I Finally Met David, The Most Perfect Man
Detaching expectations from results and appreciating the process.
"Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it." - Michelangelo
We were in Florence last weekend.
My kids had been to Florence with their dad and had loved it so much that they wanted to recreate and share the experiences with me. So, we found the first long-weekend and booked it.
I had been to Florence years ago, but this experience felt different. Not just because I experienced it with the kids, but because I experienced it through their perspective.
They showed me their favorite art.
They shared with me their favorite foods.
They taught me their favorite historical city facts.
They unveiled their favorite spot for the most spectacular city views.
While they had already seen and experienced most of the things we saw together, there was one thing that was new to them: Michelangelo’s David.
I’m sure you’ve seen many David dupes. But like most of Michelangelo’s works, the real version is quite impressive. David is a lot larger that I had anticipated. His hands and his head are disproportionately bigger. But there’s a reason for that: Originally the ‘resting’ place for David was to be on top of the Duomo. To allow for a more accurate size impression from the perspective of looking up at David, Michelangelo made the head and his hands larger relative to the rest of his body. Fortunately for us, David never made it to the top of the Duomo, so now he just looks a bit out of proportion as he majestically stands, naked, at the end of the hallway under a naturally lit dome.
The room that David resides in houses multiple different sculptures that Michelangelo created. But none of his other works are finished. All of them still have the figures stuck in the marble, ready for their creator (the artist, aka Michelangelo) to bring them to life. These incomplete pieces, far from being mere fragments, reveal a profound narrative about the artist's eternal struggle between vision and reality. His unfinished works unveil the beauty in the creative process, showcasing the ‘middle part’ that is fraught with obstacles, failures, disappointments, joys, thrills, frustrations. By highlighting his unfinished work as finished work, he showcases the real art – the actual process of bringing the vision to life.
Here, let me illustrate with an example. Let’s take his sculptor called the ‘Awakening Slave’. In the sculptor, a human figure is seemingly struggling to break free from the confines of the marble. He’s waiting to be released and free from his creator (the artist) who clearly has a vision in his mind of what he needs to become. But instead of sculpting a perfect sculptor, Michelangelo leaves it unfinished to illustrate that the art is present within the stone, waiting to be unveiled. The visible chisel marks and rough surfaces tell the story of the artist’s meticulous labor and his ongoing battle to reveal the form he envisioned. Thus, making his ‘unfinished’ work actually ‘finished’ work. The process, the middle, the struggle is the actual focus, that’s real art, that’s the finished work.
There are so many lessons that we can learn from this classic case of art imitating life. For me, two specifically stand out:
LESSON 1: Envision the life you want and create systems that allow you to consistently ‘chip away at the marble’ to unveil it.
Michelangelo’s relentless focus on the process really resonated with me as it’s something that I live by personally and professionally. To me inputs or processes are far more important to develop and focus on than actual results. Sure, results matter, but without understanding inputs and the processes that achieve the desired outcome, you won’t be able to replicate and optimize – exposing results purely to luck. I’ve developed various systems at work that allow for the focus on the inputs vs. the celebration on outputs. And while it’s proven to be more difficult to adopt meaningful processes that impact my personal life, I still commit to practicing them daily through my habits.
If you haven’t read the book Atomic Habits, by James Clear, READ IT. In his book, he provides tactical ways to adopt systems and daily habits that work towards becoming the person you envision to become. Michelangelo would envision his work of art before he ever started and used the creative process to bring his art to life. We have the same ability to create the person that we envision to be and experience the life that we want. We just need to focus on consistently choosing decisions that move us closer and habits that ultimately lead us towards that person in our mind.
LESSON 2: Enjoy the ride.
We focus so much on achieving a goal that we forget to appreciate all the little things that give it meaning and purpose in pursuing it in the first place. It’s all of it – the failures, the experiences, the memories, the emotions, the connections, the heartbreaks, the joys. It’s the full ride that makes it all worth the while at the end. If we don’t stop to enjoy it and appreciate it, then what’s the point of pursuing it in the first place?
Remember. Life has a predetermined beginning and an uncontrollable end. The rest lies in the middle. The rest lies in the mind of the artist! The rest lies in the hands of the sculptor, the rest lies in you! How you live life, how you experience life, is completely in your hands.
3 Things This Week In My Mind and On My Heart
(1) Underestimating the (economic) power of Tay. My daughter and I went to the Taylor Swift concert in Paris. Now, whatever side you stand on – one thing is undeniable, she’s a force to be reckoned with. And I’m not solely referring to the 3+ hour show she puts on night after night, city after city, Louboutin after Louboutin, making each show distinct and special for her local fans. I’m mostly fascinated by her ability to create such massive economic value in every city she visits. Let’s take Paris for example. Paris kicked-off to the European leg of the tour and it was ‘rumored’ it would include her songs from her new album. She added an extra day (making it 4 sold-out nights) and drew crowds from all over the world, but mostly the US. While her 4-day show housed a fraction of the anticipated Olympic crowds, it drew more than 5x as many Americans as anticipated for the Olympics. Why is this an important nugget of information? Because Americans are the most highly valued tourists as they are the most productive for the host city – no surprise here, we spend the most money and consume the most amount of things. You’re welcome Paris for the unexpected cash infusion!
(2) A new way to travel. Back in January, I signed up for a Pilates retreat at a wellness resort 40-minutes outside of Lisbon called Terra Quinta. This particular one was led by my Pilates Instructor, but you don’t need to know an instructor or be invited to one to enjoy the benefits of this kind of reboot. The space was incredible, lush, large, open space, in the middle of nowhere. Days were filled with Pilates, food, walking, napping, swimming, reading, writing, eating and more eating. There are so many ways to travel these days, but if you have an opportunity to set aside a solo wellness trip, I highly recommend it. It’s a great way to reconnect with yourself and to reset.
(3) Lisbon, a pleasant surprise. On the last night of Terra Quinta, freshly showered, purely relaxed and in bed by 9pm and boom! I receive a flight cancellation from my airline. The Frenchies were at it again: on strike so they cancelled all flights to Paris. Anywho, with no flights landing in Paris, I booked a night in Lisbon and spent a day and a half there exploring the city with my friends. And may I just say it was the most soul nourishing day that I have experienced. We drank wine, ate, walked, soaked in the sun, drank more, shopped, talked, giggled, belly laughed, explored, got lost. Also, I had never been to Lisbon, what an awesome city. So charming, so beautiful, so nice, so cheap, so delicious. I loved my experience so much that I completely reworked my summer itinerary for the summer with the kids to spend 10 days in Portugal. Thank you lazy French workers for not showing up to the air-traffic control tower on Sunday! I will now have my 24-hour Lisbon day registered as a core memory.