Error without consequence

“The essence of training is to allow error without consequence.”

Ender’s Game

The great thing about training is the safe environment.

It’s like taking a risk but without the actual risk. You can try out ideas and approaches that you would never have tried out for real. Or it can lead you to find yet another path that does work but would have been impossible to see without taking the risky route first.

But the one thing that you won’t get in training is tension. The tension of that it matters now. The tension that this is the moment and you absolutely have to give it your all. Which might be way beyond everything that you did in training. Simply because in training, you didn’t have to.

And also the tension that errors actually do have consequences at times.

That is an experience that no amount of training can give you. You can gather a vast range of experiences, you can get ever closer to the real thing. But eventually, you’ll have to go out there. And face the consequences.

It’s better to be well-prepared when you do. But it’s also essential that you don’t hide from it.