Practice makes progress

When No1 daughter was little, she loved a show called the Teletubbies. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the show, it was about some oddly shaped little creatures, dressed in lurid clothing, who ate something called tubby custard. They had a catchphrase that they used, when they were trying to teach children something new and they wanted it to really stick. It was very simple, they just said “again, again”. It drove me mad at the time, but now, with the benefit of age, time and experience, I think they were onto something.

Most of us are familiar with the saying “practice makes perfect”. Since no-one is

going to be able to attain perfection in this lifetime, I prefer to say “practice makes progress” instead. Why does it matter? I hear some of you wonder. Well, for recovering perfectionists like myself, practice makes perfect is a recipe for procrastination galore.

I mean, if I know that I’m not going to be able to do something perfectly, why do it all? The truth is no-one is perfect at anything, let alone, the first time they do it. The kinder approach is my view is to say that the more we practice, the more progress we should be able to make. It provides room for growth, instead of a fear of failure. Which leads me to my second point:

A little while ago, I set myself a goal to run 5k, nonstop. It was a modest goal, but it took some time to get there. Previously, I would have beaten myself up for not getting there yet or wallowed in the fact that I used to be able to do it easily. This time I changed my focus to showing up and working consistently to hit my target. Three times a week, I laced up my trainers and hit the road. Did I wish I were quicker? Absolutely. Was I pleased that I made progress? (no matter how slowly) Definitely. I am grateful that I could even aspire to this goal. That my body could and did co -operate with me in this quest. I set myself a goal to increase my pace by a minimal amount each week. I did it for the first few weeks, but then I

hit a roadblock. I couldn't increase my pace and it felt like a failure. I had to keep reminding myself that obstacles and failure are part of the journey. I also had to remember that there is benefit in the journey as well as in achieving the goal. It's just as important to be able to run 20 minutes without feeling like I am going to cough up a lung as it is to be able to run 5k!

I read from different sources that 10,000 hours of practice is the magic number, if you want to become proficient at a skill. The truth is, I don’t think it’s possible to practice anything in a deliberate and focused way for 10,000 hours and not get really good at it. No matter how small the individual increments, there will be an overall improvement. In other words 'rinse and repeat' a lot of times.

Lastly, sometimes you're going to have to go back to the 'repeat' phase and camp there for a while. Having reached and exceeded my target earlier in the year, I got jammed up by sciatica. I've literally had to go back to the actual beginning of this process. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to go back to running 1 minute intervals, because that's all my back can tolerate at the moment. However, giving up is not an option, because running is my rocket fuel and I'm not ready to give that up yet.

So for all of you out there, fretting about your progress, or lack thereof. Just remember: practice makes progress. So keep practicing, keep trying and keep improving.

Until next time. Go well.