WILL to be better..

Many people say the quality of our performance comes from our experience. It other words, we should improve over time by doing the same thing over and over again. Or more simply : practice makes perfect.

Someone was commenting something along this line just a moment ago and some thoughts rushed through my mind.

Why is it that we still often see people doing the same thing over 10 to 20 years (or even more) and yet their effectiveness/efficiency is still questionable?

We also see that it is not always true that a person with some children of his own would know better how to deal with young kids.

I just heard from C about a well-known and experienced and professional counselor, who projected an image of arrogance, being accusative and judgmental. That so-called counselor only made C’s friend (K) angrier, more stressed and cried more. And when C tried to help K to explain the situation, the counselor said to C sternly (and in front of K), “You keep quiet. I am trained in this area. I know better or you know better? I don’t want to hear from you. I only want to hear from her!” But during the session, that so-called counselor had clearly misinterpreted many accounts. Yes, K has some language-proficiency issue and wasn’t able to express herself clearly. But for that so-called counselor to say to K, “You yourself must have done something very wrong…. ” simply based on the bits-and-pieces, poorly expressed phrases by K is just.. erm ..

In short, many years as a father / mother / teacher / student / engineer / lawyer / doctor / dentist / nurse / counselor / manager / cook / artist / salesperson / whatever will NOT necessarily make you a better father / mother / teacher / student / engineer / lawyer / doctor / dentist / nurse / counselor / manager / cook / artist / salesperson / whatever.

On the other hand, we certainly also see many young people with just 2 to 3 years of experience, performing impressively. No doubt, some are really going all out to impress. That is not my concern here. Nevertheless, I am just amazed about their performance output.

I came to a little conclusion that it usually isn’t the practice over the years that can make us better. There must first be a will to be better to begin with and there must be a heart to serve. When things don’t go too right, we don’t blame the situation out-there, but look inside us, reflect upon, and still humble enough to seek assistance, solely based on our will to be better and our heart to serve. Yes, if there is a strong will to be better and a heart to serve, we might then truly become stronger and stronger over the years.

手把青秧插满田
低头便见水中天
退步原来是向前