The Exhaustion and Exhilaration

It’s the first day of Mah Jongg week, Bahama Style. I had two new classes of beginners back to back. The first day of class is the hardest day to teach and definitely the hardest day to learn. Thankfully I had fantastic people in both classes.

For me, teaching Mah Jongg is a big conglomeration of things I love. A game, meeting new people, a captive audience, comedy and the psychology of figuring out how people think and how best to help them learn.

So the first day I am not only trying to impart new knowledge, but am watching for clues about who is getting it, and who is confused and who just had an aha moment and why. This is why I have to teach in person so I can look people in the eye.

All that paying attention is exhausting, but is is so rewarding. The thing I hate most is when people don’t give themselves permission to just have fun and they get too uptight. I can figure out who those people might be from the very start by asking an incredible simple question of them. If they tense up from that easy question I begin to understand how they work. Then I have to work to make them comfortable so they can learn.

Perfectionism is a big problem with so many people. If you are always trying to be perfect you don’t take risks. You really learn best from making mistakes. I am constantly trying to encourage people to push themselves outside their comfort zone. It is so rewarding to watch people do that and see them have things click, sometimes for the first time in a long time.

Be bold. Try to learn new things. Fail a few hundred times and the time you succeed will bring you the greatest joy, because you earned it. It’s exhausting and exhilarating. It’s worth it.