I am a great proponent of "fake it 'til you make it." Nothing you ever do is perfect out of the box, so becoming proud of your futile attempts, near misses, and just winging it efforts is part and parcel of bettering yourself. My role models in self-improvement are squirrels.
No one tries harder than a squirrel at anything. Just observing a squirrel deciding to cross a street is mentally exhausting if you watch them pivot their bodies in positions that defy geometry (all in the effort to figure out how to do it without becoming flattened). A squirrel looking for food is hilarious to watch as they act like mini-bulldozers digging up planters, lawns, and debris. And they never give up! The will get across the street, they do find the nuts, and they do become muscular as they do it.
I venture a guess that not everybody feels as I do about these rodents, but I'd dare say it is mostly because you've not been a long-term squirrel fan (or squirrelly) like I have been. But I respect that they perfect their craft. Squirrels don't know how to stop being squirrels, so they are really great at doing squirrel things.
Us humans? We are less okay with persistence as a way to hone our abilities, at least not to the degree that the average squirrel applies it. We also have too many things to keep us distracted. Watching a guy on his bike in Iowa City on the sidewalk pedaling against traffic listening to music through ear buds while simultaneously texting would never be a thing a squirrel could do.
I know people who like to rehearse, but they are few in most walks or associated with theater. Rehearsal means routine and developing good habits, and stuff like that. Who needs the aggravation?
Therefore, most of us are "crammers"--we try to become good at things super fast by rapid repetition. We are kind of trained to do that from an early age. I think it starts with tying your shoes and it goes on to memorizing words for the spelling bee and such.
No matter who we are, our systems fail us. We are asked a question that we have no idea what the answer is. Therefore we put on our tap shoes and do the old shuffle off to Buffalo and fake it 'til we make it.
No one tries harder than a squirrel at anything. Just observing a squirrel deciding to cross a street is mentally exhausting if you watch them pivot their bodies in positions that defy geometry (all in the effort to figure out how to do it without becoming flattened). A squirrel looking for food is hilarious to watch as they act like mini-bulldozers digging up planters, lawns, and debris. And they never give up! The will get across the street, they do find the nuts, and they do become muscular as they do it.
I venture a guess that not everybody feels as I do about these rodents, but I'd dare say it is mostly because you've not been a long-term squirrel fan (or squirrelly) like I have been. But I respect that they perfect their craft. Squirrels don't know how to stop being squirrels, so they are really great at doing squirrel things.
Us humans? We are less okay with persistence as a way to hone our abilities, at least not to the degree that the average squirrel applies it. We also have too many things to keep us distracted. Watching a guy on his bike in Iowa City on the sidewalk pedaling against traffic listening to music through ear buds while simultaneously texting would never be a thing a squirrel could do.
I know people who like to rehearse, but they are few in most walks or associated with theater. Rehearsal means routine and developing good habits, and stuff like that. Who needs the aggravation?
Therefore, most of us are "crammers"--we try to become good at things super fast by rapid repetition. We are kind of trained to do that from an early age. I think it starts with tying your shoes and it goes on to memorizing words for the spelling bee and such.
No matter who we are, our systems fail us. We are asked a question that we have no idea what the answer is. Therefore we put on our tap shoes and do the old shuffle off to Buffalo and fake it 'til we make it.
No comments:
Post a Comment