I am a gymnast and 3 times a week I go to class and each week we learn a new trick. Every class I do not master the trick, I do not get it down the first time either. No it takes time and effort. Each trick I do I have to think about how it is unique and how to move my body to do it right.
One week at class it was a front mounter, when my teacher first said this I was scared and nervous. When you are doing a front mounter you run about 2 feet, jump up as high and straight as you can. Then turn your body in a flip type motion and lastly straighten your legs and land. Well that’s not what your SUPPOSED to do, the first time I attempted the front flip I didn’t quite know what I was doing so I landed right on my bottom. So I got up and tried it again, and I did the same thing over and over again. After about 4 tries of no improvement my teacher told me so things I needed to work on. I listened to her and she was right. I remembered what she said and before I did the trick, I closed my eyes and imagined the flip in my head. Then I ran flipped and I didn’t land on my bottom this tome, but I landed on my knees. I know it seems bad but it’s a step closer. The time after that I still landed on my knees but I flipped perfectly. That night step by step I was getting closer.
On the class we didn’t learn a new trick. We worked on the things we needed to improve on. My first thought was to master the front flip. That class I did not get the flip down, in fact I didn’t improve for several classes. The same thing happened I didn’t get the flip, but the one day I just felt that that was going to be the day I got the flip. For the last time my teacher told me what I needed to do for it to be the perfect front flip. So I took a deep breath and started to run, jump, spin, and flip. I couldn’t believe it, I had done a perfect front mounter. All the hard work I had put into that one trick had FINALLY payed off. It was the perfect flip. This I believe that to improve is to change, and to be perfect is to change often.