What I Learned at the Second Grade Spelling Bee
Inch-by-Inch is a Cinch, but Yard-by-Yard is…HARD.
Remember that saying? Well if there is one principle that I wish I had learned sooner, it is this.
And as I think about it, there’s probably a better way to say it. Let me rephrase:
If there is one principle that I wish I had taken into adulthood, it is this.
Sounds a bit ‘pre-school’, right? But let me tell you…”inch by inch” represents one of the most fundamental concepts of human achievement.
Incremental Gains.
We learn it as kids. We practice it as kids. But once we enter middle to high school…it wanes. Why?
We learn our alphabet, our numbers, to write and do math…an “inch” at a time. We learn with small, manageable steps, taken each day.
But as soon as we enter adolescence, and especially during adulthood…this concept changes. It changes into a “yard by yard” strategy. We expect to gain massive amounts of knowledge or skill, in big chunks. Why?
I’m writing this as I sit, waiting for my son’s 2nd grade Spelling Bee to begin. And you know what? He’s ready. He’s ready, and he feels prepared.
You know why? Because he studied.
He didn’t “cram”. He didn’t sit for hours and hours and hours. He studied for about 20 minutes…every day. He studied “inch by inch”.
Please know this: Any of us can acquire new skills, no matter how complex, if we take it ‘inch by inch’.
It is the concept of small, incremental gains…that I wish I would’ve understood sooner.
I wish I’d have understood sooner, that when I apply myself daily, when I live with consistent and positive rituals, there is nothing I cannot achieve.
Oh well…as they say, it is what it is. Then was then, and now is now. Today…I understand.
I understand the power of ritual, routine and incremental gains. I understand it, and I’ll be damned if my sons don’t understand it.
Well, the spelling bee is about to begin. Time for small, incremental gains to turn into a Bee championship.
Can you spell P – R – O – U – D D – A – D…
