Love For Repetition:

Children’s love to repeat a task or activity hundreds of times tirelessly is a means of satisfying a psychological need within them. They need to grow and the only way they know how to is to keep repeating an exercise because they cannot comprehend instructions. They learn by absorbing images and impressions from their surroundings. Exercises like washing of hands, playing chess, or just singing the same old nursery rhyme; these activities are repeated which can be demonstrated by their ability to concentrate and actually ignore the ‘noise’ from their surroundings.

People who are concentrating in private thoughts or on doing work are not easily distracted and do not like distractions. So do children. Yet, when children are concentrating, their mental activities escape the observation of an adult because the activities are demonstrated by ‘meaningless repetition of an exercise already known’. Swimming, washing of hands, singing and running are just some of the repetitive activities children do.

Very quickly now I want to say this. The work adults do as chefs, builders, musicians, cooks, engineers, flight attendants and pilots, navy officers or just daily stuff like sleep, drink, shower, washing dishes, making coffee and grocery shopping, are all repetitive! How many times does an American Idol contestant have to sing to get noticed by the public? How many times do our parents have to nag at us to tidy up our room for us to learn that we are unkempt? How many driving lessons do we have to take before we are granted entrance to a test for a driver’s license? Repetiition at work is not uncommon.

So how can we even judge a child’s work to grow from within lies in his so called meaningless repetition of an exercise already known?

Ah! The answer lies on how much we value the exercises that we perform. Children do not repeat their exercises to achieve an external objective. They need to grow from within. Adults usually have to think of their external objective because we have to work to feed the family and pay bills. Furthermore, we are subscribed to the demands of our employment. We therefore have to perform.

So How To Love Repetition Of Work?

I do not take credit for what I am going to say next. A friend of mine wrote a list of his values in life. It is not the list he made that affect me. But it is the whole basis of what becomes important to us in life and how we dare to dream. When we value life, we want to protect it like the way we protect our own children. However, what is important to us may never be of value, like the spare pair of shoes that I bought at a bargain which I never never wore.

So here are my own set of values:

My family: The members of my family who have loved me all these years, supported me and stood by me through good and bad. My daughter my best friend. She is only 7 and teaching me so much. They are highest on my list of values.

My education: I have always enjoyed learning. Learning has to take precedence to teaching. I enjoy teaching, which means I have to love learning, otherwise I cannot understand what it is like to be a student.

My social network: They are people who motivate me to keep pursuing what I believe in.

My subscribers and readers: The whole purpose of writing online is to have an audience about what I can deliver to help improve the quality of other people’s life. To inspire, motivate and lead with example of what I do best at.

How does writing the values lead to loving repetition?

Many of our daily routines are repetitive and if we do not enjoy doing them, we are devaluing the work plus all the people that may otherwise benefit from the work. Like singing a favourite love song, love for repetition is actually quite liberating.

Resources:

The Absorbent Mind / The Secret Of Childhood

Chris, Pennsylvania Echoes, My List Of Values.

Related products:

Go For Your Goals.