Sep22011
Sep22011
I had my first parent-teacher conference ever. My 4 year old is in Pre-K, and his teachers wanted to discuss my expectations, though I suspected they had a few of their own. One comment they made was that my son was sometimes reluctant to try to do things himself. Yes, I had noticed that he protested sometimes and claimed he couldn’t do something. My response to his “I can’t do it,” is typically, “You can try, and you can get better at it. Everyone needs to practice to get good at something.” Or something to that effect.
Recently, in something work related, I sent clients a Word document for their review. I specified in my email message that reviewers should turn on track changes in Word, mark up the document with their changes and comments, and then submit back to me. Out of the 5 reviewers, NOT ONE used track changes to provide me with feedback. One converted the document to PDF and used the editing tools of Acrobat to mark up comments and changes. Another simply responded back in an email with a list of page numbers and suggestions. Another called me to tell me what changes she suggested.
My instruction to use track changes was not buried in a long email. When I asked why they didn’t follow my instruction, most responded that they didn’t know how to use the track changes feature of Word. No one asked me to show them before arriving at an alternate method. When I offered to show them, they declined.
They didn’t want to try. They were Bartlebys.
What works on my son doesn’t work with them. When I said no one instinctively knows how to use it and that very often people find it takes a while to make it a habit, they still declined to try. When I assured them that they could do it, they still declined.
I’m a tenacious person by nature and try to solve problems (it is kind of what I do). If I don’t know how to do something, I learn. I want to learn. I want to try again when I fail. I want the first time I go running to be when I’m training for a half marathon that I subsequently finish.
I believe that my son will continue to protest every now and again when faced with something he isn’t confident he can do well, but I think he’s already leaps and bounds ahead of many grown-ups who have lost that willingness to dive into a challenge and end up triumphant.
Which kind of grown-up are you?
