Nine months ago I began a journey of practicing mindfulness every day and we've reached day 273. Yesterday, I talked about family not being limited to blood ties. Today is a new day.
In my observations, the mark of a good student has always been their willingness to try, fail, and continue trying. It's often the best students in my class that also practice the most. Sometimes the parents and staff members will compliment the students and say "they're so great" while never acknowledging how much work they put into getting to their level. While such words are just compliments, acknowledging them would be the same as denying the hours of dedicated practice they put in before they got to where they are now. Even the brightest students, while quick learners, tend to fall off in comparison to the others if they don't consistently practice and put in the work. To simply write someone's skill off as just talent to me is a disservice and misses the real reason for their success.
This mentality also applies to us as well. Many people are often too quick to give up learning a new skill because it's "too hard" or they "don't have the aptitude for it". I often see this at the gym, where at the start of the new year they get that gym membership and are hyped to make some gains/lose some weight. After a few weeks their routine falters and you can see their motivation drop. After a few months it's like they give up and that's the true reason for their failure: they didn't stick to their workouts and stopped midway before they could really see their progress.
While prodigies do exist and we all have things we tend to learn more easily than others, it's always possible to learn something well with enough time, hard work, and dedication. Many people have the expectation that if we're not good right away it's "not for us", but that's not true. Even if I might be musically inclined compared to some people, it still takes a lot of work to learn new pieces and master them. I still have to put in hours of practice and repetition before I can play the melodies smoothly. You don't see any of that during a performance, so it can be easy to forget that. The same applies to everything we do. It's exceptionally rare for anyone to be magically good at anything.
The point I'm trying to make is that no matter what the endeavor, it's important to keep in mind that you need a lot of patience in order to achieve anything of worth. I'm always in the process of learning new things and I can't expect myself to pick things up right away. It takes a lot of trial and error in order to internalize anything, whether it's language, or even physical health. It's not always easy to stick to something, especially when you're not making the progress you want, but that's just life. Mastery isn't something you're born with, it's something you work toward.
In the words of every mentor I've had, the road to mastery is simple: "just keep doing it".
Peace
"The master has failed more times than the beginner has ever tried." Stephen McCranieOne thing that always bugged me growing up is when people say things like "you're so talented" or "I wish I could be as smart as you" after I would perform for people. They're compliments, and I definitely appreciate that, but to me such compliments translated to "I always expect you to be great" and "you are only valuable when you do well". Although that may not have been true, I always felt a lot of pressure to perform well because I thought I couldn't betray others' expectations.
In my observations, the mark of a good student has always been their willingness to try, fail, and continue trying. It's often the best students in my class that also practice the most. Sometimes the parents and staff members will compliment the students and say "they're so great" while never acknowledging how much work they put into getting to their level. While such words are just compliments, acknowledging them would be the same as denying the hours of dedicated practice they put in before they got to where they are now. Even the brightest students, while quick learners, tend to fall off in comparison to the others if they don't consistently practice and put in the work. To simply write someone's skill off as just talent to me is a disservice and misses the real reason for their success.
This mentality also applies to us as well. Many people are often too quick to give up learning a new skill because it's "too hard" or they "don't have the aptitude for it". I often see this at the gym, where at the start of the new year they get that gym membership and are hyped to make some gains/lose some weight. After a few weeks their routine falters and you can see their motivation drop. After a few months it's like they give up and that's the true reason for their failure: they didn't stick to their workouts and stopped midway before they could really see their progress.
While prodigies do exist and we all have things we tend to learn more easily than others, it's always possible to learn something well with enough time, hard work, and dedication. Many people have the expectation that if we're not good right away it's "not for us", but that's not true. Even if I might be musically inclined compared to some people, it still takes a lot of work to learn new pieces and master them. I still have to put in hours of practice and repetition before I can play the melodies smoothly. You don't see any of that during a performance, so it can be easy to forget that. The same applies to everything we do. It's exceptionally rare for anyone to be magically good at anything.
The point I'm trying to make is that no matter what the endeavor, it's important to keep in mind that you need a lot of patience in order to achieve anything of worth. I'm always in the process of learning new things and I can't expect myself to pick things up right away. It takes a lot of trial and error in order to internalize anything, whether it's language, or even physical health. It's not always easy to stick to something, especially when you're not making the progress you want, but that's just life. Mastery isn't something you're born with, it's something you work toward.
In the words of every mentor I've had, the road to mastery is simple: "just keep doing it".
Peace
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| Mastery is the internalization of countless practice drills and repetitions. Anyone can do it. |
If you have any thoughts, stories, or experiences, share them in a comment below!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day~