Practice

Sometimes it seems like everything I do needs improvement. I can always point to something that I think I could do better. Several years back, Ping gave me a whole series of CDs and books by Stephen R. Covey, the author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." After I'd opened several of these gifts, one of our boys said, "Are you getting the hint?"

The fact is, we're usually our own worst critic, as cliche as that may be. Recently, I've been considering what I gain from that. I'm not finding anything.

Self-improvement is creative by definition: we are becoming. Criticism is not conducive to such a creative act. As John Cleese put it: "Nothing will stop you being creative more effectively than the fear of making a mistake."

What if I think of everything as practice? It's a process. Not every effort gets the result I want, but whatever I'm working on, I can hone it, refine it, and iterate until I get something I like. I'll know it when I see it. Until then, I'll keep practicing.