Dog Walk Philosophy: Collecting Work
I walk my dog every morning. Most mornings we walk pretty much the same route. So I decided to give myself a challenge. Find something unique along the path I tread daily and take a photo. Somedays there will be something genuinely new. Others I will have to find a way to shoot the mundane with a new perspective.
One of the highlights of walking Bean is finding baseballs at the nearby field. Over the last three years, I have found twenty-nine baseballs and softballs. They are slowly piling up in my bedroom. It wasn’t until today that I realized why collecting baseballs is so satisfying.
The number only goes up.
I have spent a lot of time chasing the quick dopamine hit of a viral moment. I’ve had a lot of small viral moments and one or two big ones. The one thing I can tell you is that they are sugar highs. Quick spikes with prolonged lows. Chasing virality doesn’t lead to growth. At least not for me. Trying to match a viral moment goes one of two ways. Either nothing is created because of the paralysis induced by trying to replicate a perfect moment or what is created is of low quality because it is trying to keep up with a trend. Either way, it’s a lot of work for little reward.
But what happens when you pile good on top of good; blog post after blog post, photo after photo, podcast after podcast? You build a body of work that is undeniable. And you do it by hitting single after single instead of chasing home runs.
The creatives I know and respect are successful, done the repeatable for years. They have had their viral moments but it was never the intention.
Collecting old baseballs is my reminder of this.
Don’t chase. Just build the pile slowly. Eventually, the pile becomes undeniable.
