Failed? Try again..

At a glance, this might seem to be a nice doodle, and just that.

But it’s more than that – this doodle represents an important lesson to my daughter (and a great reminder to me) that I would treasure.

Only last year, Arts was a struggle to her. She has always thought that she is not creative and artistic, hence she is unable to make a great piece for her Arts homework. Arts is a chore for her (and for me, it creates stress when she keeps asking on what to do for her Arts projects!). I have seen this mental block in many people before and I want to teach her such important lesson on self-fulfilling prophecy (and to avoid it by taking small steps).

Eventually, we found out that she was not confident of her ability to design something from scratch. So, that became the entry point for us to encourage her to start copying first. Of course, after a few rounds of Arts homework, she slowly developed her confidence in visual aesthetic elements. The struggle now becomes something of the past, though she still relies on a copy.

This whole experience just gives me a perspective that we can extend to other parts of our life. When faced with a difficult situation that raises doubt, find a way to take the first small step. Is it updating that resume? Or making a call ? Or is it just taking a break to step back and ask expert on the small step we can take?

Just as much as my daughter learnt her lesson, I did too..