Chapter 19: Don’t be a greenhorn your whole life.
Practice doesn’t make perfect, but, as Mr. Modern-Day wrote, it does make the master. Gilbert K. Chesterton once wrote, “The greenhorn is the ultimate victor in everything; it is he that gets the most out of life.” I take Mr. Chesterton’s words to mean that while a greenhorn, you are taking the chance to try new things, but when you take the time to develop your skills, you get the most out of life by becoming better in your skills.
When my babies were born, they were able to eat, cry and sleep (sometimes!). They weren’t walking on day one and didn’t have teeth for solid food yet. This design is intentional by God. A mom with a brand new baby would have a hard time chasing them around on day one. Quickly though, my children, just like all children, learned in stages to roll over, sit up, pull up and crawl, and then walk. They developed their life skills bit by bit so as to fully be able to be successful in their goal of motion.
So it is in our lives. We will not ever be perfect at a skill, we are human and will make mistakes. We cannot expect, either, to be fantastically wonderful at a new skill the very first time we try it. There are exceptions where we realize we’re really great at something, but even with those exceptions, we can make improvements. Every single day I learn something new or remember something I have forgotten. This also is human nature. Our brains can’t contain every single piece of information available. This is why people focus on “lifelong learning”. People have realized that we must be constantly learning and building upon our skills.
When we were in high school, we went on a camping backpacking trip in Southern Missouri. Our guide was not happy to be guiding us. He gave us a map and compass and said, “I hope you’ve been paying attention to our surroundings. Good luck.” It did not go well. Only one participant had ever used a map and compass and he was trying in vain to teach the rest of us. No one had ever backpacked before, and we were all unprepared for camping and carrying our supplies. Farm boys wore jeans, girls had never been taught proper backcountry bathroom procedures, the list goes on and on. It was a very frustrating trip where we did not get to our end goal of caving and rappelling. I remember being almost happy that we didn’t get to that, as the lack of instruction would probably have proven dangerous for our task at hand. Years later in college, I met one of the guides from the company we used. When we were chatting, he realized that I was from “that group”. Apparently our group still goes down in history as being the most unsuccessful group in the history of the company. I told him that we could only be expected to be successful if we were properly trained. Instead, we were set up for failure and it was very discouraging. I personally love to camp outside and hike. It took meeting Mr. Modern-Day Mountain Man, however, to realize that backpack camping can be fun and enjoyable if you are well prepared and if your leader is properly trained in teaching you the skills that are necessary.
There is no reason in life to be frustrated to the point of not wanting to continue learning a task just because you weren’t properly trained. There is no expectation to be perfect at a job or skill right from the start without training either. Being set up for failure does extensive damage to a person’s emotions and mind. Taking the proper time to learn and practice your skills beforehand would instill you with the confidence necessary to succeed. With the high school group trip, we did a low ropes course to build our teamwork. Our team didn’t need teamwork. We had all been together for years and years. We needed skills training. In the end, we ended up being an incredibly bonded group of students, but we were bonded together against our leader. This was not a healthy attitude for us to have either. Taking the time to learn a skill by practicing yourself or being trained properly by a skilled leader can make all the difference in the success of body and mind.
Take time to develop and plan for your end goal. Don’t stay a greenhorn for long. Give yourself the chance to learn and try new things, but take the time to develop your skills so your success can be reached. Remember, you didn’t walk and talk on day one of your life, it may take time to learn your new skill choice, and that’s OK. Don’t stay too young in your skill for forever, grow and mature in your abilities and you will succeed.
Kommentare