Practice, patience, and perseverance

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and I am watching along with about 100 million other people. This year the big game features the LA Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals playing at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The pregame build-up on NBC, including the players' backstories, always reminds me of a very simple life lesson that we can all take away from the spectacle. Practice, patience, and perseverance are three main ingredients needed to create success. 

To reach the pinnacle of your profession, you must continually practice your craft. To practice is "to perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly to improve or maintain one's proficiency." In the book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. As veterinarians and leaders, we are familiar with the fact that we need to improve continuously. We may struggle with the mistakes that inevitably come with practice, but the only way to learn and grow is to continue to work at it. 

Patience is a virtue, but we don't always think of it as getting us ahead in life. Patience, it turns out, is what most people at the top of their game possess. Take Matthew Stafford, for example. He played with the Detroit Lions for 12 seasons before moving to LA. Now he is playing in the Super Bowl. You might say that he ran out of patience with the Lions, but he stayed there, perfected his craft, then pushed forward to get where he wanted to go.  Those who lack patience will invariably quit before making it to the top. Veterinarians practice patience every day with clients and with pets. Although patience is not my strongest quality, I know I have to embrace it to stay present and engaged for my work.

Perseverance is "persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success." Perseverance also involves patience and the ability to take rejection and failure. The author of the Harry Potter Series, J.K. Rowling, manually typed out each version of her first book to send to publishers because she could not afford a computer. She was rejected twelve times before finding a publisher whose daughter loved her book. If she had not persevered, we would not have the books, the movies, and the theme park at Universal Studios, Orlando, and J.K. would not have piles of cash.

I hope you enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday, even if you only watch the game for the commercials or the half-time show. Remember that even the silly commercials took practice, patience, and perseverance to create. Anything worthwhile does.

Dr. Julie Cappel