Guan-Bok Kwok
English 101H MW 9:30-10:55 am
Professor McKeever
13 September 2013
Word Count: 583
Learning to Succeed
According to Chesterton, anything worth doing is worth doing badly. If something matters, it is beneficial to practice, and learn from one’s mistakes. I have experienced situations that involved learning through trial and error in my personal and professional life. There are also countless examples throughout history in which making mistakes led to progress. Most inventions were not perfected the first try.
Thomas Edison experimented with many different substances to create a filament for long-lasting light bulbs. A reporter once asked him if he felt like a failure after 999 unsuccessful attempts. He responded by saying, “Young man, I have not failed 999 times. I have simply found 999 ways how not to create a light bulb.” He believed his invention was worth something, and he knew each attempt brought him one step closer to success. Some could say Edison failed over and over, but in the end it was clear that his so-called mistakes were actually movements toward progress.
Likewise, in my personal life I have acquired many skills by doing them badly at first. As a child, learning to ride a bike can be challenging but also embarrassing. When my friends and I would ride our bikes together, they would frequently perform various stunts and harass me for either being incapable or for being lousy at preforming them. I felt like I had to push myself to learn how to keep up with my friends. After countless hours of practice and making mistakes, I was finally able to perform stunts which mattered to me at the time.
In my life as a professional sushi chef, I have improperly prepared orders, worked too slowly, and butchered high-end seafood. As an apprentice chef I was told by many people that I failed at something, but there were also people who helped me learn from my mistakes. Eventually I became more proficient, but I still make mistakes when trying to improve because I know it’s important to advance my skills. Errors can feel like failure, unless the result makes perseverance worth it.
One of the most important steps of learning sushi is how to cook the special sushi rice. It is the base to the nigiri (fish over rice), sushi rolls, and many special dishes. I have worked with many other sushi chefs who have not learned how to properly prepare the rice. Some chefs will add an excess of water while others will not add enough. After the rice is finished cooking, the correct amount of rice vinegar must be added to flavor it and to make it sticky. When the rice is prepared to the right consistency, it is easier to stick it to seaweed or the fish. Most chefs will go through a process of trial and error to achieve the correct consistency. The process can take about a month of daily practice, but when a chef can finally prepare delicious sushi that customers enjoy, he can take pride in his success and feel even more confident because he endured the necessary training.
Life is full of challenges and mistakes; people have to overcome different obstacles to obtain something worthwhile, whether it’s a career, skill, or personal goal. However, the struggle it takes only makes the importance of that accomplishment more prevalent. Every time someone makes an error, he or she is simply eliminating one possibility and moving closer to what really matters.
English 101H MW 9:30-10:55 am
Professor McKeever
13 September 2013
Word Count: 583
Learning to Succeed
According to Chesterton, anything worth doing is worth doing badly. If something matters, it is beneficial to practice, and learn from one’s mistakes. I have experienced situations that involved learning through trial and error in my personal and professional life. There are also countless examples throughout history in which making mistakes led to progress. Most inventions were not perfected the first try.
Thomas Edison experimented with many different substances to create a filament for long-lasting light bulbs. A reporter once asked him if he felt like a failure after 999 unsuccessful attempts. He responded by saying, “Young man, I have not failed 999 times. I have simply found 999 ways how not to create a light bulb.” He believed his invention was worth something, and he knew each attempt brought him one step closer to success. Some could say Edison failed over and over, but in the end it was clear that his so-called mistakes were actually movements toward progress.
Likewise, in my personal life I have acquired many skills by doing them badly at first. As a child, learning to ride a bike can be challenging but also embarrassing. When my friends and I would ride our bikes together, they would frequently perform various stunts and harass me for either being incapable or for being lousy at preforming them. I felt like I had to push myself to learn how to keep up with my friends. After countless hours of practice and making mistakes, I was finally able to perform stunts which mattered to me at the time.
In my life as a professional sushi chef, I have improperly prepared orders, worked too slowly, and butchered high-end seafood. As an apprentice chef I was told by many people that I failed at something, but there were also people who helped me learn from my mistakes. Eventually I became more proficient, but I still make mistakes when trying to improve because I know it’s important to advance my skills. Errors can feel like failure, unless the result makes perseverance worth it.
One of the most important steps of learning sushi is how to cook the special sushi rice. It is the base to the nigiri (fish over rice), sushi rolls, and many special dishes. I have worked with many other sushi chefs who have not learned how to properly prepare the rice. Some chefs will add an excess of water while others will not add enough. After the rice is finished cooking, the correct amount of rice vinegar must be added to flavor it and to make it sticky. When the rice is prepared to the right consistency, it is easier to stick it to seaweed or the fish. Most chefs will go through a process of trial and error to achieve the correct consistency. The process can take about a month of daily practice, but when a chef can finally prepare delicious sushi that customers enjoy, he can take pride in his success and feel even more confident because he endured the necessary training.
Life is full of challenges and mistakes; people have to overcome different obstacles to obtain something worthwhile, whether it’s a career, skill, or personal goal. However, the struggle it takes only makes the importance of that accomplishment more prevalent. Every time someone makes an error, he or she is simply eliminating one possibility and moving closer to what really matters.