Chess and Teeth

I was a chess phenom back in the day.
I went into my first elementary tournament in the fifth grade. My sweaty palms, moppy hair and thirst to take other players chess pieces was unrelenting. I remember being so nervous sitting across a total stranger. My opponent, a stout 7th grader glared me down ready to pounce. I knew better and unleashed all my pawns and a queen kamikaze attack.   I didn’t have much for tactics or strategies to say the least in that first tournament. But I did take home a trophy. 6th place… out of 7 competitors. They still gave me the trophy, because, heck, what would they do with it.   But I was hooked. I loved how logical, sequential and elaborate you could be. Chess is not as methodical as it is about creativity. It was that creativity in my game I missed out on the most. Our coach, coach Johnson, taught us a very regimented orderly way to move our pieces. But after a while of moving in the same sequential manner, your opponent see’s all the flaws in your game when you react to their counter attacks.   Imagine a boxer always swinging a right hook whenever their opponent engages in a fight. It’s as simple as feigning left and countering with a right straight jab to get a clean shot.   So what does it take to become good at chess?    What does it take to become good at dentistry?   Learning the rules of the game is taught to us when we are in school.   We’re given a few tactics and strategies, like the queen’s gambit or to use a rubber dam with a bite block if you want your patient to shut up.   But to become great at what we’re doing? It’s simple.   It takes repetitions. Pattern recognition and practice.    Your first bulbous tooth extraction was torture. I’m sure your second one wasn’t as bad. And so on and so forth.   It seems silly to me now. As I think about how many root canals I got to do in dental school… 2.   No wonder so many of those just coming out of school feel insecure and not confident with their endo. There’s a reason why they call it practice.   So stop being so harsh on yourself. You’re still in practice. Then Thrive.   Cheers, Lam