Writer

Aaron Redpath

When will it ever click? 

We ask ourselves a version of this question all the time when parenting, coaching, and training as an athlete. Living in today’s society we are conditioned to want instant or immediate service, gratification, and results. While the convenience of having everything at your fingertips or your beck and call is a plus, when this same expectation is applied to learning, growth, and development of yourself or someone else it can be extremely detrimental to one’s psyche. We must be able to compartmentalize and remind ourselves that growth and development is a process and this process is different for everyone. Regardless if we are learning a new skill/topic for the first time or have experience and are pursuing mastery of a skill it’s going to take time. 

It’s Like Baking a Cake

Who likes cake? Random question I know, but you’ll see where I’m going. Let’s look at the example of cake baking and see how it relates to one’s growth and development. A cake must remain in the oven for a specific amount of time at a specific temperature to get the best results. If you take out the cake before it’s ready or leave it in too long you will not get the ideal result. If you try to increase the temperature to bake the cake more quickly it can have a negative effect on how that cake turns out. If you bake it at a lower temperature for a longer amount of time it can also have a negative effect on how the cake turns out. THE MAIN POINT: people need to be in an environment conducive to personal growth and development for the right amount of time in order to get the best results. The main difference is that the growth and development of people is not a predictable process like baking a cake, humans are a lot more complex, we don’t come with prescribed baking times and temperatures. This is why patience is key.

Remember we all run our own race and develop on our own time with our own experiences. Healthy growth and development is a process that can’t be rushed no matter who you are. Whether you’re an athlete, parent, teacher, or coach, next time you catch yourself in a moment of frustration due to your expectations, go bake a cake and be patient, it’s a necessity!