5 things I have learned from Ciro

1. See beauty in everything, even in the ugliest things.

• Spending time with Ciro has always amazed me, he turns trash to treasure. He has this Midas Touch that turns old to gold.  Every now and then we go to heaps of refuse that have thousands of things in them. Ciro chooses things that can be transformed into something new. Recycling and Reusing things has always been his forte. It is amazing how his eyes have been accustomed to seeing beauty - it's a good thing to remember because we often focus on the bruto (ugly) parts of life. 
• Oftentimes, we also visit the nearby Arno river to scour for drift wood. These (sometimes) rotting logs, branches, and twigs still are useful for Ciro. By some sort of magic and technical expertise, Ciro brings these dead pieces of wood to life! (I was telling him that he might be the real Dr. Frankenstein, and he rolls his eyes!) He would cut these wood appropriately, then we will clean them, then he will put terra (clay) and form houses, bridges, towers, etc. on top of them. The outcome is always fantastic!

Ponte Del Castelo by Ciro

2. Art should provide you at least a decent dinner.

• For Ciro, art doesn't serve its purpose just to bring joy to the artist and the audience, for him,  going full circle means that the art works would sustain his talent, needless to say, fill his stomach even for dinner. Indeed, it is quite a big challenge to be an artist - that I realized concretely. Ciro treats his art as a profession, he wakes up early to start creating things out of various inspirations; moreover, he sells his art to sustain his daily needs. He tells me, that being an artist does not equate to living scantily - that is being stupid not being an artist (fair enough).

3. If you want to do it now, do it.

If not NOW, When?

• Ciro has a million ideas raging in his mind in relation to creating pieces of art. He is sharp but prompt. This way of thinking really serves him well, he stays in the "NOW" time line and gives it his best. If an inspiration comes in, he goes ahead and acts on it. He doesn't procrastinate or think too much. He tells me, "Non pensare troppo perché perdere tempo, fare quello che vuoi fare e che è abbastanza. Avviarlo, le idee seguirrano" (Don't think too much because it wastes time, do what you want to do and that is enough.

4. Make mistakes, but learn from them.

• Whenever he can't figure out what to do with one thing, he moves to the next, saying: "Basta Facciamo un'altra cosa!" ("Enough, let's do another thing!"). He never dwells. For me this is really important. Procrastination and regret are two enemies of productivity - he deals with them well.  

5. The 80/20 Principle (Pareto's Law)

• This is really one of the secrets of productive people like Ciro. It is really common sense that becomes really uncommon in the modern world. Pareto's Principle or the 80/20 principle was proposed by an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto which states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. 
• Using this principle Ciro has made roughly 16,000+ artworks up-to-date making him one (utterly) productive artist. He tells me that in life you have to focus on the important few so that you could produce more of what you want. In his case, he only spends less than an hour to finish one art piece - that enables him to produce four to ten art pieces in a day. He told me that he has already removed all redundant processes so as to focus only on the important few that makes his work fast and effective. Truly, it is vain to do with more what can be done with less :)