The Connections Bridgewater-Somerville Edition Apr/May 2025

HEALTH & WELLNESS

PAGE 29 DO YOU SNORE?

MIND THE MIND There Is No Substitute for Experience By Dr. Michael Osit

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ave you ever played a game on your cell phone or tablet, learned to drive a car, made the same recipe re peatedly, used a remote control or any electronic device, or simply done some thing for the first time and then done it frequently thereafter? Chances are, you have done one or more of these. When you learn or try something for the first time, a certain amount of anxiety stems from the concern that you will not be able to do it well or that you will fail. What usually happens? After doing a task repeatedly, it eventually becomes easy and you often can then mindless ly complete it. You may even learn to streamline the task and accomplish it more efficiently. Through repeated successive approximations, and making errors along the way, you can achieve mastery over most tasks if you do them enough times. Learning to drive is one example. When you first got behind the wheel, you had to consciously think about how to start the engine, put the car in Drive, and pay attention to the use of the gas pedal, brake, turns, and the car’s position in the lane. Do you think about any of these steps now when you get into your car to drive? Absolutely not. They are automatic and became habitual because of repetition. When you do something repeatedly, over time it seems easy and automatic, almost requiring no thought. There is no substitute for experience to achieve excellence. If you have difficulty try ing something new because you are concerned it might be too difficult or that you might fail, remember that persistence and repetition will likely eventually result in success. Through

repeated successive approximations, and making errors along the way, you can achieve mastery over most tasks if you do them enough times.

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Once mastery is achieved, it is possi ble that an aberration can occur in your routine approach to a problem or task. For example, if the roads are icy on the same route to your job as you take every morning. Normally, you can listen to music, podcasts, or talk shows without even thinking about the directions. It is as if one part of your brain is operating the vehicle without you even realizing it, while the aware part of your brain is listening to the audio. When the roads are treacherous, however, you use your experience to take care of the mundane aspects of driving, but you pay close attention to the aspects of driving that are normally automatic. Your mastery of fundamental driving skills acquired through experience enables you to nav igate when the driving conditions devi ate from the norm. Engaging in new activities, tasks, or problems to be solved can feel ominous. If you accept the fact that there will be mistakes along the way, persistence and repetition will eventually lead to suc cess and experience will prevail. Dr. Michael Osit is a Licensed Psychol ogist practicing in Warren, and author of The Train Keeps Leaving Without Me: A Guide to Happiness, Freedom, and Self Fulfillment (2016), and Gen eration Text: Raising Well Adjusted Kids In An Age Of Instant Everything (2008)

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