I am listening to the audiobook of The Art of Possibility and the 3rd chapter is titled ‘Giving an A’. Its based on the idea that grades are made up concepts that allow us to rate ourselves compared to everyone else. Therefore an A is something that can be given to anyone at anytime as there is no cost to doing so.
The purpose of ‘giving an A’ is to validate someone’s effort and encourage them to continue trying. We can always improve and encouraging someone to improve is always more helpful than criticizing their current output.
Giving an A is something we can do at anytime and with anyone in our lives. It costs you nothing and can mean everything to the person you give it to. The book gives some great examples of how this works, albeit mostly in a music class and symphony setting. However the examples can easily be extrapolated to any part of life.
I am not a huge self help book person but this one is really good and I recommend it. The authors, Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, are married and also read the audiobook. The swap reading parts of each chapter and are very engaging to listen to. Rosamund is a therapist and Benjamin is a conductor. They use various stories from their professions and use them as examples for why you should practice their ideas.
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