The Just

"If you determine your course with force or speed, you miss the way..."

I love this quote and I started this post yesterday trying to figure out what the most appropriate metaphor was to illustrate the gist of it. Now I'm on day two, mulling it over. Just as pulling your leftovers out of the microwave when you still have 30 seconds left on the clock because you're hungry doesn't mean that the food will be warm enough to eat, I am learning not to rush things just because I want to accomplish something NOW. That includes this post, which, on any other topic, would have taken me maybe 15 minutes.

It took 2 years for one of my dogs and me to progress from one level to another in agility. We had "faked" our way through the initial levels, never really learning how to work as a team. Speed, luck, and ease of course design had more to do with our success than anything else. We finally reached a point where could no longer get away with that and I had to go back and teach a steady foundation as well as undo the mistakes I made with accepting poor performance.  This is an ongoing process.  We are now starting to progress again, but I am now focused on doing it right vs doing the bare minimum to get by.  This means it is in some cases taking us longer to advance in the agility world, but I believe in the long run we will be rewarded by better communication, a better relationship, and ultimately, better performance.

The end results of patience being awarded by better communication, better relationships, and better performance  probably hold true outside of the agility world as well. That, to me, is the true value of this quote.