Five-Minute Sketch

I recently connected with author and speaker Kary Oberbrunner. He’s become a good friend in a short amount of time and is a fantastic writer. In his book, The Deeper Path, Kary tells a story about Pablo Picasso and the importance of being prepared.

As the story goes, the legendary Spanish artist was sitting outside at a Paris cafe when a woman approached him. She asked him to create sketch for her and Picasso obliged. So, he spent about five minutes sketching and after finishing, ripped the sketch off the pad and handed it to the woman. She was happy with the finished product and asked how much she owed him. Picasso asked for $5,000. Taken aback, the woman stated something to the extent of “…but, it only took you five minutes.” At which, the great artist replied, “No, Madam, it took me my whole life.”

The moral of the story is that we all have a unique gift and we take for granted what that is. Therefore, we underestimate the value of this gift. Just because it only took Picasso five minutes to do this sketch, doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth a lot more than simply trading time for dollars.

On the flip side, sometimes you have to pay a premium if you want a premium product or service. People become experts at their craft over time and therefore have a distinct value associated with all of their efforts.

Remember this next time you have self doubts about your skill set. What have you been preparing for your whole life? I know there’s a unique greatness in everyone and you’ve probably been cultivating this for many many years. Now, it’s just a matter of awareness and figuring out what value you bring to the world.

So, what’s yours? Feel free to leave a comment.

All the best,

Jon