One quick way to slaughter enthusiasm
I got the inspiration for this particular article from Trizzle and I would like to add my small story which is on somewhat similar lines. I am not assessing Trizzle as I sincerely think it ROCKS big time and I am a huge fan myself.
Well a long time ago there was a student (lets call him guy A) trying to learn the concepts of Physics. He tried it over and over again since he was a stubborn DIY (do-it-yourself) freak but could never grasp the concepts very well. So, he spoke to his friend (guy B) who was in a similar situation and they both decided to seek help from a private tutor. Now once they were given a problem to solve, guy A could not even understand the problem and sat there totally perplexed where as on the other end of the spectrum guy B solved the problem in no time. There private tutor was enormously impressed by guy B and from that day onwards every time guy A did something incorrectly he was demoralised by statements like you cannot do anything, look at your friend (guy B).
The end result was guy A could never strengthen his concepts because he got so discouraged by his tutor’s taunts and his DIY attitude went hunting in the woods. And you know why guy B could solve the problem so quickly because he had done it a few hours ago. The moral of the story please for GOD sake do not discourage people. The reason we have so many different fields is because everyone has different likings and abilities.
Lack of encouragement killed guy A’s enthusiasm and his hunger to learn was soon transformed into “I do not like it; I am not good at it”. Another thing worth mentioning is - “Comparison” - a constructive comparison may be - Ohh look at him you can be like him one day you just need to work a bit harder, and a negative comparison may be - look at him you can never be like him. It’s the way one puts it makes the big difference.
Sometimes, it takes time for one to understand or learn a new concept but with time and effort eventually everyone gets there.