July 25 | Practice Makes

The first problem of learning how to practice is that no one is interested in learning how to practice.

Everyone sets out to become good at something. Listening. Potting plants. Frying an egg. Playing the guitar. Leading a team. Running a mile. These are the focus—the practice is a way towards that focus, the mental mechanics and internal understanding of what is going on.

But practicing is itself a practice, one that can and must be mastered. 

The second problem is that in order to learn the right way to practice, you have to spend a whole lot of time practicing mostly the wrong way. This is unavoidable and a basic part of the premise of practice itself—like a life-changing 1,000 words hidden inside of an incredibly boring 300 page novel. 

The third problem is that practice demands some level of difficulty. There is no mastery of practice that creates painless progress—only a deep understanding of efficacy, the knowledge that the more time is effectively invested, the more skill becomes inevitable. The second practicing becomes easy, it’s no longer effective.

The fourth (and final) problem is that you’re not practicing right now.… Read the rest