I didn’t know for sure.
But if I had to guess, I would have told you that our son was a strong “C” student.
I saw the papers that came home.
I tracked his grades online.
I knew where he struggled.
So if you had asked me, I would have told you he was a solid C student.
I was wrong.
I fell victim to narrowing in on his weak areas and never saw where he was strong and excelling. I would congratulate him on good grades on his report card but quickly point out where he needed to apply more effort.
I know. I know. I’m really working on this. (We all want the best for our children and want them to do and be well right?)
For recruiting purposes, I needed to get his school transcripts. I needed to know his GPA and class rank. I wasn’t very optimistic because again, all I see are the grades in his toughest subjects.
So when I read his transcripts, I was shocked. I was wowed.
Our son isn’t a C student, he’s a B student! A solid 3.1 GPA!
That’s scholarship worthy!
I forgot about all the other classes he was doing well in. I just saw the two troubled classes and fixated on those.
I had to apologize to him and congratulate him on actually doing quite well. He’s balancing football and his school work and doing well with both.
Thou shalt cut thine self and others some slack
The dilemma is we know ourselves, we know our spouses and loved ones, we know our children very well. We know strengths and weaknesses and many of us focus on the weaknesses with laser sharp precision to the detriment of any strength we exude.
Yes, sometimes you need the microscope to take a closer look at things.
Sometimes.
The view under the scope can’t be your only view though.
I was guilty of viewing our son’s progress through a very narrow lens.
Once I backed off that narrow view and went to a bird’s eye view, the same situation looked completely different.
It looked like a 3.1 GPA.
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Sometimes we can be really hard on ourselves and others and not see the progress and accomplishments made.
We don’t celebrate now because we’re overly concerned with the destination or the final outcome or we’re fixated on a problem.
Cut thine self some slack.
Cut those around you some slack.
Take a step back and look at yourself, look at others from a different view.
Get a wide angle view…a bird’s eye view.
You may be very surprised at what you see.
#ThisWomanKnows
Lisa N. Alexander is the author and founder of This Woman Knows and What Million-Dollar Brands Know. She is an award-winning filmmaker, director, producer, and writer and is the owner of PrettyWork Creative.