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Practice Makes Perfect.



There are two main strategies we can adopt to improve the quality of life. The first is to try making external conditions match our goals. The second is to change how we experience external conditions to make them fit our goals better.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 1990
 
I hate training….Let me say it again…I hate training for anything, but I don’t mind PRACTICE. 
As soon as someone says, “Let’s train for something,” I just shut down.  Training sounds like WORK to me.  I prefer PRACTICE.  In my mind, practice translates into something different.  I means that I get to do something over and over again until I get it right. I get lots of times to make mistakes and correct them. I like that. I can readjust, tweak and keep on going. Sounds good to me.  

Whether you read Outliers by Gladwell or Ericsson’s original study, you may or may not be familiar with the 10,000 hour rule.  According to Ericsson, one needs 10,000 hours or 10 yrs of deliberate practice to become an expert in a field of study or to master an instrument.  This makes sense.  If you do something over and over again with increasing levels of difficulty; you will improve. 

Translation
Basically, we get good at what we do everyday.  If we quit everyday; then we become experts in quitting. If we practice good  habits on a daily basis; over time we become good at it.  If we smile everyday or 10,000 hours or 10 yrs; we will get better at it. I guess I’d rather practice running, jumping, biking, smiling, etc. than training.  I guess  we should not be surprised when we see Olympic athletes or virtuosos.  They are good at what they do because they have had LOTS of practice.  I may never be an elite athlete, but I can practice at being the best ME.  I do believe that practice makes perfect.  I guess we just have to be careful what we practice.
~Stayfitt


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