Over the past few weeks, I’ve been keeping track on the U.S. Open tennis tournament. During my lunch breaks at work, I check the tournament brackets and watch highlights of the amazing shots from great tennis players such as Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. These are people who have an intense passion for playing the game of tennis. However, they haven’t become some of the greatest tennis players in the world just because of a passion. They have put in thousands of hours of consistent practice and have played hundreds of matches to gain experience in the game.
Over this summer I have learned the significant role that experience plays in developing a set of skills. I spent the summer working as an engineering intern for a medical device company. It was obvious from the time I set foot in the door that I had a lot to learn. In the beginning, I was almost terrified of making a mistake because I thought it would mean that I wasn’t a good engineer. And I did make some mistakes and I didn’t know the answer to questions. But the key to learning is to accept those mistakes and be sure to LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES. Learning also takes humility. You have to be willing to swallow your pride and sometimes just say, “I don’t know.” I am aware that I will always make mistakes due to the fact that I’m human and imperfect. However, I can lower the chance of making mistakes by acknowledging that I don’t know everything and looking for answers from more experienced individuals.
A brilliant post, Aubrey. Through disciplined practice, the tennis players improve, and through this same type of practice, we can become better writers, readers, thinkers, or whatever else our passions may be. I think I am going to have us read The War of Art in anticipation of Marvin Stockwell's visit later in the semester; this book speaks to the themes of passion, practice, and perseverance that come through in your blog post. Through learning we become the humans that we are.
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There's always going to be a time in your life when you fall, do to some type of trial in your life. But what many people forget is even though they have fallen they can dust off there knees suck it up and stand again, with the knowledge to make it further down life's corridor without trippin over the same trap along the way.
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