DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL

Clay Butler Headshot

PEOPLE OFTEN CONFUSE HARD WORK WITH TALENT

And because of this many people don’t even try. They figure you are just “born” with a specific skill and if you don’t display this skill innately then you might as well give up. You will never be good enough.

It’s said that behind every overnight success is ten years of hard work. The general rule that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to truly master a skill seems to pretty accurate. I was drawing religiously from age three on. I  spent several hours drawing every single day. I had an idea, I would spend as long as necessary to complete it, and then I would review my work and see where I could had improved. Then I would apply that insight into my next drawing. Day in and day out. I would even spend days practicing my eyeballs or getting the hand just right. Pages and pages of eyes and hands.

Clay Butler Childhood Pencil Drawing

It wasn’t until I just turned 13 that I was finally able to make a drawing (pictured above) that I though matched what I saw in my head. What I would call a perfect drawing – meaning it matched my own expectations and vision. It felt different than any other drawing I had done before. And then it was exponential growth after that until age 15 when I was clearly doing professional illustration quality work.

So that’s 12 years before I got it “right”. And another three before I was really pulling ahead of the pack.  So when people say that I have a God given talent I chuckle to myself because my drawings at age 5 look just like a five year old should draw. I displayed no innate talent. I earned it through deliberate practice every day.

What I do have innately is ants in my pants. I am by nature restless, driven, and willing to suffer for whatever I decide to pursue. I set no time limits and define success on my own terms.

That’s why I have ten years television production and several region show awards under my belt. That’s why I was the staff cartoonist for three bay area papers before launching my own self-syndicated strip which I continued for ten years. And that’s why I had a blast as a photojournalist and stand up comic. I follow my passions, learn fast, and I’m not afraid to fail.

I’M EASY TO REACH

Clay Butler | clay@claybutler.com

Cell: 831-566-3046 | Skype: clay.butler

AND NOW A SURF STORY…

Clay Butler Night Surfing Under the Milky Way, Santa Cruz California

Self Portrait
Night Surfing Under the Milky Way

The above photo didn’t happen by accident. Over about a year, I taught myself to night surf. After 25 years, I couldn’t handle the crowds and I was losing my stoke. I couldn’t see this continuing for another 25 years. So I needed a solution.

I started out with the full moon, then half a moon, then a quarter – until I was surfing with just the sliver of the moon on the horizon. Yet, I could still see. The next day I went out an hour earlier to beat the moon. I could still see with the same clarity. Not convinced, I did it again the next night, during a new moon and two hours before first light. I could see easily.

My mind was blown.  You know that scene in the Sixth Sense where Bruce Willis’s character realizes he’s actually dead and his mind reels as he realizes all his interactions with his wife were imagined? It was like that. Twenty-five years of memories of standing on the cliffs waiting for first light to surf – full of anxiety knowing full well in twenty minutes it will be a shit show – all came rushing back. I was always able to see! I just didn’t believe I could and therefore I blinded myself to the reality.

The next two years I surfed every day in the dark by myself. I experimented with various glow devices my partner would bring home to help me figure out the safety issues. I settled on a glow necklace. My friends would ask me “how can you see?”. I would tell them if you believe you can see, you will be able to see. One by one they would paddle out and  find out it’s true.

Eight years later there is now a regular crew who surf at night. Everyone knows to grab a glow stick from the tube on my hood. Periodically they put money in the tube to help defray my costs. We play by gentleman’s rules. No paddle battles. Everyone get a turn and safety is the top priority. It’s a little moment in time we all share where the world makes complete sense and is how it should be.

And as I tell my friends, every spot is a secret spot at 4am.