“That teacher stinks.”
“How were we supposed to do well?”
“Who wants to know that stuff anyway.”
A few years ago, my oldest son demonstrated this lesson perfectly. Baseball is his passion. He loves it. He hits well, but he is not a “power” hitter. Part of the little league fundraiser they do includes a home run contest. Anyone who hits one gets to stick around and compete that afternoon for the title of home run king. Usually, only about one kid per team can hit one, so you get about five or six kids left to battle it out.
On this fateful day, it was a little cloudy and rainy. Not terrible just kinda yucky. That’s how spring sports go. (As I’m writing this hoping to get our game in while a thunderstorm is raging outside my window.
So my over-excited tike gets up there swinging for the fences. In his mind, he’s polishing that trophy and picking out just where to put it in his room. Unfortunately, the day ends a little differently then he’d envisioned. The lad doesn’t touch a ball. Not one. Not even a foul tip. Nothing.
What does he say to me on the car ride home? “Pop we’ll get’m next time.” Nope. “I think I could have done better and I’ ‘m disappointed in my performance.” Nope. He says what every other person I know would say.”
“Who would want to stay and play baseball in the rain anyway.”
The term sour grapes comes from one of Aesop’s fables. In the story, there is a fox who sees a bowel of beautiful grapes on a table outside behind a house. They are ripe and juicy, and they look delicious. The fox tries to jump up onto the table to get the grapes, but he can’t reach. He tries again, but can’t get up high enough. He can almost taste those grapes, so he jumps, again and again, comes up short.
Finally dejected he turns his back on the table. “The grapes are probably sour anyway,” he says and skulks off. How do you handle it? Do you come up with an excuse? Do you protect your precious ego? Or do you learn? Do you practice? Do you get better? Do you think of a different solution?
The Final Step is a different solution. It isn’t like anything else on the market. It is (in my humble opinion) the best book out there. It covers over 1200 key terms setting you up for a much better day when you sit down to take a test. Use the Final Step for a while, and you’ll start to SEE the questions as you read them. It won’t feel like they’re written in a foreign language anymore. Reading test questions will be more like reading a leisurely novel in a nice warm bubble bath.
No need for a sour grapes mindset. You’ll be a smooth success.
Get your copy here
Brian Wallace