A new club
There is a club you might like. You do not know anybody there and you have never done it.
What do you do?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
New food
There is something on your plate you have never eaten. It looks strange.
What do you do?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
New things feel strange at first. That is the feeling of new, not the feeling of bad.
The only way to know
You cannot tell whether you like something by thinking about it. You have to do it once.
You can stop after
Trying something once does not mean doing it forever. One go, then you decide.
Step 3: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 1
How do you find out if you like something?
Step 4: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
One new thing
- Try one thing this week you have never tried.
- Notice how it felt at the start.
- Then decide if you want to do it again.
Why: The deciding comes after. That is what makes trying safe.
Step 5: What You Learned
- New feels strange, not bad.
- One go is how you find out.
- You can stop after.
For the grown-up
The "you can stop after" promise makes trying possible for cautious children, and it has to be honoured. A child who is told one go and then enrolled for a term will not try the next thing.
Three goes is a good family rule — the first is disorientating for everybody, and judging on it discards things a child would have liked.
Watch for children who avoid new things because they are used to being good at things. Being a beginner in public is genuinely harder for them, and it is worth naming.