I loved watching my 3-year-old nephew riding his balance bike when I was back in New Zealand over the holidays.
As he rode it around the campsite, he was building his confidence, gaining speed, and practising lifting his feet off the ground.
But he was so focused on moving forward, and moving faster, that we all had to remind him, “Look where you’re going!”
Head staring down at his feet, he hadn’t yet developed the instinct to look ahead.
It’s an obvious and literal example, but the same principle applies to trying almost anything new.
That new role, job, hobby, habit, friendship, relationship, exercise, or recipe, all of these things take time and require patience.
It’s easy to look down, but training ourselves to look where we’re going, that’s a shortcut to a smoother ride.