Lesson learned: Some days are just practice days

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about giving a test in my class. While tests are important in school, the majority of school days in a year are not test days. Most days we are learning and practicing skills, which usually involves some worksheets. When I already have a pretty good idea of who is understanding the concept and who isn't, instead of collecting the worksheets, I tell the students,
"If you feel like you did your very best, draw a smiley face on the top and put it in your cubby."

Most of my students will draw a smiley face on top and put it in their cubbies without a second thought. A few of my perfectionists, however, will come to me and say, "But Miss Brown, I didn't finish!" or "Miss Brown, I got three of them wrong." or "Miss Brown, it doesn't look like yours." To all of which, I respond, "Did you do your best?" "Yes." "Did you try your hardest?" "Yes." "Great! Put a smiley face on the top and put it in your cubby!" They don't realize that we are going to practice the exact same thing again tomorrow and the next day and the next day after that. They feel like the skill needs to be perfectly mastered today.

Many of us are perfectionists. We want to be perfect and do things perfectly, but then we find that we are consistently falling short. We feel that we have failed some kind of test. Heavenly Father knows that we are in the process of learning and He is not expecting perfection yet. He knows that more "worksheets" are coming. He simply wants to see that we are trying, that we are improving, and that we are moving forward. That's the point of practice. He doesn't expect perfect mastery from the get go.

We all just need to try our best. And my biggest thing is that I need to stop comparing my best to others' bests and to my own bests of the past. What I am capable of right now is different than what you are capable of right now and it's different than what I was capable of when I was three, when I was thirteen, when I was a missionary, during my first year of teaching, or yesterday. There may be a few slackers out there (and, no, you are not one of them) who just slide on by with as little effort as possible. But I feel like the majority of people are really trying to do their best that they can in that moment.

So why are we so hard on ourselves? Why do we always feel that we need to do better? There is certainly a place for self-reflection and determining what improvements can be made, but, at the same time, I feel like it would be good for us to remember that not every day is test day. Some days are just practice days. 

It's okay if our worksheet isn't completely done or if we got a few of the answers wrong or if we didn't quite reach perfection today. We just need to do the best that we can right now, in the time we are allotted, with the resources we are given, and the knowledge we have. Did you do your best? Did you try your hardest? Okay then. Draw a smiley face on the top and put it in your cubby.