There is a Necessary Order

As hard as it is to believe, I have heard of teachers who were willing to let their students do the math wrong. Apparently the idea was to never do anything that would hurt the child’s self-esteem. Even wrong answers could not be counted as wrong.

Of course, no one likes to be corrected, but in the long run, this kind of approach will be extremely detrimental for the child. A teacher can create an artificial bubble in a classroom where nothing is ever wrong, but that does not translate to real life. At some point, the child is going to get slammed up against the wall of reality. If he is not taught how to deal with it while still young, he will not know how to handle struggles as an adult, and will not have the inner discipline to achieve success. There is a certain order in mathematics that is right, and nothing else will do. That principle is true in other areas of life as well.

When I was in college I took Economics 101 and Economics 201. For the life of me I don’t know what possessed me to take those classes, but I did. But guess what. I had to take 101 before I could take 201. There were two reasons for that. First, the school required that it be in that order and would not let me sign up for the second class without my having passed the first one.

But there was actually a pretty profound rationale which explains the second reason. The information I needed to understand the economic concepts in the 201 class, was taught in 101. Without that background, 201 would not have made any sense to me at all.

The Success Principle

I have found that same principle active in other parts of life, as well. For instance, I have not always been a business owner. For most of my life I have worked as an employee. Starting my own business has been quite a process for me. I have discovered that it is not enough to be skilled at the specific work I do (writing and speaking), I have also had to learn how to run a business (administration, marketing, etc.).

This element of the process has been quite a revelation for me. I wanted to go straight from knowing how to write and speak to having a business as a writer and speaker, without going through the process of learning all of the parts of the writing and speaking business. But it doesn’t work that way. You can’t simply jump to the highest levels without going through the process of getting there.

I don’t care if you are talking about business, career, social life, relationships or whatever. There is a process that must be worked through, and if you are not willing to do it, you will not become successful.

I imagine I am not the only one who has struggled to have the patience and fortitude to endure the learning and growing process. In fact, I imagine you have dealt with it, too - perhaps even now. You want a particular job, but the ones doing the hiring don’t think you have enough experience. You want that promotion, but the boss doesn’t think you are ready. You want to get that contract, but the buyer doesn’t think you have the skills to do the job. You want to be friends with someone who is in a different social circle than you are, but they don’t think you will fit in.