Baby Steps

A lot of times, we limit ourselves by our own self-doubt. We think, 'Oh, I shouldn't even try, because I won't be good at it,' or we excuse ourselves, saying that we've tried before and it turned out poorly. And there are a thousand writers and a thousand singers and a thousand architects who aren't writing or singing or building because at one point they said to themselves, "I can't."

The thing is, when a baby takes its first steps, they're wobbly and they're slow-- honestly, they're not very good at all. But we shout for joy and we tell the neighbors and we call mom and we write about it in a baby book because baby took his first steps.

When a child is learning to play the piano, we hear tons of wrong notes and endure hours of what can only be considered noise, and yet we urge them on: 'Keep trying. You'll get it soon! Just keep working at it.' And soon enough, baby is walking and running and little Timmy is playing Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, and we're thinking to ourselves how amazing it is that they've come so far in what seems like such a short time. And yet... in the back of our minds... is a lingering 'I can't. It won't be any good.'

The only thing keeping us from our dreams is the wall that we erect within our own minds-- the compulsion to self-criticize and self-abase and to discount any little bit of progress that we make. So maybe you're not a writer yet, and maybe you've never even been on a stage; maybe you don't know the difference between calculus and a calculator, or maybe foreign languages 'just aren't your thing.' But that's not what really matters. We get so discouraged at our perceived lack of progress when we might, with the same vigor and excitement as at the first steps of a small child, rejoice in our little triumphs, our own baby steps. They're not bad just because they're our first... or our second... or our hundredth. And in the end, if we keep at it, things'll work out. "Keep trying. You'll get it soon! Just keep working at it!" And soon enough, you're running and you're writing and you're doing differential algebra, and you're marveling at how far you've come in what seems like a such a short time. And so... in the back of your mind... is a triumphant, 'I can!'