[2021-10-25] Learning from others
In cleaning up my garden yesterday, I made mental notes of things I would repeat next year and others that I would forego. Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, selected herbs and nasturtiums will make a comeback. Beans, beats, peas, onions, garlic and radishes will not. The jury is still out on zucchini and patty pan squash, as some sort of pest turned my healthy spring plants into sickly mid-summer vines. I'm still on the fence about lettuces, as I grew tired of fighting with squirrels.
I knew that the limited sun that hits my backyard would pose challenges. I had no idea how pesky the squirrels would be. And I was clearly unprepared for the invading insects that attacked my zucchini, patty pan squash and, to some extent, cucumbers. That said, many gardeners seemed to struggle with pests this year.
It's not all discouraging. Back in the spring, when I embarked on my gardening adventure, I told myself that this year would be an experiment—that I would learn by doing. And I did.
But I also learned in one other significant way. I sought the guidance of experts. I talked to my sister, my niece and my mom. I started up a conversation with a man in my neighbourhood who was growing a small but incredibly productive garden in his front yard. I bent the ear of two gardeners in Upper Canada Village. And I consumed gardening-related content online.
I remembered all of this when I came across this quote in the weekly newsletter of James Clear, author of Atomic Habits: "One of the only true shortcuts in life is finding an expert and apprenticing under them."
I like the notion that consulting an expert is a shortcut. We are wise to view those who know more than we do as coaches, teachers and even masters. We do ourselves a disservice when we see them as competitors, elites and know-it-alls. And we limit our potential when we conclude, prematurely, that we'll never be as good as someone else and therefore shouldn't bother trying.
Those who excel were once beginners too. They've simply practised more than we have. My husband calls this "being a page ahead in the book." With time, we will be the ones who are a page ahead of someone else, passing along the knowledge we acquired through a combination of learning by doing and learning from others.
