You can’t run before you can walk

You have to practice the basics for months before you can even think of doing those ultra cool face level karate kicks. You can’t run before you can walk.

When you begin your effort to improve your spoken English, you must understand that it would happen in steps. First you learn how to express very simple ideas, then you move on to more complex ones and subsequently, you move on to arguing and counter arguing about complex topics. One the very first day, you cannot be speaking like Shakespeare. You can’t run before you can walk.

Any guesses about the meaning of our phrase?

Well, you can’t run before you can walk is an obvious statement – its like stating a rather apparent truth. But the sense it conveys is unmistakable – you have to first learn to walk before you can run. Similarly, you have to first learn to stand up before you can walk. Things happen in a step by step manner. You cannot be an expert on day one.

Let’s take some examples:

1. On the very first day in your karate classes, Sudhir hoped to learn some fancy kicks and also, how to break concrete slabs. That was ridiculous. He cannot run before he can walk. It will take years of practice to be a good karate fighter.
2. The first year of an engineering degree is usually science and some very basic stuff about engineering. You have to learn to walk before you can run.
3. I first want to establish myself as a script writer and only then can I hope to do well as a director. I can’t run before I can walk and neither do I expect that.

It is basically a reminder phrase to stress the point that things happen in a step by step manner and before jumping on to big things, one has to learn the earlier steps.

Let’s close with some more examples:

1. The new NDA cadets were given basic physical exercises, drills and basic weapon training before they moved on to advanced warfare classes. You have to walk before you can run.
2. Write some short stories before you write a full size novel. You can’t run before you can walk.