Practice Makes Permanent

 

Image Cedit | Oliver Jöströom | Pexels

Practice Makes Perfect. I've heard that statement many times in my life. The phrase is meant to convey the idea that if you practice over and over you will eventually achieve perfection. That constant repetition will ingrain in you the right behaviors that lead to success. In some cases it's true and in other cases, it's not true. 

It's more accurate to say that practice makes permanent. Practice again is the repetition of behaviors. Over time those behaviors become automatic. If you practice in such a way that results in poor performance you will be "perfect" at poor performance.  That's not what folks mean by practice makes perfect though. So it is important to ensure that when you practice, you understand what right really looks like before you start, otherwise you risk making the wrong things permanent. 

What are you trying to achieve?

To understand what the right practice looks like you must first define the right outcome. Many folks will set goals like "I want to be better at sales" or "I want to eat healthier".  Those are non-specific and vague goals. To set achievable goals, they have to be explicit and achievable. It would be better to set goals like "I am going to increase my monthly sales performance by 10% within 90 days" or "I am going to eat no more than 1,500 calories per day starting today". These goals are better because they are specific and have due dates associated with them. You can track your progress towards and evaluable your success in achieving them at the due dates.

How will you achieve it?

This step may be different for everyone. If you look at the world of sports you have athletes at the top of the game across the world. In golf for instance you have players that sometimes have radically different swings that achieve similar results. Each player practices their swing differently, but they both have tremendous success. 

The key is to understand that the exact behaviors that lead to success for one person do not necessarily transfer directly to another. Each person is an individual with their thought processes that will steer them in slightly different directions. If one salesperson can sell cars without a test drive and another always needs to test drive, the sales manager shouldn't care. As long as they are practicing the behaviors that result in success.

In your life, you may need to experiment with different behaviors to find those that work best. As you're working towards finding the right way to practice, look at what behaviors work and what don't. Track your behaviors and what the output was. Overtime patterns will begin to emerge that show which behaviors have the best return. Continue to refine these behaviors over time to identify the best path to success. 

Measurement

One of the keys to achieving great results through practice and repetition is measuring success. When a football coach needs to better understand the performance of their players, they do not rely solely on what they see during games or practices. They also record these sessions and spend hours watching these videos to identify what worked and what didn't work. They can use this information to better identify opportunities to improve performance or reduce risky behaviors.

They also track performances maniacally. Every potential statistic is tracked and cataloged. Everything from scores, errors, weather patterns, diets are tracked. These are all used to identify patterns in behavior that can result in success or failure. You too should track everything to determine what works best. 

Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. Have you ever practiced and ended up with poor results afterward and realized you'd gone down the wrong path? I want to hear about it! Tell me below!