"The three pillars of achievement: a daring aim, frequent practice, and plenty of failures."
__ ancient Welsh triad (trans CM)
What our art or skill, achievement certainly starts with our focus upon the direction of our work. It comprises researching for whom we are working and why, discovering what effect we are trying to achieve, and having the dynamism and courage to aim high. As in archery, it is better to aim higher than you imagine your target sited. Modest ambitions aside, the one who aims too low often never gets off the ground.
But it is by virtue of practice that we oil the wheels of our achievement. Practice is hard, unending and often dull. Those who practice an instrument or any skill know that it means daily effort and time.
However, the very nature of our habitual custom comes to our aid if we persist in practice. Very soon a new kinesthetic curve begins to be described as practice itself becomes habitual. We begin to feel that we have cracked the secret of success.
The ability to assess our failures is a precious achievement in itself. If we are very fortunate, we have tutors and coaches who point neutrally to the source of the problem. Like surgeons excising a troublesome tumor, our teachers can anatomize our failures in ways that are scarcely less painful than an operation. Failure is not the end of the line: if we can think of it as merely the tryout for the next stage of our work, we can stand on its shoulders next time we try.
"What are you attempting to achieve right now? Meditate upon the trajectory of your aims; discover and implement the right amount of practice; assess past failures and what you have learned from them."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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