3 Questions to Gauge Progress

Pablo Picasso was walking undetected through a Spanish market one day when a woman spotted him.

Picasso was one of the better-known artists in the world at the time — and his eagle-eyed admirer had a seemingly simple request.

“Mr. Picasso, I am a fan of your work,” she said, pulling out a sheet of paper. “Please, could you do me a little drawing?”

Picasso smiled and drew a quick but intricate sketch on the sheet of paper, then gave her his price: $1 million.

“But, Mr. Picasso, it took you only 30 seconds to draw this little masterpiece,” she said.

“My good woman, it took me 30 years to draw that masterpiece in 30 seconds,” he responded.

James Clear shared this anecdote in his best-selling book Atomic Habits.

The fourth quarter of the year is well underway — and many of us as leaders are likely evaluating the progress, or lack thereof, we feel we’ve made.

We may be thinking about our win totals, revenue generated, new social media following or some other key performance indicators that we feel reflect our growth.

But as we do this, we might want to keep the Picasso anecdote in mind and remember that true progress and maturation aren't just about present numbers — as difficult as that can be to accept.

It’s also about our failures, our disappointments, the little sketches we make every day that few see but are crucial to self-improvement and our teams’ long-term development.

If we’re struggling at the moment and haven’t gotten the immediate results we covet, we may want to ask three key questions:

1. Are the lessons of the present challenge potentially setting me up for success in a year? In five years? In 10?

2. Do I need to make a key adjustment in strategy or do I just need some more reps?

3. Am I making the right sketches every day to hone my craft or have I veered off course with my habits and work ethic?

These may not solve every obstacle we face, but they can get us to shift our minds back to the process and the arduous grind that inevitably goes into sustained achievement.

The frustrations we have with our little sketches today aren’t just to be thrown in the trash and forever forgotten.

They may be setting up the masterpiece of tomorrow.