I was in disbelief. The day was over and I still had a mountain of tasks on my desk. Where had the time gone?
The day was a failure.
Or was it?
As I sat back in my chair, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work ahead of me, I remembered a lesson a friend taught me some years ago.
It's a lesson I now like to call:
The rule of reappraisal
What's the rule of reappraisal?
As a young man, many years ago, I embarked on a major undertaking: I began learning Tagalog (Filipino), my father's native language.
It was exciting and rewarding to learn a new language, especially one that taught me so much about my father's culture and my own roots. But it was also extremely frustrating -- because as hard as I worked, I couldn't always express myself the way I wanted. The word I needed often seemed to be just beyond my grasp, and my grammar was full of mistakes.
After one especially challenging day, I broke down in frustration to a close friend. He told me something I've never forgotten, and his advice is what I refer to today as the rule of reappraisal:
Don't focus on what you have ahead of you. Instead, look back on what you already accomplished.
This pearl of wisdom helped me to change my perspective. Learning a language is a never-ending journey -- even for native speakers -- so focusing on the path ahead is self-defeating. After all, there will always be more to learn.
But what happened when I took a look behind?
Just a few years before, I could barely say a few words in Tagalog. Now, I could hold a full conversation. I could enjoy Filipino movies and humor (although I didn't get every joke). I even took a trip to the Philippines, by myself, which turned out to be a life-changing experience. READ MORE...
