Skills/Experience in the relation with the time

Parkour has become a very popular sport, all over the world now. Thus more and more videos on YouTube or other Videosites are posted. Of course, there are sometimes some 9-year-old boys who are jumping around like some small children on a playground. That's because they are maybe small children, however. Nevertheless you can see some high-experienced traceurs, and I thought, it's ok, they have probably trained very hard and there they are.

Later I have watched some great videos from people I know and I was astonished how many great things they could do! I began to ask myself, whether I was too lazy or I did not do enough. I started to wonder, whether my workouts weren't successful enough. And at least I was disappointed, that some guys I know, who weren't training much more than me, are so much better than me!
One day I thought about that riddle, and I have compared parkour with a RPG-game. I realised some resemblances:

At the beginning of a game you can usually choose any char. For example, Alien Shooter (great game). You can choose between a woman and a man. They both have their characteristics. She is faster, he has more life-points. But none of them is better.

Then, while you're playing, you get experience points and so you can improve the skills of your char. But you have to mess up some monsters for the points!

Now, back to the real life, I realised that I am a character like in a game, that you can't choose, unforunately. But all human beings in the world have different attributes, some are cleverer, some are stronger. Asians are better in gym-games, Blacks are better in sprints...(Sadly, some people have better genes than another, some are even disabled, but that's not the point.)

Everyone, every single person has time. Time is for every single human being the same thing. Time isn't good or bad, but it is there and it's a very important thing! No one has really more time than the other! (except of disabled people. Worse luck!)

Yet, I can invest the time in whatever I want. I can study, then I will become cleverer. Or I can train, then I  will become more stronger! Back to parkour: I can train more monkeys or more balance, then I will become better in it....The point is that nobody has identic workouts or train identically parkour.Period.
Now, I can interpret awesome videos in a different light :

• Maybe he has actually trained more than me.
• He is probably in other areas worse than me.
• He mastered a certain technique, without preparing his body for this enoug (=> long-term or delayed damages)
• He had more courage to do something (again, only because he has owned this trait earlier in his life, he has invested time in order to get more courage)
• Well, or his bodily frame or genes are better than mine (still that isn't crucial in most cases).

Everything that has a value must be earned somehow. Becoming a good traceur has some value and I believe that this is a long-period process of training. There is no shortcut. The brain can learn the technique within some hours maybe faster or slower, but the body needs more time, I believe.

It's like building a snowman. You have to roll the little snowball first, which is becoming bigger and bigger with the time. It's an important fundament for the snowman. When you have started with parkour, your experience is not big. But with the time both the body and the mind are becoming stronger. This experience is an important foundation for your skills in parkour.

While training I have noticed that my body want to do some certain techniques. So I knew that it is ready for them.

Sometimes, if the character isn't brave enough, you can help it and give a start with your brain. But I believe the body knows better, when it's ready for something.

Summing up:
Time is a very important factor in the parkour training, and in your life as a whole. Nevertheless you shouldn't compare yourself with others in certain disciplines. Just have fun while training parkour. Almost everything you invest your time in, will pay off in the future, somehow.

There is no elevator to the success, you have to take the stairs! Getting better is a slow process, despite of that you're allowed to have fun while practicing parkour!

Sources/Links:
http://blane-parkour.blogspot.com/2007/04/dilution.html