Learning to do your best and move on

 This week as it's been a bit cooler my mind is rather set on achievements and rewards.

As Winnie the Pooh correctly identified, in order to achieve we need to get past where we are at this moment which is something that some people do struggle with because while there is nothing wrong with being where you are, you can't grow unless you move.

We can develop a strongly rooted attachment to that position that we feel discomfort in the very idea of leaving it and that can hold us back.

It's like the arm bands we all started out with when we learned to swim: They gave us buoyancy, keeping us floating in the water as we learned to stay afloat and move around but when it was suggested we took them off , you may recall that "Will I be okay? "What if I can't float" feeling. 

Sometimes achievement comes within the everyday activities such as passing a test in a subject and gaining a awarded result such as in an examination which might be academic or like with me gaining my ASA Swimming awards at a swimming club.

You may be issued with a certificate and a trophy with a particular title that at the end of a year you hand back for the next years winners to have  a shield put on it baring their name.

Some awards are not just for personal excellence, reaching certain levels of proficiency but my come from entering competitions of which at my Junior School there were many both for a set topic within your year or collectively for your House.

One we competed for was the Victor Ludorum in sporting achievement and it was issued with the other awards at the annual Prize Giving which we all attended and our parents were invited to attend.

You're not too young to win the Victor Ludorum as this Thorpe House prep school boy shows proudly his.

One thing I do feel strongly over is that the entry especially the competing for awards, badges and trophies do help motivate people not least boys to get past that "armband" stage and work toward moving on, becoming more self confident prepared and able to take on challenges, mastering them.

There has been a tendency to see competition as a bad thing, even to the point every child has to win a prize regardless of effort - which if exceptional for personal circumstances can be rewarded in its own right  - and achievement and this doesn't just fail to prepare people for the real world where we do have to compete for jobs, getting our projects accepted and taken forward but also demotivates.

Lots of research shows boys do better in competitive situations, striving to be their best selves, putting in effort and being self disciplined.

Let's hear it for that's that motivate us, taking us out our comfort zones and move us on.

* Inspired by an original TSB blog post of 2019 that was sadly lost in the great account removal on Wordpress and Tumblr.