Article February 19, 2001 Issue

Keep going—even when the going gets rough

Lesson from driver's ed

Christine Weller

When I worked as a driving instructor, my students ranged from teen-agers to retirees. Often the older ones no longer had a spouse to do the driving. and had decided that learning themselves was better than relying on public transportation or cabs. I found it helpful to learn early in the class why students wanted to learn to drive, and then to remind them of their reasons when they had a hard time mastering a new set of skills. This would usually spur them on, and their determination to succeed made my own work easier.

Persistence is important when you're facing any task that seems overwhelming. Often though, even if we've got good intentions, we may become afraid of failure. Or of being too old to learn.

What is it that saddles us with limitation and defeat? It's basically something you or I might think. It's the mistaken idea that there's something out there (or within us) that opposes right actions. That some evil power can overpower what's good.

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Keep going—even when the going gets rough

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