawing, put my tiny, ugly drawing in it and hung it on one of the main walls of our home.
Whenever guests or relatives came to visit, my mom and dad would show it off: “Isn't Nicolas a talented artist?”
"Of course!.." people played along.
So I believed them.
And I kept drawing.
More and more and more..
Twenty-four years later, I became one of Canada's best paid tattoo artists.
Geisha tattoo by yours truly.
See, most of us think confidence is something you earn after you've proven you're exceptional..
Or even that it is constant criticism which makes you better.
But I wasn't exceptional..
I was an average three-year-old who forgot what a heart looked like.
I was lucky to have a dad who instead of grading my drawing, decided to celebrate my progress.
That belief came first, and it kept me drawing long enough for the skill to catch up.
Honest critique matters, of course..
But only later..
Much, much later!
I don't know about you but I've forgotten this lesson and created unnecessary suffering for myself as a result.
I’ve been harsh on myself, impatient with my progress, and quick to expect expert-level quality from things I was still a beginner at.
Then wondered why it took so much will-power to keep going, why I procrastinated so much and why progress never came quick enough.
The truth is that whether we had a parent who encouraged us or not, we are adults now.
(You also happen to be your own, oldest friend.. think about that!)
So we get to celebrate our small steps.
We get to be our biggest cheerleaders.
We get to celebrate our progress, no matter how small, and put it on a frame five times too big...
If we wanted to..
Not out of 'pride' or thinking that we've made it..
But as a reminder to the little child within us that progress, not perfection, is the goal.
So...
If you feel stuck at work, in your relationships or in seeing progress with your health..
I invite you to see what small win you could celebrate today.
And remember, perhaps, that flowers grow more when watered than when yelled at.
Just a thought!
And to be fully honest with you, we were originally anticipating 500+ people to attend our latest workshop and we had around 300 people join.
My first thought was to focus on what was wrong, but soon I remembered the 3-year-old who kept going because his effort, not his perfection, was celebrated.
So I'm off today to celebrate a successful workshop by visiting my favorite hot springs.
Will share pics later.
With you on the path,
Nico Canon
PS: Just a heads-up that the workshop replay comes down tonight at midnight, and I don’t plan to run this workshop again. If you’d like to watch it, you can still get access here before the page closes:
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