​Joy on the Journey

As the year draws to a close, schools naturally focus on achievement as tests are marked, reports are compiled and awards are conferred. We acknowledge excellence. An important part of our Mission at Avondale School is for each student to achieve their God-given potential. We want our students to find their passion and achieve to the best of their ability. We want them to be successful.

Author, Chris Hirst, challenges the idea that successful people have abilities that the rest of us only aspire to. He writes ‘Talent is a story we tell ourselves to explain the performance of others.’ His assertion is that what we see as innate talent, is actually the expression of a willingness to work relentlessly to develop a level of perfection in a particular area. Elite athletes, musicians and academics all work consistently to hone and develop their skills.

Hirst also talks about learning to love the game, not the results. People who are truly successful do not perceive practice as monotonous and mind-numbing. They find peace and comfort in the activity itself. Thus the swimmer who yearns to follow the black line, the musician who feels stress dissipate as they perform a familiar piece of music one more time, the learner who relishes each new insight. If we are focused on the results, we are far more likely to give up. Success is dependent on us finding joy and satisfaction in the journey, rather than seeing the journey as a painful means to arrive at the destination. 

Excellence is the consistent performance of multiple mundane actions. We often see the results of talent and consider it a miracle, but exceptional talent is merely the end result of the accumulation of many very small actions performed simultaneously. Remember learning to drive a car? Your hands, feet, eyes, ears and brain all need to be performing actions simultaneously to allow you to anticipate that sharp bend, gear down and slow to an appropriate speed while steering safely around that curve. This complex skill is one you now perform without thinking. You practised each skill so many times that you achieved mastery.

So let’s teach our kids that they can take responsibility for their own lives. God created them in His image with endless capabilities, but they have to work to hone and develop their skills. Let’s help our children and young people find joy in the ordinary as they work relentlessly to develop skills and knowledge that will lead to success. Let’s focus on the journey, not the destination. Let’s praise effort, progress, mind-set, grit and courage.

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.’ Aristotle

Mrs Deb Cooper

Principal