Quote of the Day: Chris Van Allsburg on Education

If you’ve been waiting for a sign to take your talent seriously again, the quiet one you set down somewhere between “busy” and “practical”, let this memory be your permission slip. “There was a great deal of peer recognition to be gained in elementary school by being able to draw well. One girl could draw horses so well, she was looked upon as a kind of sorceress.”

Children are honest judges of ability. In a classroom, excellence is visible, immediate, and strangely enchanting. When someone can do what the rest cannot, capture a horse in motion, make a face look alive, the skill doesn’t register as “practice.” It registers as magic.

But the adult lesson is better: what looks like sorcery from the outside is usually repetition from the inside. The “sorceress” is often just the person who stayed with the pencil long enough to see what lines actually work. That’s good news for your work and your life. It means success is less about hidden gifts and more about visible commitments, small, unglamorous sessions that compound until people call it talent.

It also reframes leadership. The kid who can draw becomes a reference point; others gather around, imitate, ask questions, feel inspired, or feel challenged. Your craft, whatever it is, can become a quiet form of service when you model what devotion looks like.

Chris Van Allsburg earned lasting trust by marrying spare, precise language with unforgettable illustrations in classics like Jumanji and The Polar Express, proving that wonder is built, not wished for.

Today, pick one “magic” skill you admire and give it fifteen minutes of ordinary practice: one sketch, one paragraph, one scale, one rep, then note what improved and what didn’t. May you leave the day a little more devoted to the work that makes you come alive.