The Art of Repetition

Read Time: ~3 minutes

Last year, I had the opportunity to visit a Vincent van Gogh Immersive Museum. I had been to immersive museums before, but this was my first time at this particular one, which detailed the life and body of work of the famous Dutch artist. Though more sparsely-outfitted than I anticipated, the museum utilized a variety of creative platforms to showcase van Gogh’s works, like floor-to-ceiling projections and Virtual Reality headsets, making for a memorable twist to the traditional museum experience.

But what I was most taken by had less to do with those aspects of the installation; rather, I couldn’t help but notice van Gogh’s works, namely the numerous ones that were of sunflowers. Many of them captured different vantage points of the flora: sunflowers in dark lighting, sunflowers in the sun; withering cut sunflowers, field of sunflowers, etc. There was a clear fixation on the flower; and some might have looked at his repetitive renditions and thought it to be a manifestation of his mania (which he did struggle with). But I recognized something else–perhaps I could call it the “art within the art”–that being, the art of practice.

To me, it was a visceral demonstration of the dedication to honing one’s craft by focusing on a single thing. He did the same thing with self-portraits, repeatedly using himself as a subject in lieu of hiring models so that he could practice painting people.

It was inspiring to see; and it also forced me to reflect upon my personal lack of tolerance for repetition. Because let’s be candid; repetition is the unglamorous side of skill and expertise. And while I love and embrace the challenge of trying new things, I struggle a bit to stick to one thing and consistently return to it over and over. In my youth I seemed to be able to do so with ease; but perhaps I’m not the only one who has found that they’ve lost some touch with this discipline as they’ve gotten older.

We have to remember that practice and repetition is less about the output and more about the doing. Getting the reps in, so to speak, is where the value lies; because with repetition comes habit-forming, and with practice comes progress.

The other stroke of genius with the art of repetition lies in the freedom to experiment, and the possibilities that can come from that. Think of van Gogh with his self-portraits. If he’s painting himself over and over within a short period of time, there’s not going to be much variation. But this is consistency what creates the opportunity for experimentation. For the next portrait, maybe he thinks ‘What if I try out a different brush stroke?’, or ‘What if I try playing with the illusion of light and shadow this go around?’ This type of strategic approach to experimentation within the controlled practice not only allows for us to gain more confidence with our target skill, but also creates opportunities for serendipity via finding new ways to do that thing that may work better for us in one way or another.

Repetition is a must in everyone’s Journey to Extraordinary. So let me know: What areas in your life could you apply more of the art of repetition to?