skills

from concise oxford dictionary 9th ed.:
skill n. expertness, practised ability, facility in an action; dexterity or tact.

for me, it is the thing that gives people the itch.
babies acquiring walking skills would walk around non-stop.
small kids practising writing their names. and signatures.
driving school graduates wanting to drive their cars at every given opportunity.
golfers practising their shots.
perfecting playing musical instruments.
touch typing.
and the whole long list of other skills imaginable.

improving one's skills is my answer to the question of why people love to do things.
before one having the necessary skill to do something, he needs to master the basic skill needed to get on the platform.
when the basic skill is grasped, this is where the itch begins.
comes the next level, which is to making it second nature.
finally, there's the endless level of mastering and fine-tuning the skill.

to err is human.
this is the greatest challenge (and fun) part of acquiring a skill. to be 100% perfect with the skill is the goal.
for a typist, his goal would be error free, ultra-fast typing.
for a golfer, his would be effortless hole-in-ones. every time.
for a footballer, his would be controlling the ball, scoring beautiful goals.
for an F1 driver, first place at every leg of the race. every season.
and so on...

can you think of a skill that you are now improving?
if you can't answer that, try this - what makes you itch?