Improvement Requires Patience x Persistence
Patience requires trust that good things will come in time.
Persistence requires that you keep working on the tasks that promise to produce those results.
Both of those words include the concept of faith. Referring to our previous post on Progress’s Requirements I don’t think you are in great danger of losing Concentration and Effort so much. You are obviously devoted to practicing mindfully and regularly. But I do see some risk for misunderstanding How Improvement Works and for losing Faith in the hidden, silent processes that take time to bear fruit. And, when you lose faith for a moment, out of insecurity, or out of misunderstanding of the development season you are in, you might go try some test of skill ‘out of season’ and get an injury, or just get discouraged that something you expect is not happening yet, and start condemning yourself.
I am here to help you learn to avoid these dangers. I realize that when you submit to a coach you are placing faith in what he tells you. That is necessary at many times and in many areas of life because none of us can be the masters of all knowledge and skill. So we rely on someone else to persuade us ‘How Improvement Works’ and then to guide us in the Organization of concepts, to show us where to Concentrate, and to keep us putting in the Effort when we lose sight or motivation.
I thank you, with great humility and sense of responsibility, that you have put some faith in me and in this TI Improvement Process that I teach and practice.
I know that you have to exercise some faith because you are not going to see all the pay-off for your effort right away that I have told you are coming in due time. You’ve experienced some initial progress that got you excited about your new potential (spring time!), and now many of you are into a different season where results come not always as expected (summer, fall or winter).
Of course, I am continually focused on teaching you the TI Organization of skills and Self-Coaching concepts so you know those seasons. But I also want to encourage you in Faith. Not because I need you to trust me more, but in whatever higher thing you pursue you must trust some person and some process, even if it is not this one. None of us can grasp it all alone. You’ll need faith, because you’ll need patience and persistence to keep going through the improvement cycle, knowing the seasons and setting your expectations accordingly. In this way, by consciously applying intelligent faith, you will have a satisfying life-time of improvement with, I hope, fewer injuries along the way.