One of the people I met in Japan was a big origami enthusiast.  In fact, he was able to make one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen: a paper dragon (Not him, but a video of the paper dragon).  One sheet, many folds and something very, very beautiful.  What I also found very interesting was how he got to the point of making it.  You see he’s no origami expert; just a hobbyist.  He had all the basic skills but didn’t have a mastery of all the complex techniques.  Yet it took him no more than one day to complete this arduous task.  How you may ask?  Simple, he went to a class. When asked how long he would take to do it himself, he said “three months”.

Being the inquisitive type that I am, I asked how this was possible.  Three months to one day is no small task, even with a teacher in front of you.  It was simple he explained.  By himself he might spend weeks trying to figure out one particular folding technique, while in the class he could be corrected immediately.  It’s just like learning how to bake the perfect chocolate banana bread, sure you might figure it out after a many tries, but it’s so much easier just to have someone share their secret recipe with you.  The important part is to find that someone who will share that secret recipe — whether that be all the things not to do or the one thing you need to do — so that you can get to the next level quicker.  The sooner that we can find those people who will are willing to share their secret recipe, the sooner we can all conquer our own paper dragons.