Fill in the gaps

Do you remember the first homework? Like those in 1st grade, when we had those nice, colorful textbooks? My favorite homework was when we had to fill in the gaps. Thinking back is hard to remember when we lost our ability to fill in the gaps.

As we grow up, the homework becomes more difficult, you are compelled to be more creative, to solve more complex issues. The purpose of those early trainings wasn’t really such hard to guess. When dealing with a project (any project actually), start by analyzing the gaps. First, you must be really honest with yourself and most of us are having a hard time admitting we don’t know it all. As a kid, you get over it easily; you have all your life ahead of you, so all the time in the world to learn. But learning is a continuous process, so any professional should also subject himself/herself to a sincere analysis. The outcome? Yes, I have what it takes to successfully complete this task, no knowledge gaps identified, so we proceed. Or… identify the gaps and act accordingly: learn more, make some mistakes along the way, get to know yourself better and grow. Filling the gaps should be a lot of fun, even though 20 years have passed since the first homework. Admit that perfection is hard to achieve, make a goal out of it, but in the meantime… fill the gaps.

The event planning business is full of flaws, but I chose to use this to my advantage. It’s been more than two years know and I still feel I have a lot to learn. I go to seminars, I read as much as I can on the subject… I am filling the gaps in my knowledge. I also learned something else: it takes a bigger man to admit he doesn’t know it all. So, choose your event planner carefully, choose the human in him, the one who will do his best, not the one promising perfection.