“Any time you stop you stop striving to get better, you’re bound to get worse.”
Pat Riley quoted in:
Jerome, Jerry. Instant Inspiration: Using Quotes to Guide You to Your Goals. 1st ed.
Instant Wisdom Publishing, 2003.
There is no middle ground when it comes to growth. Either we are getting better or worse each day. Either we are contributing to the solution or part of the problem.
The temptation in life is just cruise through. We tend to gravitate towards comfort and inactivity. As we get older, we tend to think growth is behind us. But nothing can be further from the truth!
Our growth is not limited by our age. Physically, we may have stopped growing years ago. (Or at least, we stopped growing vertically and began growing horizontally!) But there is always something to learn. There is always a new challenge to confront and solve. Life is much more than just cruising into obscurity.
A Choice to Grow or Fade Away
When I began my graphic design career, many of the older designers were resistant to computers. They had been creating layouts with materials such as rubylith and huge, bellows cameras. They knew how to create layouts quickly and efficiently. The new way of doing things felt uncomfortable. Many of them stubbornly held onto the old ways until they were forced to change, or they left their jobs and careers.
At the time, I thought surely the designers of my generation would have learned a lesson. Some have. Others are just as resistant to change. A graphic design career changed from a primarily paper and printing process to online graphics. Some have stubbornly held on. Others have faded into obscurity as new ways of doing things took hold.
Each day, we have a choice between getting better or worse. There is always a new way of doing things. Don’t get so comfortable that you resist growing and changing. Always be looking for new techniques and new technologies. Otherwise, we risk becoming irrelevant.