If one fine day you realize you haven't done anything soulful or done anything with soul, don't be sad; it's not 100% your fault. But condolences, after reading this post, once you gain a bit more awareness, your share of the blame will creep closer to 100%. And if you recognize and fully accept, heart and soul, that the shortcomings are 100% yours, congratulations, you've matured a bit (even though it's rather bitter with a dash of shame).
Simply put, you were never taught how to do something with soul or what doing something soulfully means.
If you've entered the school of life early, you'll grasp the concept of soul better than those who only studied and took tests in a simulated environment.
Schools usually only ask for the "know a bit, understand a bit" level with "do it somewhat like this" and give you okay grades. Generally, being smart and having a good memory is enough.
But in real life, it's all about "pass" or "fail", "premium" or "crap", "functional" or "not functional".
To be "premium" and "functional", it genuinely requires a lot of hidden effort, experience, stubbornness, organizational and creative skills, a high level of dedication to work, and the ability to "maintain discipline" to keep up performance.
In summary, to navigate life's game somewhat decently, besides knowledge (of course, "real" knowledge), you need a lot of soul (dedication, persistence, endurance, effort, attitude, obsession, discipline...).
Doing well in school satisfies conditions A, B, C, and you get praised as a good, clever kid with certificates and whatnot. But in life, there are myriad variations requiring A, B, C, D... X, Y, Z. So, sometimes excelling at school but failing in life is quite normal.
Grinding away in classrooms doesn't enlighten you on this soulful aspect for many reasons:
You're not taught what doing something with soul means or how to do it.
The testing system only checks if you know something, not if you can apply it perfectly in real life.
Teachers don't have the time or perhaps the skill to deeply assess you on what they teach.
We don't want to be tested or expand on this soulful aspect. Whenever asked to do something creative or outside the box, without clear, exact answers, there's immediate whining. We only like things that are straightforward, rounded, and pretty. Plus, there's the fear of being judged. Expressing one's own opinions or thoughts is terrifying, so there's always a tendency to blend in with the crowd for peace.
In real life, it's different:
You'll learn what soulful means through highly punitive failures. The more you suffer from these punishments, the deeper your understanding of this word.
The real-world system always PRIORITIZES testing if you're "real", "can do", "do it well", "do it skillfully", "do it fast", "do it deliciously", "can handle the heat". Sometimes, the job is as simple as pressing a button, but you must do it all day with absolute precision; life's game can be simple theoretically but requires immense accuracy and endurance. The system only slightly cares about what you know or think after seeing what you can do.
The system's grading is also "cruel" and "cold". (Almost) no one will say, "Hey, you got this wrong, you should do it like this to improve." People will quietly avoid you and choose better options, like how you quietly switch to another pho place if the one you're at is bad. It's quite rare when someone dares to give you their honest feedback, AND you're lucky if they pinpoint your issue correctly, AND you must have a strong character to accept such hurtful feedback like, "Your work is crap..."
Those who are very kind and polite might give you a second or third chance. But the market is vast; there are countless choices. "You're good, but I'm sorry..."
Yeah, the system simply "rejects" you like a beautiful girl slapping an ugly, dumb, and delusional guy. There's no gentle, detailed, caring feedback like, "You're great, just work on this," or "You tried but it's not enough," or "You're excellent at this, but...". Delete, if you don't meet the criteria, you're out.
That's how life is, or rather, that's how we are, and you and I are no different. Good pho places thrive, bad ones fade away.
"Beware" and act decently, folks. The Game of Life's mod is strict and fair about punishment, and once it punishes, it hurts, from painful to very painful.
Meme: I'm trying to do business "soulfully".
