Perseverance

I'm back!  Oh, and what a glorious little stay-cation I had!  The weather cooperated, so I got a lot of pool time in, finished reading Gil McNeil's series of books on the yarn shop owner in England (I really hope she keeps the series going), and submitted a design to Inside Crochet magazine (and have a few more projects in the works, some nearer to completion than others).

I also tried to get some magazine reading done as well.  I think I've rediscovered my appreciation for Entrepreneur magazine (I'm sure they're glad since it's renewal time!).  One interesting article I read was on the Angie's List founder.  When asked what she thinks her best trait is, she responded "perseverance."  That was an eye opener for me and a good reminder about how important it is to stick to things.  Of course, it's better if you can whip things out in an efficient and timely manner, but you know, life happens.  So, it's better (I think) to keep sticking with it, to persevere until something is done, even if it takes a lot longer than you thought it would and you feel like you're never going to get it done.  Now, it's also important to know when to abandon something because it's just not turning out as you thought it would or something more important, better, [fill in the blank] has come along.  Better to cut your losses and move on rather than persevering through something that's not going to yield a good or satisfying result.  Problem is, it's often hard to know right away the things to keep working on and the things to let go!

So, long-time readers, you know how I try to use this blog for many different purposes, including as an accountability tool.  I've still got a few months til the end of the year and will be trying to sort out what I've promised you in 2013 that I think I should follow through on and what will fall by the wayside :-)  One of my assignments I've been thinking about was the one to identify my customers and sketch out a little bio about each representative one.  But, the Angie's List article had me shifting gears to thinking about my crochet students instead as a starting point. 

I think I've identified three types of students:  1) naturals, 2) those ultimately not interested in crochet, and 3) the perseverers.  As a teacher, it's important to have experience with all three and work out how you approach each type, but I'm sure you're sensing that the third category is the most challenging and most rewarding!  More to come...