The saying, “Practice makes perfect”, gives credit to an individual’s or team’s effort, discipline, and dedication… but… “Practice makes perfect” is a scary saying and incomplete at best. It’s true… anything you practice over and over, you will get better at and improve, but what if you are practicing the wrong thing and the wrong way? A team can practice all day every day for the big game… but if they are practicing the wrong technique, offense, or defense… they will lose. You can practice to achieve your definition of success and prepare all day, every day… but if you are practicing the wrong things… you will lose, learn slower, and may become less interested in success due to constant disappointments and failures.
So, what do you do? First… Understand that practice does NOT make perfect… it only makes you better at what you are practicing. Perfect practice makes perfect! Perfect practice insists that a process be developed to achieve success. It’s important for you and/or your team to know your strengths. If your strengths are an advantage and in line with overcoming the obstacles ahead of you… use them and maximize your strengths all the way to success! But… what if your strengths are counterproductive to success? In your job, your strength is number and computers… you sit in the office and direct, but your team needs a hands-on leader? In your relationship, you’re a creative home-body… while your partner is a social butterfly and needs to explore outside of the house? You are an impulsive extrovert, while they are a patient introvert that needs time to think before acting? In sports, your team plays great zone… but to win the game you’ll need to play man-to-man. I’m an avid sports fan… and recently watched my team be eliminated from the playoffs due to an inability to change and play a style they were uncomfortable with. In sports, you get eliminated… there’s always next year. In life… getting eliminated means the death of a relationship, loss of a job, and the stakes tend to be much higher… with very little fan-base to pick you up and cheer you on.
Perfect practice will first insist on awareness of your strengths, understanding the opposition (for the purpose of knowing what it will take to be successful), developing a plan and process, having a willingness and flexibility to adjust your plan (if necessary), possess the diligence to remain laser-focused with maximum effort (in times of great fortune and in times of despair), finally… the guts to follow through until the end.
This is perfect practice and can be applied to every area of life. What would perfect practice as a husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend look like for you? What would perfect practice as a parent/step-parent look like for you? As a professional? What is your life-vision? What will your perfect practice look like in order to achieve it? Share your thoughts at www.facebook.com/menevolvingnow/ Happy EVOLVING!!!
written by: Andre Young
