Points to speak on this topic:
- The proverb – “Straight roads do not make skillful drivers” was said by the author Paulo Coehlo. There are a few other proverbs with a similar context – “a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor”, “Rough seas make great sailors” etc.
- If someone drives only on straight roads and do not practice the important skills of driving such as taking turns, parking safely etc., he/she cannot become a skillful driver. This applies to almost any profession. For example, in the training sessions for firefighters, they go through mock drills to learn to cope with tough situations. With such training, it will be very difficult for them to deal with real-life situations.
- This proverb can also be applied to life in general. Generally, the people who faced difficulties in life become stronger and can cope with the other difficult situations in life. Their ability to adapt to the challenges will be much better than others in general. On the other hand, people who did not face any difficulties for most of their life can find it very difficult to cope with even small obstacles in life. But of course, this may not be applicable to all. Emotional Intelligence also has a role to play.
- A few parents do everything for their children and forget to teach them to take responsibility for their own life. The children who grew up under this kind of parenting can find it very difficult to cope with the uncertainty and the challenges in life.
- This proverb can be applied to the workplace as well. Some employees tend to avoid all the tough tasks and take only the easy ones. But once they are forced to change jobs, they may not be able to survive the next job, because they escaped from all the opportunities that can make them excel at their job.
- If we observe all the successful people, they have one thing in common, which is taking the hardest route. They work extra hard and take calculated risky decisions to excel in their field. Even if they are not successful in the initial attempts, they will succeed eventually, because their experience of taking rarely taken routes teaches them valuable lessons and hence can help them in becoming one of the best in their field. Easy routes can rarely make people successful.
Conclusion:
The proverb – Straight roads do not make skillful drivers can be applied to many contexts such as career, skills and also life in general. If we escape from dealing with difficult tasks at work, we cannot excel in our field. Easy routes can rarely make people successful.
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