I believe there are, and always talk about, three additional things we need while growing up besides the 3 R’s. Yes, we need academics and everything we learn from them, but there are other aspects of life that are just as important. They are sports, music, and enrichment activities. They all give you rewards from feeling good and boosting self-confidence to the thrill of winning.

Sports

The experiences I had in sports were very beneficial to me. Through sports the coaches taught us how to be successful within the confines of rules. Winning was always a goal, but the way we got to the top mattered, too.

Music

Music is another very important part of life. It relaxes us and give us joy and in so doing, it helps us keep our sanity. It gives us order in life.  Every piece of music – no matter what kind it is – is built on an orderly foundation. If it is changed, there is a different piece of music. Not only does music relax us and clear our minds, it inspires our thoughts. We are energized to go off and do something.

My enrichment experience 

Then there is my favorite, Enrichment Activities and Projects. My earliest memories center on activities I did in an environment where no one encouraged me. Likewise, I had no supervision. That left me to be independent and make decisions on my own. Projects that I picked were more on the what would be considered the nerdy side: chemistry, rockets, and electronics.

My choices brought attention to me only when I succeeded, and the success was viewed as dangerous and life-threatening. Despite my mother’s insistence, I did not pick the projects because of that. The activities and projects I picked were always on a higher level more like being an interest of adults. For that reason, I should have been closely supervised. The successes I had were always a big deal. Indeed, some of them made me more infamous than famous or admired.

While other kids may have sewn a dress or finished a painting, I was compelled to do things like concocting mustard gas that resulted in my almost killing me and my mother. Then there was my pursuit of rocket fuel that almost blew up my house and would have killed my sister and me. Then there was one of my electronic projects where I built an intercom to talk back and forth in my home. It was viewed by my mother as a way to spy on her. Mom turned it into a disaster. No matter what, the results were always made out to be a big deal and often resulted in some sort of punishment.

None of it would have occurred – neither the final results nor the punishment without me finishing all my projects. The fact that I took my projects all the way through to a finish and whatever it was actually worked gave me confidence, self-esteem and great pride. These are big rewards for a kid viewed, like I was, as a dummy.  The punishments were worth it!

All the way to the end

An idea would begin to take form in my head long before I started working on it physically. When I had thought through it and knew I had a way to get all the parts and pieces I would need did I start.  Once when I started, I did not want to stop, not even to eat or sleep. Even that drew some dismay from my folks. People tell me my ambition was something like when someone is reading a book they can’t put down. I understand that because when I was in 7^th grade I finally read my first book and I couldn’t put down. My projects were the same.

If I was made to quit a project without finishing it, I would feel like I was experiencing a death in the family. In order to avoid being told to stop and having that feeling, I snuck around always staying on the quiet, not even telling my friends. In public I was viewed as a dummy, but privately, I saw myself as a nerdy scientist working in my private laboratory.

When I worked on projects to the end, they always seemed to work. That amazed me and gave me a thrill, which was rewarding, even if there was a punishment attached to the end as well.

In the early days of my life I needed to experience some wins. Even though some kids may have dabbled in the same areas of exploration, I generally took my projects to their finality. When I did, I got the biggest reward from making something that actuary worked. WOW, what a buzz. These rewards were everlasting in helping me “stick to it” then and throughout my life.

Just Take the Book

Eventually, as I explain in my book, the projects got bigger and bigger and yes, more dangerous. I used the same principal of thinking about and envisioning a project then sourced everything I needed to do it and then “act on it to its end”.

Time and time again in Damn the Pressure, Full Speed Ahead there are examples of this mindset. In fact, the book itself is a prime example. It was five straight years of working in an area that was far outside my comfort zone – writing.  Sometimes I worked on it for 10 hours a day. That’s not to say it was good, it wasn’t. The story might have been good, but the writing was not.

Even though it was not looking good, I was like a dog with a bone. I couldn’t give up. I just couldn’t. So, I continued to push on as uncomfortable as it felt. Now, looking back all the efforts I made and where I am today, I can say I no longer write sentences that are two pages long or spell words even spell check can’t find.

When the project was finished and I held the book in my hand for the first time, that old buzz was right there. It felt good and I was proud of what had been accomplished – even though it was just the first advance reading copy and didn’t even have the right cover on it. I knew I had to see it all the way through to the end.

Funny thing, though, when it got finished all the way to the end and the final printed book with that spectacular cover arrived at me door, that buzz was there again.

Some people might be afraid or discouraged along the way and that prompts them to quit midstream. Finishing IS all it’s cracked up to be. Take your next project all the way to the end and let me know how it felt!