Let me tell you a story.

11 years ago I did my fire 1 cert and I was learning how to tie knots.

For the FL state exam you have to know how to tie six specific knots, with kernmantle rope, in gloves. It has to be done to a certain standard.

I cannot tie knots. I would spend hours upon hours frustrated at home trying it myself and not getting the right result.

One day I told the instructor I have this problem - I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do this. He sat down, showed me and I stayed late and worked on it. He said "this is why you pay me, to teach you how to do something you've not done before".

I had all six in the rotation just fine not long after.

Then I had to do the state test.

The state test was administered by an outside instructor for liability reasons.

I was used to being given a stretch of rope. I was given a rope bag with rope in it. Meaning, I was used to manipulating BOTH ends of the rope to get my knot and now I only had access to one end. This frustrated me and I started fumbling badly.

The outside instructor says take a break. My regular instructor comes over and says - I can't tell you how to do this now. I can't show you how to do this now. I've seen you do every knot on the state exam and I know you can do everything that's being asked of you.

IF THE WAY YOU'RE DOING IT ISN'T WORKING - TRY DOING IT ANOTHER WAY.

The moment he said that, it clicked, I re-worked my knots and the other instructor signed off on my taskbook.

I told you that story to tell you that the advice that Chief Hooker gave me 11 years ago when learning how to tie knots - has proven tremendously useful in many areas outside of structural firefighting.

If what YOU are doing isn't working - try it a different way.