In “Linchpin,” Seth Godin defines art as (roughly paraphrased) “a creative gift given by the giver to the receiver with no expectation of return/compensation.

He argues that it is that the artists (those who complete their work, at least) who will prosper in this economy because they will ultimately be compensated for their unselfish gifts.

I never really fancied myself an artist, but Chris Schultz helped me understand how I might be one. And I think there’s a lesson for all of us here.

So, once a week, I pick one person in my LinkedIn network and write them a recommendation. Unsolicited.

Now, I will admit, I used to do this with the hope/expectation that people would reciprocate (and I am always happy when they do), but over time, I realized that it didn’t really matter to me if they did or not.

It was just 4 minutes per week in which, as my client Gretchen Rubin would say, was a chance to “practice gratitude.”

Practice gratitude for the people whom I have met who in ways large or small, have impacted me.

So, I recently picked Chris Schultz and wrote him a recommendation, just sharing what I admired about him (and there’s a lot).

Over the course of some back and forth emails and his tweets, he helped me understand that, in Godin’s words, I had given him a gift of art.

I’m proud of that, sure.

But, it tells me that you don’t have to be a wiz with paint or graphic design. You can use the tools and skills you have naturally (I like writing) to do something very quickly, but infused with meaning for someone else and which has meaning for you.

And doing it with no expectation of a return means that you won’t be disappointed by the response.

Now, Chris was kind enough to write a glowing recommendation for me (which I appreciate) and give me a Tweet out, so that’s a bonus.

But, more importantly, I would say that, now, we have increased the level of mutual respect that we have for each other, as humans.

And, tying it back to marketing (my favorite topic), that relationship is bound to serve us both better in a business sense, since we are now further along the Raving Fan scale for each other than we were before.

But the art comes first.

Lesson: Take something you enjoy doing. Bite size it. Then, do it for one person, one time per week. Every week. Poof! You’re an artist.