lots of pots

Pete · 28th Feb, 2005

A little story I read last weekend, about a pottery course.

At the start of a semester an art class was divided in two. One half of the class was advised their semester was going to be graded solely on the quality of one pot. The other half solely on the quantity.

So one lot painstakingly tried to make the perfect pot. They concentrated for weeks on getting their pots "just right". Aiming for perfect shape and symmetry.

By semester's end there were some OK efforts though nothing exceptional.

The other half of the class simply made pot after pot to maximise the numbers made.

By the semester's end their pots were nearly perfect - more so than those made by the other half of the class.

duncan_m · 28th Feb, 2005

Pete said:
A little story I read last weekend, about a pottery course.

At the start of a semester an art class was divided in two. One half of the class was advised their semester was going to be graded solely on the quality of one pot. The other half solely on the quantity.

So one lot painstakingly tried to make the perfect pot. They concentrated for weeks on getting their pots "just right". Aiming for perfect shape and symmetry.

By semester's end there were some OK efforts though nothing exceptional.

The other half of the class simply made pot after pot to maximise the numbers made.

By the semester's end their pots were nearly perfect - more so than those made by the other half of the class.

Pete,

Great quote! I really enjoyed that post..

I did some googling afterwards, I think the origin of that quote is from a book called Art and Fear:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...002-3502566-2699203?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

LearningMan · 28th Feb, 2005

Pete, nice story ...

I think the book Duncan_m mentions may be worth a read.

duncan_m · 28th Feb, 2005

duncan_m said:
Pete,

Great quote! I really enjoyed that post..

I did some googling afterwards, I think the origin of that quote is from a book called Art and Fear:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...002-3502566-2699203?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

btw, here's a slightly better representation of what I think is in the book:

“The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the quantity group: fifty pound of pots rated an A, forty pounds a B, and so on. Those being graded on quality, however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one – to get an A. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the quantity group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the quality group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.”

Pete · 28th Feb, 2005

thanks, Dunc

Thanks, mate. Much better than my retelling. The book I read was "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent" by Gary Keller.

quiggles · 28th Feb, 2005

And an excellent moral. BTW, did you notice it argues for a cookie cutter approach? A little refinement here, and a little there, making allowance for different types of clay etc, but sticking to the basics and doing it over and over again.

Definite food for thought.

Gordon Gekko · 28th Feb, 2005

Pete said:
A little story I read last weekend, about a pottery course.

At the start of a semester an art class was divided in two. One half of the class was advised their semester was going to be graded solely on the quality of one pot. The other half solely on the quantity.

So one lot painstakingly tried to make the perfect pot. They concentrated for weeks on getting their pots "just right". Aiming for perfect shape and symmetry.

By semester's end there were some OK efforts though nothing exceptional.

The other half of the class simply made pot after pot to maximise the numbers made.

By the semester's end their pots were nearly perfect - more so than those made by the other half of the class.

So i should buy lots of IP's and by the last IP, i will get it right

Sultan of Swing · 28th Feb, 2005

Gordon Gekko said:
So i should buy lots of IP's and by the last IP, i will get it right

That's the way I read it too, but hope to have it right way before the last one

Its all about analysis paralysis. We can talk about buying IPs all day but at the end of the day while some of us are talking about the perfect deal, others are out there doing a bunch of deals .... AND making a fortune!!

Thanks for the post Pete.

wish-ga · 8th Mar, 2005

And the third little piggy built his house of clay...
all the huffing and puffing of naysayers made NO IMPACT on the bricks and mortar of
that wise little piggy

And he had to save the bacon of the other two! when the wolf was at the door.

FrankGrimes · 6th Oct, 2006

Must have missed this post and thought I'd bump it because its well worth reading. Great stuff, I love it!

lizzie · 6th Oct, 2006

Sultan of Swing said:
Its all about analysis paralysis. We can talk about buying IPs all day but at the end of the day while some of us are talking about the perfect deal, others are out there doing a bunch of deals .... AND making a fortune!!

or those that have a learning experience on their first ip, sell it and never buy another.

they never then use what they learned to make more money ... kinda like going to uni for 3-6 years for degrees that you never use. i know quite a few people who have done that too.

lots of pots

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