Getting Better, 08/16/08
Our goal in the PJA Chess Club is that everyone take away the following lesson:
"If I practice, I will get better."Our motto, then, is,
"We are getting better - sometimes that means we win, but it always means we are getting better."These are both very, very healthy. Studies (see Waitzkin, Art of Learning) have shown that learners who learn for the sake of getting better continue to learn and progress but that when a learner focuses on winning, they become fragile, eventually reaching a place where they stop improving because they are afraid of losing.
Trading and systems development goals that focus on getting better are stronger than goals that focus on winning.