Practise makes Perfect

PRACTISE MAKES PERFECT by Edwin van Wyk

It was so long last that I posted on this blog and when I recently was asked to write an article for my business unit’s newsletter, the old urge to write came up again. The below motivational piece will appear in the newsletter. It was obviously written with a particular audience in mind.

The story below happened recently and certainly motivated me on different levels and I hope you would like it as well.

I have 3 sons and they all are different, in terms of looks, abilities and so on. Ever noticed how many people of the same family all look the same. It might be that I have too many different genes.

Yeh!, good thinking, you are right, I am a Coloured of course.

My two older sons love rugby to bits. The older one does not really have ball sense, whilst the younger one is much more gifted. He automatically plays in the A team, even if he plays with older boys. Last year my eldest only managed to make the C team, which hardly play any games during the year as the other schools in the surrounding area do not have so many players. He felt so disheartened that he stopped attending rugby practises. At that stage he was u/12 but the school do not have a u/12 team and they have to compete with the older (u/13) boys for a place in the team.

As any good parent does, I tried to motivate him and also told him that the following year he will be older and stronger and will then compete with the other children who are at least the same age then him. I mentioned to him that he can than try to get into the u/13 B team, which will be a natural progression, as the B team it seems are made up of the good younger u/12 boys that will automatically move to the A team the next year. He obviously were not very satisfied with my answer, especially because his younger brother punches above his weight and plays in the A team whilst also a year younger than his age group.

Whenever I made an example or want the boys to not just give up but to persist, I told them that “practise makes perfect”. He started to bug me with practising with him to improve his skills and strength. At first I tried to brush him off, but he persisted until I felt so guilty that I obliged. I was very careful not to let them use weights, because they are too young, and only allow them to gym against their own body weight. I noticed how both the boys gained strength week after week. It however was always in the back of my mind that my eldest does not have the natural ball skills of his younger brother and I sensibly tried to talk the A team goal out of his head. You know in my opinion, and in preparation to spare him the big disappointment later on.

When the rugby practise started, he came back to tell me that the coach put him in the A-team. It was very early days and I did not really wanted to believe him and I also realised that they obviously gave everybody a chance to trial in the different teams. I tried to subtly tell him that it still early days, until he brought the letter home that he was chosen at prop for the A team and they will play the Saturday. Now I watch a few rugby matches of the boys before and this particular Saturday it was no different, I did my duty and attended.

My rugby playing son.

It was not long after the u/13 A team rugby match started that I noticed my eldest ripped the ball from one of his opponents and stormed to the goal line with determination. There was about 5 or 6 defenders in front of him, but he stormed right through them with some of defenders falling to the wayside and whilst some of the others still clinging to him, trying to bring him to the ground, he still ran about 5 metres more before falling over the goal line with two defenders on his back. TRY!!!.

I couldn’t believe it. This was one of my proudest days of being a Dad. Apparently I screamed his name and did not realised I did so. When everything calmed down, I sat back and the realisation dawned on me. “Practise makes perfect”. He obviously believed in it and persisted until I gave in. I think that this particular event had a huge influence on my son’s life and something that he will cherished for a long time, but it is also a life lesson that he will never forget and such a lesson at his young age will do wonders for his future development. If you want something, you need to work for it. Put in the effort and the hours and you will reap the benefit.

In this story it is not only a lesson for my son, but a lesson to me. I did not believe in my own words that I told the children and did not really trust that it will improve his game and with this, I saw with my own eyes, how transforming it could be if you put your head down and work towards your goal. There is so many lessons that you can derive from this story and my wish for you all is to realise that success comes from hard and persistent work and to never give up to any adversity that you might encounter during the journey.

I also want to you to consider the following 3 things:

1.  Change your mindset and stop the excuses:
We all make excuses and selling ourselves short. Change your mindset and realise you can do it. Don’t blame your circumstances, your boss or somebody else why you can’t do something. It is all in your hands.

2. Stop being average: 
Realise the herd affect. You want to move out of the bundle and announce yourself to the world. Do you want to always be as average as the next person or do you want to make something out of your life?

3. Success is a step by step approach (Practise makes perfect):
It is proven if you focus on a goal and work on it little by little and step by step, you will be successful. Put in the hours and with the hard work you become better and better and at the end of the day reach or achieved whatever you put your mind on.

We can see this in everyday life. The people who are persistent and focus on their numbers and scorecards are the ones to be successful and it is my strong believe that we all can do so much more, if one continues to practise more and more in order to become “perfect”.