I was recently listening to sci-fi writer Andy Weir (The Martian) talk about his writing process, and something that he said really resonated with me. Weir admitted that he doesn’t actually love the writing part that much. Instead, he loves the world building and research phase, diving deep into the nitty-gritty details of his stories. He shared a joke that embodies this lack of love for the finished product.
A man walks into a bar and says to the guy next to him “I’m writing a novel.”
The man replies “Yeah, neither am I.”
This made me think about how we approach teaching and learning. We have an unhealthy obsession with the end product. We focus so much on the perfect lesson, the stellar presentation, the finished project, the A+ on the test, that we forget about how much learning actually takes place during the process.
We need to remember Andy Weir’s advice:
Sometimes the beauty of learning is in the details. We need to fall in love with the messy, not quite so perfect, unpredictable journey of learning.
Don’t worry about how it’s gonna turn out. Worry about your process for getting there first.
Rich