63. We often forget about the role of "readiness".

In the past, we used to test five-year-old children to see if they were "ready" for the demanding assignment of being allowed into grade one in school. This test basically focussed on the maturity of the child with respect to attention span, following simple directions and displaying a willingness to learn and listen. While the practice was fairly subjective, it did introduce an important concept that applies to all of us at any age - the notion of readiness.

During the rest of our lives, we do not really test for readiness in any other situation. Perhaps we should. Do we need a test to determine if a person is ready to learn to drive a car, or get married, or have children? In our society we are obviously a failure in these regards as witnessed by ever-increasing car accidents, failed marriages and children who are raised with little attention and direction. Of course, the argument is who is so wise as to develop these readiness tests and who would agree to a readiness procedure before having children? Probably no one!

While formally determining readiness does not exist in our culture, it does play a role in our own decision-making practices. We have all experienced times when we determined whether we were ready for an activity or not. If you are not ready to learn to swim you won't learn. You may be too afraid of water and are not ready to address your fears. When you are finally motived to want to swim, perhaps because all of your friends are, you will probably learn. Often when we need to or are motivated to, we will be able to learn anything, from a second language to tai chi. 

In schools, we often encounter examples of students struggling and having difficulty with a task, not because they are incapable, but rather they are not ready for some reason. Disciples of Jean Piaget know that he believed that everyone passed through a sequence of four distinct stages in their cognitive development. He really introduced the notion of stages of readiness. I know that I have passed through many developmental stages throughout my life and readiness played a large role in my successes and failures.