Practice makes perfect

The ideal condition would be, I admit, that all men should be right by instinct; But since we are all likely to go astray, The reasonable thing is to learn from those who can teach.
Sophocles
C 495 – 406 B.C.

How many times did you hear the phrase “practice makes perfect” when you were growing up? If your childhood was anything like mine, you heard it a few hundred times. I heard it enough that it’s burned in my memory.

And you know what? It’s totally wrong. Practice does not make perfect.

Let me share a story I heard about a karate instructor. He always told his students to only practice at the karate school. One day, a young boy asked why he couldn’t practice at home.

The teacher said, “If you practice at home, there’s no one to watch you and no one to catch your mistakes. There will be no one to coach you, to tell you what you are doing wrong and make sure you do things the correct way.”

Pick any activity: golfing, tennis, painting, playing a musical instrument, writing — if we practice any of these activities and we aren’t doing things correctly, what happens? The incorrect way of doing things becomes more ingrained. Practicing incorrectly just makes it more difficult to learn how to do things the right way. It doesn’t make things perfect. It doesn’t even improve things.

There are some activities where we accept the fact that we need a coach, teacher or qualified instructor. But there are so many other areas of life where we think we can do it on our own. It’s a common mistake most people make: we think we can practice without help or guidance. But analyzing this behavior reveals the underlying belief that we can practice and eventually we might master the activity by accident. That will almost never happen.

We’ll always master an activity more quickly if we seek out someone who knows more about it than we do and has the ability to share that knowledge with us. We need someone who can see what we’re doing incorrectly and show us the right way.

You need to take inventory of the areas of your life that aren’t running smoothly, where things could be improved. Then ask yourself who could help you practice in order to improve those areas.

The more important an activity is to your happiness and success in life, the more you’ll benefit by practicing under the guidance of a qualified teacher. Practice only makes perfect if you’re practicing with good feedback and guidance. Practice with the help and guidance of a good mentor, coach or teacher. It will greatly improve your performance.

Draw from others the lesson that may profit yourself.
Terence
c. 190 – 159 B.C.