Doing is better than not doing, and if you do something badly you'll learn to do it better.
Interpretation
Taking action is more valuable than inaction, as even mistakes lead to improvement.
This quote emphasizes the importance of action over inaction. Twyla Tharp points out that engaging in an activity, even if done poorly, provides valuable lessons that can lead to mastery and improvement in the future. It encourages a proactive approach to life, suggesting that the experience gained from doing is essential for personal growth and development.
In practice
In a motivational speech about pursuing your dreams.
Do I watch dancers as people? Yes, absolutely. Do I watch really good dancers for specifically who they are? Absolutely, because how they move best and how they look best is going to be most familiar to them, and not necessarily to me.
I am still pushing the edge of what my body can do.
No one is born with skill. It is developed through exercise, through repetition, through a blend of learning and reflection that's both painstaking and rewarding. And it takes time.
Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.
I grew up in a drive-in theater, from the time I was 8, working in a snack bar watching four features every week. It was silent theater in the sense that this was a drive-in, which meant that I often saw the films going with no sound. But I learned to tell stories through action.
Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft.
If you want to look for obstacles, what's wrong is always available. But so is what's right!
The difference between FEELING yourself in action, here and now, and visualizing yourself in action, as though you were on a motion-picture screen, is the difference between success and failure.
I ran and ran and ran every day, and I acquired this sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never give up, no matter what else happened.
Be aware that even before you have reached your ultimate professional destination, if you always strive for excellence, you can and should have a substantial impact on the world in which you live.
Intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you.
When things get difficult it can be easy to complain. How you respond makes all the difference
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