Stick

She began to push the pedals but could never gain enough speed to keep going.

My niece has been learning to ride a bike with no training wheels.

About a month ago I was over her house to hang out with the family and after dinner, we went out to the street to get some reps in.

She would get on the bike, give it a few pedals, and then lose her balance.

However, she kept putting the reps in.

Last weekend when I went over their house she grabbed her bike after dinner, and with no help was cruising laps around the culdesac.

How many times did she “fail” before she finally got the hang of it?

Dozens, if not hundreds of times, right?

But wasn’t it worth it for a skill that she’ll now have the rest of her life?

Of course.

Anytime we’re learning a new skill there are going to be moments of “failure.”

We don’t just develop the skill instantly, there are weeks, months, sometimes years of mastering the skill, practicing the skill, before we get it.

By far one of the best traits we can have is the ability to stick with it through all of those learning lessons (failures), to get to the other side of learning the new skill.

Plus, quite often the skill we’re trying to learn will last us the rest of our life, but we first have to be willing to stick through the pain of learning it.

This is true for any physical skill like learning to ride a bike or perform an exercise correctly.

However, this is also true for our mental skills such as self-awareness, empathy, etc.

We have to practice it, stick through the suck, and then over time, we develop a life long skill.

Be willing to stick through it.

1% Better.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Doug Spurling