Someone once said that practice makes perfect. That is not true. Practice does not make something perfect, it
makes it permanent. Whatever activity
we practice, must be practiced correctly if it is ever to be done perfectly (or
close to perfectly). If we practice
something incorrectly, those mistakes done over and over again will tend to
become permanent errors. We must strive
to practice correctly. One of the greatest coaches of all time, Vince Lombardi, said, "Practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."However, what if we fail to practice at all? What if we spend absolutely no time practicing? What is the result? Some coaches might say, “I’d rather you don’t practice at all, if you are not going to practice correctly.” And while that might tend to minimize mistakes, it does nothing to maximize correctness. Although I would agree that to practice something in an incorrect manner is definitely not something that I want to do, neither do I think avoiding practice altogether is a good idea.
What is the answer? In order to improve, one must practice. There is no way to escape this truth. However, one must practice correctly… and often. Practice is the method in which we fail and fix, and fail and fix, and fail and fix, over and over again. Practice is a process of polishing away imperfections. Practice is overcoming obstacles. Real or imagined. Physical or mental. Practice is not performance.
Can one improve without practice? In other words, can one improve with instruction alone? Yes. But practice and instruction are two different things and one can never be proficient without practice. One can know the steps of a dance without practice. But one cannot know the dance without paying the price of practice.
All of this is to say, “I must find time… I must make time… to practice.” The reason I struggle to retain what I’ve learned is a result of, not the least of many reasons, my failure to practice. I am not maximizing the benefit of instructional time, when I fail to practice what I’ve learned.
